The Indians are distinctly friendly, speak Spanish, and charge moderately. In both years the oxen carried about a ton of supplies right up to Base Camp, at 14,600 feet, under the north glacier of El GuardiƔn. On the third, Indian oxen brought the party to the foot of La Reina, possibly the most beautiful peak in the range (18,160 feet). On the second day mules carried all equipment and stores to the Indian village of Sogrome, on the Donacui. In 1954, as well as in 1957, we flew from Jamaica via Barranquilla to Yalledupar, whence we took a truck northward to Atanquez. This route we now recommend most earnestly to intending visitors, as the Donacui River (marked erroneously on the otherwise excellent Cabot map as the Guatapuri) leads right to the heart of the highest peaks. To save time on our approach march, we eschewed the customary route from the south side of the massif, which traverses numerous east-west ridges of considerable height, and were encouraged by the aerial survey map made by the Cabot Expedition (Geographical Review, 1941) to try a new route from the east, following a river that flows out that side. In 1954 I led a party of five on a reconnaissance to the region. Without a complete list of the ascents or even of the expeditions, all one can safely say is that the biggest four or five peaks have all been climbed two or more times. Before our first trip in 1954, Colombian, German, United States, and Swiss visitors had made the first ascents of the biggest peaks. It was clear to us that we should climb in January, the only certainly dry month, and enter by a forest-free route. Wollaston, doctor to the first Everest expedition, and his wife, in 1923, failed to find a route into the high peaks from the hinterland of Santa Marta because of bad weather and thick forests. Although the Englishman, Simons, produced the first useful maps of the Sierra Nevada in 18, British climbers did not set foot in the range until 1954.
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