Huayna Potosi and the Choro Trail

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After having spent 5 days in La Paz to accclimatise myself, I was ready to try and climb Huayna Potosí, billed as the easiest mountain in the world over 6000m to climb. Most of the trek to the summit is not technical, and as it is so close to La Paz, it is easy for novices like myself to get used to the altitude there before ascending. Although not the tallest mountain in the Cordillera Real (Royal Range) in the Andes near La Paz, Huayna Potosí is nevertheless 6088m tall (just shy of 20,000 feet), making it the 114th tallest mountain in the world (so I’m told). According to our agency, roughly 10 to 15% of people who try to ascend don’t make it, normally because of altitude sickness.

The ascent and descent only took 2 days - after an hour or so in a minibus from La Paz on Day 1 we arrived at the Zongo Pass Base Camp, at an altitude of 4700m. Although there were four of us arriving from the same agency on the same day, it is always a maximum of 2 people per guide, so I was paired up with a German girl, who similarly had no experience of mountain climbing, but does live in La Paz so was probably more adjusted to the high altitude than me. After a quick lunch, we got our things together. The climb on day 1 was from the base camp to the high camp, on the snow line at 5200m. For this part of the climb we would need to carry all of our equipment, which must have weighed somewhere just short of 15kg (the ice shoes and crampons were rather heavy!). The trek was at least rather short - only around 2 and a half hours, though the last hour was actually fairly difficult as the trail was covered in compacted snow - I lost count how many times I slipped over (we couldn’t use the crampons as the path was too rocky). But all in all, the first day wasn’t at all difficult. We were at the high camp by about 3:30 in the afternoon, and after dinner at 5, we went to bed at around 7 (sleeping on lumpy mattresses in the loft of the chalet). I probably slept for a maximum of 1 hour, partly because we had to go to bed so early, partly because of the cold and partly because of the difficulty in sleeping at such a high altitude.

We had to get up a midnight to get ready for the climb. The reason we had to leave so early was that the snow becomes unstable and unsafe to walk on from mid-morning onwards, so we needed to be at the summit at around sunrise. After a quick “breakfast” at 12:30, we set off (a bit late) at around 1:15am. The breakfast was really small (stale cake and tea), which in hindsight probably made the trek harder as I ran out of energy quicker than I thought. Surprisingly, it didn’t feel that cold outside, principally as there was very little wind. And I was wearing 3 pairs of socks, 3 pairs of trousers, 2 t-shirts, a fleece and 2 coats, which probably helped as well. The first ten minutes of the trek weren’t the best as I was getting used to walking with crampons. I eventually got to know the correct technique, and they made walking in the snow much easier. Although there were lots of groups setting off at around the same time, each guide stays with his 2 climbers and goes at their pace. We were tethered together for safety, with the guide at the front, Carolina in the middle and me at the back. Besides holding the safety rope in one hand, in the other we held our ice axe, which most of the time I used as a walking stick.

Because quite a few people do the trek everyday (there were about 20 attempting it the day I did, but far fewer people attempt it in summer/autumn when the snow is less solid to walk on), the path is quite easy to follow. If you deviate from the path, your feet sink 50cm or so down, but as the path had been compacted, it was relatively straightforward to walk on. In a couple of places, the path was not so easy to navigate. There were 2 crevasses we had to cross, basically by jumping the gap (somewhere around 1.5m). Not that difficult really, but scary given how deep the crevasses were and that you had to go down a slope each time to get to the edge, making sure you stopped in time. But with the safety harness, the guide seemed confident that even if we fell he would be able to pull us out. There were also a few points where the path turned into a very narrow ledge, with a sharp drop on one side and a cliff face on the other, but proceeding slowly wasn’t as difficult as it could have been. In a few other places there were steep sections to climb, which we could only do by driving the ice axe into the snow and pulling ourselves up. This was fine, it was more coming back and trying to get down the same way which was actually more difficult.

The first 2 and a half hours I actually quite enjoyed; it was mostly climbing, but not too steep. But after this point my legs started to tire and I got rather hungry (due to the poor breakfast!), but the chocolate I had with me (besides being frozen) started to make me feel sick. Another minor problem was that around 3am, one of the lenses in my glasses fell out, and I couldn’t fix it there so had to wear my sunglasses in the dark. Sunrise, at around 6:30, was really beautiful, and by this point we had arrived at the beginning of the ascent to the summit. This is the steepest part, and we had to stop every minute or so just to get our breath back. Luckily our guide was good at motivating us as it was difficult to find the energy to keep going. The last 150m were quite challenging as well - more ice than snow, and in some places difficult to get a grip. We finally got to what I thought was the top at around 7:15am, only to find there was another half hour climb to go, but this was much easier than the previous section.

We were lucky that it was a clear day. The first day with no cloud in over a week, our guide informed us. The views were spectacular (similar to Chacaltaya from the week before), with La Paz as well as the other mountains in the Cordillera Real clearly visible. Lake Titicaca, 80km in the distance, was covered in cloud, but other than that the skies were clear. At this point, all I wanted to do was sit down and rest, but after ten minutes on the summit we had to leave, whilst the path back to the high camp was still safe to walk on. The first part of the descent was horribly difficult; after then it was more or less easy for most of the way back, but my legs felt so heavy and my knees were soon aching from so much walking down hill. We reached the high camp at around 11, by which time it was baking hot. Climbing up the small hill on which the camp was situated was painfully difficult, as by this time I was so hungry and had nigh on zero energy left. As we were the last group back, food was ready and waiting for us, but we only had a half hour break to eat and to sort our things out before heading down to the base camp. Even this part of the trek was difficult, as the path was covered in ice and it was difficult not to fall over on the steep slopes. Getting back to base camp was a relief; even more so returning to La Paz an hour or so later.

(Information for travellers - the agency I used as Travel Treks - they seemed very professional and reliable, so would definitely recommend. And they also have good prices - the 2 day trek cost 700 Bs or around £65)

The day after getting back from Huayna Potosí, I had hoped to do a 3 day trek along the Choro Trail - an ancient paved pathway which linked La Paz to Cusco in Peru. But being so tired after Huayna Potosí, I needed a day in La Paz to recuperate and essentially do no walking (though this is difficult in La Paz, where everything is on a hill). But after a day’s rest, I was ready to tackle the Choro trail. The trail is more or less downhill all the way, from 4800m to 1300m above sea level. The start, the highest point between La Paz and Coroico, known as La Cumbre, was about 30km or so from La Paz, but due to traffic, it took me 2 and a half hours to get there from my hostel. As the trail is easy to follow, I decided against paying an agency a large amount of money to guide me, and did the trail myself. The first hour and a half was the most difficult - climbing from 4600 to 4800m, with a backpack full of equipment and supplies. But the views from the top of the pass were amazing, and I could see the trail wind its way down the valley into the clouds below. The rest of the first day was all downhill, firstly passing the Tambo Lama Khucha Inca ruins and then the village of Chucura (the biggest settlement on the trail). With the low clouds, the steep sided valley and the flocks of sheep grazing, I could easily have thought I was in Wales (at least until I noticed the hundreds of llamas on the valley sides). There are no roads here, only the Choro trail, so the inhabitants of the various settlements all lead traditional, more or less self-sufficient lives, although every time I passed a child, they always asked for chocolate or sweets, so I ran out of these commodities pretty quickly. By around 5pm I reached the hamlet of Challapampa (2 huts and a suspension bridge over the river), where I camped for the first night. It was already much warmer than the start of the trek (being 2800m), but at night it did get awfully cold. The second day began just after sunrise, at around 6:30am, with the trail continuing downhill. After 3 hours, I passed through the hamlet of Choro, (which seemed deserted); from there the trail worked its way up hill, with commanding views of the river valley below. A couple of hours later, along flattish terrain, the trail descended to cross a river, before once again climbing uphill (La Cuesta del Diablo, or the Devil’s Slope), which was rather tiring and took quite some time. I kept walking along the path, which was no-longer paved and instead covered in jungle vegetation, until around 6pm when the light started to fade. I even managed to spot some wildlife on the way - besides the loose horses and cattle which blocked the path in a few places, I also spotted a snake on the trail, which moved off as soon as it spotted me, as well as a mammal which vaguely resembled a ferret, but ran into the bushes before I could properly identify it. The second night was much warmer, so I slept much better. The third day was supposed to be really short, but things didn’t go quite to plan. It was a mere 2 ½ hour walk until Chairo, the village at the end of the trail, and from where you can supposedly get public transport to Coroico, the main town in the Yungas, as this area of jungle is known. But arriving in Chairo, there was no transport available except for someone who offered to take me for 150 bolivianos (about 15 times the price I had been expecting, and twice the amount of money I actually had on me). So with little choice, I kept walking, only this time along the dusty road, before finally reaching the main La Paz-Coroico road, after about 2 hours. But even here I couldn’t get a bus to Coroico. It was another 90 minutes later, waiting around and walking in the baking hot midday sun, that I eventually managed to catch a bus to Coroico. A lot more hassle at the end than I had anticipated.

Upon arriving in Coroico, I had a quick look around the town before deciding there was nothing of interest there, and headed to the bus terminal to get a bus back to La Paz (3 ½ hours). All in all a good trek, despite the additional few kilometres at the end. With the end of the Choro trail, my time in La Paz has come to an end. My next stop is Copacabana (not the Brazilian one!), on the shores of Lake Titicaca. The next blog will come from there.

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Photos

Views of Ilumani in the distance
(The second highest mountain in Bolivia)