Trip Reports

Bolivian Climber - 22 Jul to 12 Aug '06

Written by Leader Mungo Ross, August 2006

The weather and conditions in the mountains have stayed superb throughout the second Bolivian expedition this summer. Only four people - Karyn from the States and Lee, Dave and Ali from the UK, eventually assembled at the Ritz Hotel in La Paz on Sunday evening, 23 July. Varig, Brazil’s national airline and our courier, chose this weekend to be bought out after a year in receivership, giving Stephanie in the Jagged Globe office and Carlos our agent in Boliva a fun few days and the group some intrepid travelling!

Having managed to arrive on schedule, the trip then went ahead as per the itinerary - enjoying La Paz, the drive to Lake Titicaca (with a wee nap in the sun on the top) and spent a couple of days refreshing our crampon technique and rope-work. A mass ascent of Pequeno Alpamayo on a beautiful day looked like setting us up well for the next two mountains. Back at base camp however, Dave felt that he was not adjusting well to altitude and decided to opt out of Huayna Potosi, going back to La Paz instead.

Once on Huayna Potosi, Ali fell foul of the altitude lurgi and turned around after an hour at around 5,300m, leaving Lee and Karyn to go on and summit in another big Bolivian blue sky.

After a rest day in La Paz, both Dave and Ali decided not to attempt Illimani but to at least come and see the mountain, then return to La Paz to experience other aspects of Bolivia. Karyn unfortunately then chose to get violent food poisoning - a feeble excuse to spend the rest of the trip in bed in the Ritz! (The poor girl was really ill and it was horrible leaving her on her own - even in the comfort of the Ritz.)

So that left Lee, with myself, Oswaldo our Bolivian guide, Mabelle a local aspirant trainee guide, and Felix our cook established at high camp on Tuesday 8 August, in perfect weather and Illimani in perfect condition. Maybe too much pressure, or just the altitude got to him, but after storming up Huayna Potosi, at 3 in the morning, Lee felt awful and did not feel fit to go higher, so we aborted our summit attempt.

In spite of poor ‘summiting statistics’, this trip once again illustrates the vagaries of high altitude mountaineering. All the factors have come together to make the summit, but it is impossible to go home happy with the experience. This was a very cheerful group, and our final celebration meal in La Paz proved it! Writing this stuck in Sao Paulo courtesy of Varig on the way home, I just have to hope that the others are having a better return journey!

Mungo Ross, expedition leader« Previous report | Next report »

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