Huayna Potosi, 6088m (15-20/May/06)

Puno, Peru

Next on the agenda we had a climb near La Paz, a mountain called Huayna Potosi, clocking in at 6088m. We went to chat to the director of the main agency, who is also a doctor, who told us we had lost our acclimatisation and would have to spend a few days in La Paz. We decided to stay an extra day and spend 4 days on the climbing tour, doing extended mountaineering training and acclimatisation (climbing takes 2 days, plus one day if you have no experience to learn the ropes) – we already had used crampons (spiky metal things you attach to your boots to walk on ice and snow) and ice axes but wanted a bit more formal training. Spent the other day in La Paz buying some food as we wanted to go straight on to a 3-day trek downhill on an old Inca path to a town called Coroico.

Got to the base camp (4700m, a full-on hotel, no freezing in tents like the other agencies!) after a short drive, had lunch, and then walked up to the glacier (panting a bit, definitely not yet used to the height). Had a fun time properly learning to walk with crampons on all types of slopes and using the ice axes to climb up a wall of ice, all a bit more in-depth than what we had done on the glacier in Argentina and going up the volcano in Chile. On the second day we trekked a bit more to another glacier (also quite exhausting, I actually felt faint going up) where we learned to use ropes and also how to break falls.

Third day was a free morning lazing about, and after an early lunch we walked 3 hours up to the high camp (5200m), taking all out equipment with us. With this agency the high camp was also not a bunch of tents, but a nice cosy metal hut. It is on some rocks just below the snow line, and the peak of the mountain is tantalizingly visible just 900m above. There is a steepish long climb, a short 45-degree wall, another climb, and finally a longish 45-degree wall. In all it takes 4-6 hours. The plan was to leave at 1am to arrive at the top at dawn.

That night was really windy, and we decided to postpone a few hours. But at 1ish the wind died down so by 2am we were on the way up. It was only half moon but you could see quite well. Far to the right of us, over the jungle, was a massive thunderstorm which lit up the clouds beautifully. To the left you could see the lights of El Alto, the city just above La Paz. About an hour into the ascent it was pretty obvious Esther wouldn’t make it, she was short of breath and having to stop every 10 steps or so. We had a scary moment just before the first wall when we saw a small avalanche just to our left. That, plus the fact that we were going pretty slowly through what looked like avalanchy terrain (in the eyes of the famous avalanche expert, Joshua Hewitt), Esther running out of energy, me getting cold and starting to also feel tired because of the start-stop pace, the wind starting to pick up again, and the obvious fact that we wouldn’t reach the summit, made us pull the plug and turn back (Esther’s plan was to go on as far as she could, but I reminded her she’d still need energy to get back). We didn’t reach the summit (or even get close!) but it was an amazing experience and a really good intro to serious mountaineering. We’ll definitely be attempting a few more peaks in Peru and maybe Venezuela. And we saved quite a lot of money by realising climbing Aconcagua (South America’s highest peak, in Argentina, 6962m), at over $1000 per person (plus buying some expensive clothes and equipment) is probably not for us at this moment in time.

Got back to the high camp just before daybreak. The other guide, with 2 other tourists, came soon after. They hadn’t managed it either as one of them had knackered out just before the last wall (the other one had been OK and was pretty pissed off at this – he had travelled back to La Paz especially for this). If we had all gone together he might have made it as Esther and the other guy (and maybe me, though I think I would have gone on) might have turned back together with just one of the guides. After a short rest we packed and walked down to the base camp.

The plan after was to go straight on to out 3-day trek the next day, but not only were we tired and feeling a bit lazy but our porter/guide had been wrongly briefed. Rather than risk another Sorata-type mixup we decided to simply go back to La Paz, have a good night’s sleep, and go to Peru a few days early.