In July Jon Terry, Bruce Roberts and I went to the Cordillera (sp?) Blanca in Peru. My overall impression that it is hard work doing 5 mountaineering trips in a row. Next holiday I’m going to a beach hah. Great spot though. It was a mixed bag of results, did three relatively easy peaks at around the 5700m mark (Pisco, Urus, Vallunaraju) but had some bad luck on the two bigger ones. On Alpamayo (5970m) we watched a big serac fall that took out 8 people on the Ferrari route, no shit. We were lucky that we’d decided to have a rest day due to the high number of folks on the climb. Those thinking of climbing this route should be aware of the high level of objective danger despite its popularity and number of successful ascents. Also there are no choppers or radios to speak of in the ‘Blanca. Buyer beware. We participated in an attempted rescue of a survivor and didn’t feel much like climbing after that. But we did climb after that: we tried Artensonraju (the Paramount Pictures peak 6025m). Unfortunately the bad luck continued and this was a write-off. We argued with the porters, I stepped in a puddle, and got very ill on bad water despite nuking everything with chlorine or iodine. Never mind, this is one that’s worth going back for. Not sure about these overseas mountaineering trips, the stakes seemed high and the chances of success low. But maybe that’s just our bad luck. Mountaineering is mostly punishment and we got our share. I highly recommend this area and I’d go back, but take double the amount of time. Tom Wilson NZAJ gets the best stories! I, Rhys Barrier and James Wright from the Auckland section, went rock climbing in the Magaliesberg in South Africa as a warm up for a trip to Mt Kenya from whence we’ve just returned - it was a very eventful trip - read all about it in the NZAC journal. Anj Pande Our website • Check out our web site: www.nzalpine.wellington.net.nz ! • Join the email discussion group! • New photos and trip reports up! New Vertigo editor announced Rachael Schmidt will be taking over as editor starting with the November edition of Vertigo. I want to thank all of those who have sent material in the Vertigo over the years – you know who you are – Vertigo would not work without you. Please keep all this good material coming – Rachael, as much as me, needs all those trip reports, information, events information, notices, and equipment ads that YOU as the collective reader can possibly send in – all the things that make members actually read their newsletter and feel part of a climbing community. I have enjoyed the work immensely. I wish Rachael luck in putting her own unique stamp on things. Simon