My preparation to climb Huyana Potosi at 6088m had been pretty reasonable with plenty of time above 3500m. In fact, over the past few weeks in Bolivia I dont think I dropped below 3500m and had been as high as 5535m or so at Chacaltaya a few days earlier. My short bout of food poisoning soon after arriving in La Paz had completely passed and I was feeling strong to tackle the mountain!
I met up with Ryan Stirling, one of the Aussie chaps I met on the Death Road to discuss options for the trip as he too was dead keen. We met at the hostel and did a bit of a walk around, mainly me showing him the options I had investigated the night before. One of the options I had preferred was not open, which was a shame. However, we found a small operator that offered the same trip for the same price, with the benefit of being able to meet the guide, see all the equipment and run through all the options. The outfit also appeared to be more specialised and not just a tour operator running mountaineering trips. Ryan had another Australian friend who was keen to come along too, which would make a group of three with 2 guides, which is perfect given many girls fail to make it so her pulling out would not prevent Ryan and I heading up with the other guide.
We settled on the operator (NAME) and brought Kym back later that afternoon for the final approval. She was relaxed about everything and just happy to go alone. We paid the price, 140USD, after managing to negotiate the 2 nights accommodation included in the package, which was somehow slipped in in the last minute, much to our surprise. Everything sorted and everyone happy, we set off to get the last bits of gear before our 9am departure the following morning. Ryan and I both needed a pair of socks and some thermals, which proved to be rather hard to find. After walking up a steep hill of markets that absolutely reeked of piss, we checked out the electronics zone, which was near by. We also got a massive banana and mango juice with milk, my new favourite.
After some awesome Chinese and chifa ping restaurant, Ryan and I split and I headed for the markets to buy a thermal top. I finally found one for 15BLV, which basically was a super tight gay mid-rift exposing number made from the same material as ladies stockings, but it will have to do and probably better than nothing. I packed all my surplus gear into my trusty blue sack from Uyuni and hit the hay for an earlyish start.
Arriving at the company office in the morning, trying on my plastic boots with socks to get a proper idea of what they are like....pretty good really! Pretty exciting really, as large gear bags were being packed from the storage room and checklists ticked! I had all my gear with me and just needed the boots and pants, which I would take along anyway despite having my own, which I would likely use on the final day. The others showed up and we were underway. We jumped in the guides car and headed up the hill to Al Alto for a spot of breakfast before making our way towards Huyana Potosi up the same road I had travelled several days earlier to Chakatalya, although this time fortunately there was no road block!
The drive in to the first nights refugio was interesting enough, Kym sleeping her hangover off for most of the journey while Ryan and I yarned abit about the trip to come. The first refugio was nice enough, with a large entrance area for all our gear, a dining area and the sleeping quarters up stairs. We settled into a basic but nice lunch of cheese and ham sammies, with lots of cucumber and sauce. It was the firts time I had had sliced bread since being in south America so that was a bit of a taste of home haha. After lunch we got our gear ready for a session on the glacier practising ice work with crampons and ice axes. Ryan had the same top as me, so we sported those together for Kyms pleasure before suiting up heading out the door ready for an expedition. The 20 minute walk to the glacier was pretty spectacular, weaving our way through the lake at the head of the glacier to an area suitable for our afternoon session. While the practise was a good brush up on what I had done several years earlier on Ruapehu, I was surprised that there was no emphasis on self arresting and a lot on some technical ice climbing, which would not be part of the actual walk.
It became obvious that our second guide was a bit of a novas. First, he was unable to explain how to put my harness on properly, then he basically dropped our main guide from to top of the ice climbing section. The guide had climbed up with no protection but on they way down he must have just looped the rope around a bit of ice then down climbed, however the junior guide was pretty average and belaying, and lost control of the feeding and the guide ran backwards down the wall at an uncontrolled pace, the younger chap grabbing the rope at the last minute only to be thrown into the water at the foot of the wall, which did stop the guides fall haha. Another group from Huyana Potosi expeditions had arrived and were walking around waiting for the guide to set up. We heard a crash, and when we looked around the corner, one of the guys was brushing himself off after narrowly avoiding being hit by a huge bit of rock/ice that had fallen from the top of the wall! Lucky chap!
It had started to snow while were were climbing so it was a bit of a relief to head back to the hostel for a nice afternoon of reading and hot tea before an early dinner. We only had a few hours walk the following day, although our wake up time was still pretty early. After our soup, we were served a nice meal of rice and lomo and hot drinks. Perfect!
The second day would involve a 2 or 3 hour walk up to our high camp on the hill at around 5100m. Not a long walk but it would be pretty tough carrying all our gear, including our plastics in our packs, as well as crampons and ice axes. After about an hour, it was obvious that Kym was struggling. She announced that she had vomited and her head was spinning, and we hadn't even begun the significant climb up the hill! Not cool, but at least he had made the right call to get two guides. I suppose that is a risk of going with people one is complete unfamiliar with. About half way up the final steep section, Kym through in the towel...however the guides offered to carry her gear up the hill for 70BLV, which basically meant the junior chap strapping her pack onto the back of his! It looked pretty darn heavy but he managed well. Kym made it to the top just fine with no pack and contemplated making and attempt the next morning with the junior guide.
We arrived at the rock refugio, slightly below another refugio perched atop the glacier. It certainly was a dramatic setting and we enjoyed soaking up the views of the valley below and what lay ahead of us above. The weather wasn't perfectly clear so we wouldn't get to see the top of the mountain until early the next morning but we enjoyed the views none the less. We had plenty of time to kill given the walk was short as, so I tucked myself into bed and got stuck into my book, John Grishams Innocent man, which I basically finished just before dinner time around 630. Given our 130 breakfast time, we were all pretty anxious to get into bed and to sleep. We were joined in the refugio by a Belgium gal and a Dutch chap, both on their own with a guide heading to the top, although they would not actually make it...The Belgium chick had a falling out with her guide and basically stormed back down the mountain with him in pursuit haha.
I didnt get much sleep at all, probably due to a combination of anticipation and altitude at 5135m. The Belgium gal was a bit pissed because the headlamp she had been given by her guide didnt work, leaving her with just a hand torch. I would end up giving her my head torch and borrowing Kyms, as she had a spare. We awoke at 1am and made our way down stairs to the kitchen for some breakfast around 130, ahead our our guides haha. It was a simple breakfast of buns and jam with warm tea, nothing too heavy. I gave my headlamp to the Belgium gal and we all kitted up and took a few photos before making out way out into the darkness. It was snowing slightly as we made our way over the rocks to a point where we could don the crampons and make our way up the face of the glacier.
It was a slightly more challenging walk than I had expected, in some ways at least. It was incredible walking under just the light of the moon, looking back into the dark valley to see headlamps following us up the mountain...just like a real expedition haha. We had to jump crevasses many meters deep and cross very steep sections of compacted snow and ice. At one point I slipped and had to self arrest. As I was roped in at the back I pulled the rope tight in front, pulling the guide and Ryan to the ground. I was so exhausted I didnt call falling or anything but was lucky enough to have the ability to self arrest and climb back up, something I had picked up from the Ruapehu course. We plodded on as the morning grew lighter under thick clouds, although we did see the summit in the distance with some headlamps on the top.
As we approached the final hour and the final section to the summit, things started to get more technical. Lots of crevasses to jump and many steep sections of loose rock and ice to climb. We passed the group coming down, who looked absolutely wrecked!! It was like a scene from an Everest climbing movie where climbers coming down from the top plod down like automaton, totally spent of all energy. It was a weird sight indeed. We plodded on up and the weather began to clear as we reached the final few metres approaching the summit. I felt a bit sorry for the other group who were sitting atop the mountain in darkness with their headlamps and no sunrise, but at the same time was totally stoked that we were up there with good views towards the west and lake Titakaka. It was an awesome feeling and totally worth the effort. We sat around a bit, perched on the narrow knife-edge summit ridge while we snapped photos of each other and the surrounding area! We left around 640, which meant we only took around 4 hours to get up, which is pretty darn good as the initial estimates were 5 to 6 hours.
After a few minutes we headed down. I went to put my gloves in my bag, only to find that the entire zip and top section of the bag had frozen solid and I had to beat it open and struggle with the stiff ice covered zips. We eventually started to head down, this time I was in the lead the guide and Ryan behind. It was a bit un-nerving leading the way down the steep section, with tension on the rope from behind making things even more difficult. Winding down several cut back corners down the steep section, changing the hand on the ice axe with each turn to ensure it remained on the uphill side ready to arrest a fall. If walking up the rock faces with crampons was difficult, the trudge down was slightly harrowing! Getting to the bottom of the steep section brought relief and several needed breaks for photos and some snacks. Amazing ice fields lay before us, as did crevasses and icicles on the overhanging snow slopes. Wow!
We plodded on, with the fresh falling snow making walking very difficult as it balled up on crampons, necessitating a solid whack with the axe every few metres. We reached a steep section to cross, possibly where I fell earlier that morning, at which point the guide set up a belay point to catch us should either one of us slip sideways down hill! We didn´t need it luckily but it was good to know it was there and the guide identified the risk.
The walk back was incredibly tiring, with a great deal of sliding around with the sticky snow on the crampons. At one stage I felt like I was walking with large clogs or platform shoes. We eventually made it back to the refugio in around 2 and bit hours, stripping off the gear and hitting the bed straight away, giving Kym a bit of slide show of the trip. Kym had made it part way up before turing back. She told us that her guide was definately an amature (we found at later he was actually a cook trying to get experience) and had ended up to his arm pits in a cravase at one point haha. We only had around 30 minutes to get all our gear packed, have a cup of tea and biscuits and commence the down hill plod back to the base camp refugio. Still feeling pretty wrecked, I got my stuff together and began downhill section at a slow pace. It was only an hour or so down but, as is often the case, the last section dragged on a bit.
What an amazing trip! With only tiredness and a few crampon cuts in my over pants I was feeling pretty good. Back in La Paz the three of us enjoyed a Cuban lunch at a restaurant next to the tour office and made plans to meet up later to exchange photos. Ryan and I met up later that evening for dinner at the Chifa Ping before heading to James Bond...although I had underestimated my tiredness and fell asleep at parts!
Now to start planning the next climb near Arequipa
