Advertisement
Published: July 24th 2006
Tiwanaku
Ancient pre Columbian civilationWell James and I have had a fantastic week since our last blog! We started off by visiting a tourist agency called "Alberth Bolivia" and somehow ended up booking a guide to take us up Huayna Potosi, a 6,088m mountain (although it is supposed to be the easiest 6,000m peak in the world!) in just 3 days time! We also booked a tour for the next day up Chacaltaya, a 5,395m which is a very easy mountain to climb as you are driven up to 5,200m leaving only 200m to climb. Despite leaving very late due to a broken down minibus James and I found the 200m climb surprisingly easy (which at that altitude is something of an achievement) although it probably had something to do with the fact that we had been at over 4,000m altitude for about 2 weeks now. James' dad had climbed the same mountain 38 years ago but apprently found it very hard!! After Chacaltaya we went to Valle de la Luna (the third moon valley of our trip!) which is a very weird place made up of lots of pinnacles of mud! Apparently it is very different from when James last visited it 10 years
Tiwanaku
Over 180 different faces each supposed to represent a different emotion. Located in an subterranian temple. ago. Bolivia is definitely experiencing a tourist boom!
The following day was spent organising equipment for our trip (e.g. long johns and spare torch batteries) before visiting the Coca museum. For those of you who don´t know coca is pretty much a way of life here and drinking coca tea is just like drinking normal tea in England. Many manual workers (particularly miners) chew coca which has a more potent effect - although still far removed from the effects of taking cocaine! The museum was really interesting and I learnt lots of interesting facts, e.g. Coca Cola is still flavoured with coca - although they extract all cocaine related chemicals first!! In the Bolivian jungle around 9000 small coca plants exist in which illegal coca is processed into cocaine and shipped out of the country.
Our final day before attempting the mountain was spent visiting an Pre Columbian archeological site called Tiwanaku. The site is over 1,500 years old with some parts nearly 3,000 years old. The scale of the place is huge with an enormous pyramid as it´s centre piece. Most of the pyramid is still covered in centuries of mud and teams of archaeologists work painstakingly
Tiwanaku statue
Ancient original statue from around 1500BC - 700AC to gradually reveal the immense structure from the ground. This might explain the extortionate entrance fee of 80 Bolivianos each (6 pounds) which can easily buy 2 people dinner and drinks here!
So the following day we were up early to start our ascent of Huayna Potosi. Our guide, Teordore, only spoke Spanish, which is not really a problem for us now, in fact we would rather have a Spanish speaking guide! Once we had established ourselves at base camp (4,700m) we headed off to the Old Glacier to practice (this was for my benefit not James´!) We practiced a few different techniques for ascending and descending ice slopes up to an angle of 80 degrees (The steepest ice slopes on the route up Huayna Potosi) before ice climbing a vertical ice face! James scaled it very quickly and I was feeling very nervous as my turn came around. I was quite surprised how easy I found it as I hit my ice axes into the ice and whacked my crampon points in as hard as I could (when I climbed I had to resort to brute force, whereas when James climbed he made it look like an art).
The Sun Gate
James stands with the sun gate. Some say this is where Gods stand!! Before I knew it I was at the top of the slope and it was time to be lowered back down again. We each climbed the face twice before returning to base camp for a good meal and then we took Teodore´s advice and headed for bed - despite it only being 6.30, but it was way too cold to stay up! The lowest temperture in the tent was minus 5 degrees - tropical at this height.
Day 2 of our expedition dawned and it was time to pack up and head to Advanced Base Camp. The route was up a very steep and rocky path, which was made more difficult as we were wearing plastic mountaineering boots! We arrived there after just 2 hours (including an enforced 30 min rest!) but it was pretty hard work as we were carrying fairly heavy packs, especially once we got above 5,000m. Advanced Base Camp is at 5,200m and is called Campo Roca (Rock Camp) because it is all rocks. The camp is very steep and there are an unbelievable number of tents there. There are no toilet facilities so as you can imagine it is pretty gross in places and
Anne gearing up
With help from our guide. there are rats everywhere! We spent the rest of the day chilling out and trying to avoid moving around as it´s pretty hard to breathe at this height. Theodore advised a mid afternoon nap which I did willingly, James didn´t find it so easy as he claims it was 46 degrees in the tent! Hmm, I think not!
After another good meal provided by Teodore it was time for bed as it was 6:00 pm. James was soon asleep but I was wide awake until after 9. It was soon 12:30am and time to get up and start our summit attempt. We put on pretty much all the clothes that we had and after a quick cup of coca tea (to help with the altitude) and half a bread bun we strapped on our crampons and started the long slow walk up the glacier. We were tied together for safety with a 5m gap between us, Teodore leading the way with James and I following behind. It was very hard to keep moving as the air got thinner and thinner as we climbed higher. In the dark all you could see was the light of other groups head torches
James in good form.
James looking good on 80 degree ice. as they slowly made their way up the seemingly endless ice slope. We seemed to set off at a very fast pace and I was soon out of breath. Thankfully after catching another group up we were forced to slow down - much to James' annoyance. Eventually La Paz came into view and the orange of the street lights were visible far below.
Two hours into the walk after listening to the relentless crunch of crampons impacting on the ice we arrived at the bottom of the first of the 75 degree ice slopes. Before we started to climb we had a quick drink and some chocolate, although I could barely eat one square, which almost made me sick- the altitude was certainly starting to have a bad effect on me! After Teodore had climbed to the top to secure a belay point James and I climbed up (still tied together) I was having to stop after almost every step to catch my breath but eventually managed to make the 50m to the top. As soon as we were at the top it was time to move off again but my torch batteries had gone for the second time
Anne practicing on Ice
She will need these skills at 6000m. and I had run out of spares. Luckily Teodore had a spare torch to lend me. The going seemed to get a lot tougher from here on. Never the less I kept plodding on even though I was having to stop more and more frequently and for longer and longer periods of time. My legs were burning with lactic acid from lack of oxygen and before long it didn´t matter how long I stopped, my breathing still didn´t return to normal. At this point my torch battery went again and I fell off the path a couple of times, somehow James and Teodore were both on their first set of batteries and my third set had gone! Teodore kindly gave me his torch. We ploughed on still further until it seemed that I was resting more than I was walking. James was still in top form.
At this point it became clear to everyone that there was no way I would be able to complete the final hurdle on the mountain - a 200m 75 degree slope to the summit. This would require plenty of energy at sea level, let alone at 6,000m! It was impossible for James to
go on without me as I would have had frost bite by the time he had returned and probably have died (it was so cold that the water in my bottle had turned to a slush puppy!). So with heavy hearts we turned around at 5,900m.
The walk down was much easier as gravity was on our side! As we got to the small steep slope and abseiled down it started to come light and the mountain was gradually turned a beautiful shade of pink. After a few long hours of endless snow plodding we arrived back at rock camp. After much moping around we packed up our things and returned to Base Camp (the journey down was a real killer!) and finally back to La Paz where it was time to say good bye to Teodore (who we left with a generous tip!).
Today is our wedding anniversary but we are just chilling out as I ache too much to do more! We are going out for dinner tonight - not to an Italian restaurant, which will make a change as that is all we have eaten since James got food poisoning! It is also time for
Huayna Potosi
The old glacier in the lower left corner was where we practiced. Advanced Base Camp is at the top of the rocks. my annual review by James - I need to pass this one as I failed last year.
I think this will probably be the end of my mountaineering career - although I hear Kilimanjaro is quite easy!!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.11s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 18; qc: 90; dbt: 0.0604s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
Georgie
non-member comment
Fake blog positivitism....
I can see that this blog is full of forced positivitism! You are clearly worried about your annual review, comments like "James is clearly at top physical form2 ;-) The mountain sounds hard work...well done for giving it a go. I think you were missing Kendal Mint Cake. If you'd had a bit of that there'd be no problem! Is this the second anniversary! It seems so long since I was that badly behaved!