An American trio climbed two new routes in the Cordillera Vilcanota of southern Peru, including a beautiful buttress on 20,046-foot Cayangate. 

Chris Alstrin, Andrew Frost, and Mark Hesse warmed up by pioneering an 1,800-foot steep snow route on the Northwest Face of 20,033-foot Nevado Chumpe. 

With that route in the bag, they turned to the 3,800-foot East Buttress of Cayangate, which starts with 1,000 feet of sustained 5.9 rock climbing leading to 1,500 feet of mixed rock and ice and then a final alpine ridge. Snowfall before the climb created more mixed climbing than they had expected, and the middle section involved difficulties up to M5+. The three climbers spent two nights on the route, with temperatures dropping to –15°F, and then rappelled from glacial ice to return to the base.

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