Big mountain antics

Time for an update on some big mountain antics that I have been up to with a group of New Zealand guys who wanted to climb Huayna Potosi, in the Corderilla Real mountain range, its no push over at 6088m high.

We met up in La Paz on the monday morning and headed to a gear agency to hire the kit for the guys, Huayna is a big cold mountain requiring full mountaineering kit so we kitted the guys up with plastic mountaineering boots, crampons, ice axes loads of warm clothes and safety kit like helmets. 

Gearing up in La paz

 We got our transport up to the mountain which takes about an hour and a half on very bumpy roads up to 4800m at Zongo pass where there is a mountain hut that we stayed in for the night. After a quick lunch we walked for an hour up to the end of the glacier and had a mountain school session, teaching the guys all about how to use ace axes, crampons, and the gear they would be using over the next couple of days. We then had a small taster session of steep ice climbing, not strictly necessary on the normal route of Huayna Potosi bit fun and everyone loved it.

Wade learning to use crampons and move on steep ice

Kyle learning to use ice axes and crampons

Ice climbing school

Ice Climbing School

The second day of the trip is pretty simple and involves a 2-3 hr walk up from the base hut at 4800 to the top hut at 5150, bit of a slog with heavy bags but not too bad, we then rested all afternoon and ate n preparation for a very early start the next morning, or in reality later that night. Altitude is always a challenge and there were some pretty sore heads that night.

On big mountain climbing there is always what is called an Alpine start, usually between 1-3am, this is done so that you get the best cold conditions on the mountain, making progress easier underfoot because the snow is hard, and also making things safer as when the sun hits the mountain, rocks can start to fall, snow bridges over crevasses weaken and generally everything gets a bit sloppy and unpleasant.

At a distinctly unpleasant 12:00 midnight we woke and prepared our things ready for the off, took some tea, some light breakfast, got kitted up and headed out onto the glacier. It should be noted that the weather that had been pretty nice the night before had now started to draw in with thunder storms happening in below us in the valley. After roping up we set off onto the steep glacier and the real work, slogging up the slopes, roped together for safety should one of us fall through the snow into a crevasse underneath.

About a hour into our climb we started to get snowed on, this then turned into a real storm as one of the storm clouds we had hope to avoid ploughed up and into the mountain. The next hour was pretty challenging as the heavy snow combined with winds to make progress tough, we pushed on in the hopes that is would improve and fortunately it blew itself out.

The guys, taking a rest in the snowstorm that got worse after this point.

Climbing big mountains is never guaranteed and Huayna started to take its toll with a few people dropping out from altitude sickness or exhaustion at around the 5600m mark. This included one of the NZ guys who started to suffer badly from altitude sickness and headed back down, leaving the other two on my rope as we pushed on and up over the crevassed and broken glacier. The guys headed on up, despite being pretty tired, even vomiting from the altitude at one point, for another couple of hours until we reached the final part of the glacier plateau. This was the breaking point, the guys were completley spent and even though we made it within 150m of the summit just could not go on any further so we turned back and headed down. You win some you loose some!

Me in guide mode high up on the glacier with the summit behind.

Beautiful glacier with early morning sun.

Trekking back down to the base camp with the others who attempted the mountain.

The mountains always offer a great experience even if you don't succeed, but the three kiwis have some unfinished business here in Bolivia! 

There are plenty of mountains in Bolivia that are great for beginners right through to expert mountaineers. Vertical Pioneers is a a Mountain Guiding, Trekking and Climbing School that will be launching in two weeks to provide professional mountain experiences here in Bolivia and worldwide.

Keep watching this space for opportunities for great adventures.