Trip Reports

Bolivian Climber - 12 Jul to 2 Aug '08

Written by Leader Adele Pennington, August 2008

With only one more Alpine start to prepare for the flight home, the Bolivian Climber team soaked up the luxury of the Ritz Hotel in La Paz. Allegedly the last stragglers returned at 3.00am from the end of expedition celebrations, having had enough energy to dance the night away at Mongo’s Bar.

In the last twenty days the ten strong team and local guides had summited on all four of the individually beautiful mountains in the Bolivian Andes. Not only had the team experienced the highs and lows of mountaineering at high altitude, they had also had plenty of time to enjoy the cultural aspects of travel through this diverse South American country.

After a days acclimatisation in La Paz, the team set off on the first phase of the expedition to Lake Titicaca. It was soon apparent that they were going to take everything in their stride as long as there were abundant coffee stops and plenty of food. Noticeably top dog at this game was our French member, Tom, who could clear anybody's plate who was feeling the affects of altitude. In contrast to our other Tom, whose bubbling excitement of the whole experience of a boat ride to the Island de Sol and a pedalo ride was all too much!

All too soon showers, clean clothes and comfortable beds were replaced by spiky grass, wind and the Scottish Ladies Mountaineering team. Not to forget though the awesome views of Condoriri and the amazingly well-maintained flushing toilets now in situ at base camp. The mess tent with, of course dining chairs, was to become home for the next five days, whilst the team climbed two of their summits.

For all Pt Austria was a pleasant, easy day out whereas Pequeno Alpamayo presented its usual challenges and was very scary for some! The rewards were a magnificent day in the mountains in superb weather and amazing summit views.

With these two mountains under our belts it was time to move on and to leave the memories of base camp behind and visit kitchen help Claudio’s house in El Alto for lunch with his pictures of the 1982 Bolivian football team on the wall.

Our next surprise was the now-completed refugio at Hyuana Potosi base camp. No need for tents and cerveza behind the bar, although some members of the team managed to get a headache from the beams in the dormitory. The toilets were of a slightly worse standard than Condoriri but the thick mattresses and acres of space more than made up for this. We climbed to another refugio the next day with the promise of good weather for summit morning. Carlos had kindly booked this one out for us so we could be Jagged Globe exclusive. Despite the wind and lightning storm, during the night we made the decision to go for it at 3:00 am. A hearty bowl of porridge was obviously the key to all four rope teams reaching the top (via the “exciting” summit ridge) by 7:30. With the lure of an extra night in La Paz everyone descended in style via a different route to the high and then base refugio. There were some tired people by the time a welcome bus arrived to whisk us all, smelling a little less than fresh, to the comforts of the Ritz Hotel.

La Paz for some was a very pleasant experience – for others however it was a different story. Maybe the hot showers were too decadent as a number of us felt worse off instead of better. Still, the following day, everyone set off in a convoy of 4x4’s along exciting canyon roads that bore comparison to the summit ridge of Pequeno Alpemayo.

Once we reached the trailhead lunch was served overlooking the valley with llamas grazing in the fields below, their heads like furry periscopes. We hiked up to idyllic base camp of Illimani, with the mountain looming above us and range upon range of mountains disappearing to the horizon in the other direction. The mess tent was now a familiar home and those feeling well enough enjoyed another portion of vegetable soup!

Camp was packed up early to beat the Swiss to High Camp, where camping space is limited (however we were soon to learn that they were making their summit bid from Base Camp!). A tough walk and scramble saw us at Nido de Condores (the Condors' Nest) at 5,400m where as promised a Condor flew over to assure us we were on track. Some afternoon cloud and snow left some doubt as to whether we would be able to make a summit attempt the next morning. On schedule, with a 1:00 am wake-up and more porridge, 4 rope teams set off for the summit.

After a few hours, and reaching over six thousand metres, some team members decided to turn around for a variety of reasons – from very cold fingers, to Scarpa shin and nausea. This left two rope teams who battled on through very cold conditions and wind to reach the summit shortly after dawn. Jane, Bill, Mike X and guide Hugo on their way down met Peter, Adele and Ecario on their way up, but with temperatures around -30 degrees Celsius and no views it was not the time to linger.

With a lenticular cloud and high winds no time was wasted at High Camp and everyone made their way down to the safety of Base Camp to the delights of pizza.

It was not all over as the next morning Base Camp was covered in a blanket of fresh snow and Illimani was nowhere to be seen. We had managed to summit in the nick of time. As usual fresh snow brought out the juvenile side of the team and despite efforts of dismantling camp snowball fights were more interesting. Soon the mules had arrived and we made our way back to the football pitch at the roadhead where Bolivia vs England (and France) soon broke out. Bolivia was leading 1-0 at half time when unfortunately (for the Bolivians) lunch was served.

Finally 4x4s were loaded and a long but fascinating journey took us back to La Paz. Thanks to Carlos and his team of guides, cooks and porters as they made this Bolivian Climber expedition a fantastic experience for all concerned.

Adele Pennington, Expedition Leader « Previous report | Next report »

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