Mountaineering in the "Royal Mountain Range"

---

Cordillera Real, Bolivia

After about two months since I was trekking around in Patagonia, I felt for getting out in the mountains again! At least for a couple of days.
And Bolivia is a paradise for trekking and mountaineering. Compared to Himalaya, it's far from the same bureaucracy here and it makes the climbing much easier.
Not to mention that a lot of the interesting mountains is just outside the capital!!

Bolivia's Cordillera Real has more than 600 peaks above 5000 meter, and the range is situated just outside La Paz!


Illimani and Huayna Potosi

Huayna Potosi is the most popular peak in Bolivia, and it's heaps of tourist companies in La Paz which organise trips here. After a little research, I will change it's name to "tourist mountain" instead : )
But it's popularity is understandable; It's easy accesible and it's 88 meter above the magic 6000 meter figure. (but it's 26ft under the magic 20,000ft figure... so change to the metric system guys ; ) )
It's also popular because it's relatively easy technical and can be climbed by everyone, with a competent guide.

Illimani (6439m) is the giant which can be seen from the centre of La Paz on a cloud-free day. It was first climbed in 1898 by a party led by WM Conway. It's not a difficult technical climb eather, but it's alltitude and ice condition warrants consideration and caution.

But I didn't climb any of these two....


The search for a guide

Since I'm travelling alone, and don't have all the equipment eather, I figured out that hiring a guide was a good idea, both for company and local knowledge.
As I said before, it's plenty of companies which arrange everything from jungle trips to mountain climbing. But I didn't really got a good feeling when they presented different options..... "Shure, if you have technical experience you can do it in two days..." A 6000 meter in two days is probably fine if you want a good headache. And it seems like the companies just want to get you up as quick as possible, and cash out the money!

But the travel bible Lonely Planet was a good friend, again. In the section for "getting around" they had listed a lot of tour agencies, specialized in different types of tours.
Adventure Climbing & Trekking Company of South America became my solution. Carlos Escobar who is running the company is a UIAGM/UIAA certified international mountain guide, and he climbed Mount Everest in 2006. Also all the guides who work's for him is UIAGM/UIAA certified.
Carlos is a really nice guy, and had a lot of suggestions for what I could do. He also had the extra gear I needed and he fixed everything from food to transport.
The price was a bit more than the travel agencies in town offered, but it was more flexible and seemed highly professional.
I paid for 4 days all inclusive, but could add more days if I wanted. He would simply just send up more food!
When he said that food and everything was included, I thought that we just got some food with us and my guide probably cooked as well....


Condoriri Massif

This massif is a cluster of 13 peaks with heights from 5100m to 5648m. The highest is Cabeza del Còndor (The head of the Condor). It has two winglike ridges out from each side of the summit, known as Las Alas (the wings). From distance it all looks like a condor lifting its wings, ready to take off!!
Another beautiful mountain in this massif is Pequeño Alpamayo (5350m)

I was picked up outside my hostel by Carlos in a taxi.... They have a system in La Paz for controlling the traffic in town, and each day cars with numbers ending in 1, 2 and so on can't drive in the centre. So Carlos couldn't drive his car on thursday.
Anyway, we drove to a square a bit outside the centre and met up with my "crew". It seemed like I was going on a big expedition... A landcruiser was filled with gear, an own driver took us up to the mountains, and I also got an own cook!!
From the parking and up to base camp we also had mules to carry the stuff.
In base camp they put up a cooking tent, and I got a 3 person tent my self..... It turned out to be my most luxury experience in the mountains so far : )

Anyway... day two was the day of the first climb; Pequeño Alpamayo. It's a quit easy, but beautiful mountain. It's probably the second most popular mountain behind Huayna Potosi. Both because of it's beauty, and it's little "challenge" for more unexperienced people. But it's also a good mountain for acclimatisation.
We had an "alpine start" at 4 a.m. and was accompanied by a sky filled with stars and lit up by the moon. A good pace up the glaciar and summit ridge, did that we summited around 8, just after sunrise. A perfect first day in the mountains again!
I could defenitely feel the altitude after just one night in basecamp (around 4600m), and I was quit tired when I came back down.
Vicky, a 63 year old Aymara woman who was our cook, treated us well and had the soup ready when we arrived. She's a rutined cook in this game after 36 years of working in the camps! She was also the first woman on the top of Huayna Potosi.

Day two went on doing nothing.... I read almost the whole "Motorcycle Diaries" by Che Guevara, which I changed in a pub last week. So I have to go and change it for another book : )
It is, by the way, THE book to read when I'm travelling here!!

After been resting, acclimatising, and eaten Vicky's great food for a day, I was ready for a new mountain.

I was waken up by Sergio, my guide, at 1.30 a.m for breakfast, and we started off at 2.30 a.m. The goal this day was Cabeza del Condór (5648m), which is a more technical mountain.
After a long walk up a moraine and a serious scree, we hit the glaciar. From here it´s a pretty easy walk up to where the climbing start. First we followed a colouir before entering the summit ridge. The ridge is exposed and a really nice finish up to the summit!
We summited 7.40 a.m. and enjoyed a great view over the Cordillera Real. The weather was perfect all the way and the conditions as well!
I actually felt much better this day, even when the mountain was 300 meter higher, so the rest day and acclimatisation really helped.

It was two really nice mountains and 4 great days back in the nature!

---

Photos

Vicky, our cook
A 63 year old Aymara woman