http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Huayna-Potosi/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from South America , Bolivia , La Paz Department , Huayna Potosí en-us Thu, 31 Dec 2009 02:58:23 +0000 Thu, 31 Dec 2009 02:58:23 +0000 Now that all of my fingers have completely thawed bar left hand ring finger which still has no feeling in the tip..hmm. I thought it was time to recount one of if not the best experiences of my life. This time last week Kath Benny fellow volunteer from Switzerland and I were couped in the back of a small toyota winding our way through rocky fields towards the Andes mountain ranges. Our sig http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Huayna-Potosi/blog-461242.html The first thing you notice when arriving in La Paz is the scarily busy streets filled with many markets and the constant sound of car horns. The most interesting market is the witches market which is filled with different potions llama foetuses jaguar skins and other more things used for different spells and sacrifices. Aswell as looking around the city we managed to fit in some activities too. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Huayna-Potosi/blog-417862.html Why do you keep stoppingthe guide asked with an irritated expression on his face and agitation in his voice.Mmm...because I can't breatheI replied in turn.The monster had flicked his switch. The previous morning Christophe and I were left waiting in vain for our departure. C's guide had called in sick and the agency was desperately in Bolivian terms trying to find a replacement. Low and beho http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Huayna-Potosi/blog-415481.html Last Sat there was a giant festival in all of La Paz that started at about 9am and went till about 3am. The streets were packed with people and there was a huge ongoing parade. It was pretty fun to watch. It was also the day of the Bolivia vs. Venezuela soccer match. We spent the day walking through the festival and then went to the soccer game which was pretty exciting but Bolivia lost..On Mon http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Huayna-Potosi/blog-407581.html Instead of going back to Argentina as planned and spending my day drinking good wine eating good steak and enjoying life I decided to climb Huayna Potosi in Bolivia because it looked awesome 7 of the people I was traveling with were doing it AND it only cost 120US for 3 days so cheap compared to the 12 hour ice climbing I did in Patagonia for 50US. Although I knew it would be somewhat dif http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Huayna-Potosi/blog-392203.html Hello again. Nice to see you. How are you doingSo before I set off for my trip I had a couple of goals. One of them was to become as close to fluent as possible in Spanish. Another was to climb a 6000m mountain. The first one is coming along alright and in the next few paragraphs you'll find out whether my attempt to achieve the other one was successful or not.Day 1I'd always earmarked H http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Huayna-Potosi/blog-360849.html Huayna Potosi is a mountain located in Bolivia not far and northwest of La Paz. The idea to summit this mountain was initiated by our Dutch friend Jerome who had recently tackled it successfully. He showed Steve some photos and that was all it took he was hooked. The summit sits at 6088 metres above sea level and although it is a mixed climb with some technical difficulty not a lot of experie http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Huayna-Potosi/blog-355384.html Hauyna Potosi Hauyana Potosi is a mountain an hour or so to the north of La Paz standing at a whopping 6088m or near enough 20000ft I thought oh it would be cool to climb that then i will have beaten dad before he even gets to the top of Mont Blanc So i me and the only willing volunteer Joe set off to climb a very big mountain and this is what went onDay One Two We set off from La Paz in a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Huayna-Potosi/blog-348256.html Despues de 13 horas durmiendo empezamos a realizar lo que hicimos. El 1 de octubre 2008 es un dia muy especial para nostros. Por primera vez en nuestra vida escalamos sobre mas de 6000 metros llegamos a la cumbre del Huayna Potosi. Estamos muy orgullosos pero todavia muy muy cansados. Pero lo hicimos junto con el nuestro amigo Vladimir. Y lo mejor no habia ni niebla ni neve tuvimos una v http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Huayna-Potosi/blog-330108.html Lordag 13. sept dro vi til Refugio Huanyna Potosi paa en tre dagers tur for aa bestige Huayna Potosi. Et fjell paa 6088 moh. Foerste dag var det klatretrening paa isbre med stegjern og isoeks anfoert av lege og mountaineer Dr. Hugo Martin. Lege i regntiden og mountaineer i hoysesongen... Hovedgrunnene til at vi hadde valgt dette firma var at Senior Doctor virket svaert serioes og at det var overna http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Huayna-Potosi/blog-324411.html So after just 3 full days of acclimatisation in La Paz it was time to take up the challenge of Huayna Potosi. Those have have been reading the blogs will remember that Chris and I summited the Volcano Cotopaxi during our time in Ecuador which was a height of 5897 metres well HP offered an even stronger challenge with a summit that tops 6088 metres. At 19'973 feet its a shade under 20'000 f http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Huayna-Potosi/blog-304063.html Samstag 29.03.2008. So da bin ich wieder. Gestern wieder mal frueh das heisst um 06.30 h aufgestanden und im Dunkeln alles zusammengepackt. In der Nacht hatte es geregnet so dass das Zelt noch nass war. Nach 2 Stunden Fahrt durch das einsame noerdliche wolkenverhangene Argentinien treffen wir an der bolivianischen Grenze ein. Das Wetter hatte sich zwischenzeitlich etwas gebessert. In Bolivi http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Huayna-Potosi/blog-261055.html Call it a sense of adventure call it stupidity whatever it has been a goal on this trip to climb a 6000m mountain. So my first opportunity arose near to La Paz where Huayna Pronounced Whyna Potosi stands 6088m 19974 ft high. Warning this blog contains lots of geeky figures and measurments that may impress some but will probably bore most. Its said that this is one of the easier 6 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Huayna-Potosi/blog-247617.html We never thought we can hike to 6000 metres high peak but we made it. We just hired a guide. We were aclimatesed quite well. And we could go. We had an iceclimbing training on the 1st day. We moved to the base camp on the second day. And we started to walk at 1 AM on the 3rd day. It was not technically difficult. The only problem was the altitude and problems conected with it stomack sickness http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Huayna-Potosi/blog-242910.html The Bolivian Altiplano rests near the top of the list of vast and punishing places on the planet that command endurance. Some of the curses or blessings of pleasureseeking and reaching new heights are the pains that we endure and experience enroute. For those who enjoy occasional frolics into otherworldly environments Bolivia brings it all. While she can do a number on the body few will a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Huayna-Potosi/blog-212063.html I must start by saying that without the Lords strength I would not have had the strength to accomplish what I have especially in the condition I was in. I left with ease for Huayna Potosi with my guide and climbing buddy Nolberto on wednesday in the morning. Our group of five in the transport old cab consisted of my entourage another guide one Brasilian and a Polac. We took our time stopp http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Huayna-Potosi/blog-208613.html voor Nederlands scroll naar benedenHolaOur first alpine ascent is a fact And it even brought us over 6000m. Huayna Potosi 6088m means young mountain in Aymara the language of the Bolivian Indians and this glaciated summit towers high above the Altiplano.Day 1 training session on the nearby glacierAt the hut base camp 4750m we get a mixed group of 8 Europeans an Alpinestyled sui http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Huayna-Potosi/blog-192769.html For months I had been dreaming of climbing Huayna Potosi . Firstly because it was over the magical 6000m and as Edmund Hillary of Everest fame once said ldquobecause it is thererdquo. We had chosen an agency called Refugio Huayna Potosi as it is run by Doctor Hugo Berrios Martin who has not only been instrumental in training guides for the mountain so he should know the mountain well http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Huayna-Potosi/blog-191411.html Huayna Potosi Now if you look at the guide books they will tell you that this mountain is actually one of the easiest 6000m peaks in the world to climb. After doing this i can only say that there is no such thing as an easy 6000m peak as the human body is just not supposed to survive at this altitude. We chose a 3 day trip on the mountain to give us a good couple of days to aclimatise due to t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Huayna-Potosi/blog-169173.html Although it was rock hard the Sorata trek gave us a taste for adventure so on our return to La Paz the four of us decided to attempt the Huayna Potosi climb apparently one of the easiest 6000m mountains to summit in the world bearing in mind that anything involving scaling a 200m ice wall using an ice axe and crampons isnt going to be that easy.. We booked the trek through Travel Track http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Huayna-Potosi/blog-152894.html