Huanya Potosi – 6092 meters to the summit.

03/02/2012 - Hiking 6088 meters up Huanya Potosi - Day 3

Getting out of bed at midnight to begin a hike is something Im positive I've never done before and that is the reason why I had such difficulty doing it; good thing was that I wasn't the only one, all nine of us struggled getting out of our sleeping bags to face the freezing cold room to eat the stale cold bread with rancid margarine and jam downstairs.
After warming up drinking some coca tea and affixing all the gear I along with the others were set to go.
It was a daunting experience setting off in the pitch black of the night equipped with only a headlamp to light the way.
I was tied to our guide named Super Mario with an Australian guy (Will) and a British guy (Alex) we were put with Super Mario as he was the fittest of all the guides and I and the two others were categorized as the fittest of our group.
With the help of coca leaves to chew on we pushed ourselves to the limit reaching the summit, trenching through snow and feeling the effects of lack of oxygen at such a high altitude.
I was lucky not to have a headache and sickly feeling like a lot of the others did but on a few occasions I did feel light headed.
It took a tedious 5 hours to reach the summit and we were informed that only a few of us were going to make it but we all eventually made it to the summit for a spectacular view looking down at the surrounding mountains. Unfortunately the sunrise was blocked by cloud cover but we were lucky to have the weather we did as yesterday's groups couldn't make it to the top because of a snow storm - it is rainy season at the mo.
It was a good thing I brought my GPS because it gave us a rough estimate on how much more we had to climb along with the exact height we reached 6092 meters!
The last 50 or so meters on a ridge to the summit was treacherous as there was a 300 meter drop off one side and 50+ on the other, the thing is that this only revealed itself when the sun rose and we had to head down from the summit. The safety meeting we had last night spoke of in the unlikely event of someone falling from the ridge you had to counteract the fall by jumping off the other side of the ridge, this is exactly where Will slipped and fell thankfully staying on the ridge path but as I saw him collapse I almost shit myself ready to respond by jumping off the opposite edge.
The hike back down was the worst part of the trip as my knee started playing up and became unbearably painful but having 3 people roped to me I didn't have a choice other than enduring the pain and push through it.
Unsurprisingly we were all unbelievably nackard and sleeping in the minibus back to La Paz wasn't an option as not only was it cramped but the roads aren't in any way forgiving.
Arriving back in la Paz I checked back into the wild rover, munched down some food and crashed hard for several hours.
The group of 9 of us that did the climb met up and went for dinner at an expensive Indian place down the road, the food was delicious and some of the best food I had in Bolivia.
I tried making this last night in La Paz a party night but after two stines of rum and coke during happy hour at the hostel I was pretty smashed, I bounced around the hostel chatted to a bunch of people raving about how amazing the hike was and having a great time but that was short lived as I started dribbling, an indication I needed to go to bed.
Just got to say I conquered that mountain 6092 meters!

 

Reaching the Summit

Boing reaching the Summit!

The Terrain Profile when climbing Huanya Potosi

02/02/2012 - Hiking 6088 meters up Huanya Potosi - Day 2

Today was quite disappointing as we only hiked for 2 hours from 4800 to 5200 meters to the base camp. We did this in the morning so we had the whole afternoon and evening to entertain ourselves, chatting and playing more card games.
Much like the previous hut we stayed in last night we slept on mattresses in the attic but this time surrounded with notes written on the walls by mountaineers who made or attempted to make it to the summit, most of the notes written made the group of us a little frightful of what we were going to embark on early tomorrow morning.
After dinner and a quick run down of the itinerary we went to bed for our midnight wake up to start climbing the 900 meters to the summit of Huanya Potosi mountain.

Chewing on Coca Leaves

The group of us reaching the cabin for night number 2

01/02/2012 - hiking 6088 meters up Huanya Potosi - Day 1

Having organized this trip yesterday I was well excited to get things started. The group of 9 of us met at the Loki hostel around the corner from the hostel where I was staying, I quickly munched down some bread and jam for breakfast  that they served for free for their guests and later made our way to the office where the tour began.
The tour operator wasnt all that organized as they had to gear us up in the tiny office with most of the equipment and clothing we were going to be using for the next 3 days; after a considerable amount of faffing about we were on our way to the base of Huanya potosi.
In an old, creaky, cheaply built home where we would be sleeping for the evening we ate lunch (chicken and rice - no surprise there) and geared up for some trekking towards the glacier where we were taught how to walk on the surface of it with our ice pick and clip on metal spikes that mounted to the bottom of our boots.
After a strenuous and exhausting climb up the glacier we reached a point where we stopped and had to climb a wall of ice. Wielding 2 ice picks we were asked to try and scale this wall, it really wasnt as easy as it looked as the altitude at 5000 meters with less oxygen in the air made this activity rather difficult.
I managed to make it up as did most of the other people in the group but I had to take a considerable rest for at least 20 minutes just to catch my breath after scaling down.
Hiking back to we're we were staying for the evening was a relief as we were all so exhausted, here we munched down a hearty meal, played some cards and all crashed out before 9:30.
The next 2 days are going to be soul tearing as we have to hike, climb and possibly crawl to 6088 - the summit of Huanya Potosi.

29/01/2012 – Cycling Death Road!!!

The whole day was packed full of adrenaline and an unforgettable experience. The first section of road was asphalt then joining Death Road, a name unforgettable as cliff drops fell at some points 300 meters down with many memorials of people who died on this road. This is the same road that I and a group of others hopped on bicycles and road the road to the base. My god was it fun. My front tire wasn't exactly aligned straight but no matter it couldn't stop me from smiling all the way down. There were many stories of tourists dying on this road

Unfortunately i didnt bring my camera for the cycle and the shots taken from our guide were burnt to a disc but it is now too scratched up to be recognised in any disc drive.

This trip in itself certainly was one of my personal highlights of south america, it was incredibly good fun and in a heartbeat ill do it again.

27/01/2012 - 31/01/2012 Hazy Memories in Bolivia’s Capital

My time during this time in La Paz has been hazy and for the most part i really didnt do much other than drink and smoke, not making it home to the wee hours of the morning after checking out Route 36 -  a bar well know amongst party-going backpackers coming to the city, what happens in this chilled out bar is illegal due to the drugs that are offered hence why the bar constantly relocates around the city to keep the business running.

i had some fun times here

Random selection of shots taken around La Paz during this time.