El Chicos del Cumbre

---

- La Paz - Huayna Potosi

The plan was originally to head straight back to Arequipa but we decided to take a slight detour through Bolivia and do a quick hike just north of La Paz. However, in order to do this hike we needed to purchase a topographical map (milluni (5945 ii) ). Our “Bradt trekking guide” listed a couple of the IGM (Instituto Geografico Militar) offices in La Paz. So: 10 o’clock in the morning, (Laurence looking slightly the worse for wear after drinking too much wine the previous night ) we headed to the address in the book only to discover that the IGM office was situated inside a military base. Not only did we have to leave our passports and get official passes but we got escorted through checkpoints with an armed guard and had to sign our names repeatedly. Then, after checking acetates with an IGM officer he disappeared returning 20mins later stinking of ammonia. He had only just popped off to print us a map. It was nuts. We were in there nearly an hour in total. Obviously maps are not in great demand by normal citizens. So we set off on the trek getting a lift to the trailhead with a tour company. Unfortunately we didn’t arrive until midday so decided to stay at a refugio at the trailhead, get used to the altitude and take a hike up to see the base of a glacier. This was all very well. The sky was blue, the glacier was melting and we both had the sun in our hearts and out route firmly marked on the map. And then we met Al. An English guy who, after an hour or so persuaded us not to do our trek but to go up the mountain overlooking the refugio instead. Huayna Potosi is 6088m above sea level and was staring invitingly down at us. It is mostly covered with a giant glacier and loose rocks. It was interesting. It took half a day to get to high camp and then we set off at 2 in the morning on the glacier to reach the summit. Our guide’s name was Felix and was a friendly Bolivian who goes up the mountain twice a week with clients. It was a quick and steep introduction into using crampons and ice axes. Anyway, we didn’t quite make it to the summit. We were less than 200m off though. The sun rose about 6 am coating the sky in the bluest blue I have ever seen. Before us the mountains of our “would be” trek stretched into the horizon iced with a thick layer of green and orange. Suddenly the glazier was filled with crevasses, icicles the length of buses and warped layered formations hanging poised over the path. It was pretty impressive. The decent was quite a bit quicker than the assent and included a “Felix special abseil” down an interesting bit and over a crevasse. He was worried though and kept on saying “El chicos de la cumbre” (the guys at the top) and pointing to the peak. The people who had summated were coming down and the interesting abseil had the potential to get crowded. He also said “vamos al la Playa” (we go to the beach) a lot and it took me a while to remember that Bolivia has no coast. I think he thought he was funny. Probably the best bit of the trip was having to pee out of a special zip in the back of my trousers at 5900m. Even though we didn’t get to use our Military map ( £3 ) it does have Huayna Potosi on it so Laurence is keeping it as a souvenir.

---

Photos

High camp.
Ever wondered what it´s like to sleep in a tin can............