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Huayna Potosí (above) is the 5th highest mountain in Bolivia, with a peak that sits at just over 6,000 meters (6,088 to be exact). In feet, that translates to just under 20,000 feet (19,973). While only the 5th highest in Bolivia (and not even in the top ten in South America), it's only about 100 meters shy of the highest peak in the US (Mount McKinley in Alaska) and is over 1,600 meters (5,250 feet) higher than the highest peak in the contiguous United States (Mount Whitney in California). Needless to say, I've never before attempted to climb anything close to this height (mount Mitchell sits at a measly 6,684 feet) so this was an incredibly daunting task for me. The funny thing is, we (Christine, Diana and myself) actually made the decision to go on a bit of a whim, making our reservation with a guide on Monday (the 25th), literally a day before we left.
Before I go on, it's important to preface the rest of the account with an unfortunate detail -- the fact that I had acquired a three day stomach virus from our weekend trip to the Salt Flats. One of the girls in our group had come down with it during the trip and unfortunately I started feeling symptoms on the bus ride back to La Paz on Sunday morning. The next few days I was very careful about what I ate and avoided a lot of the symptoms, but just as I thought I was over the bug, I woke up tuesday morning (the day of our journey) with pretty rough stomach issues.
As you can see from the pictures, the views from high camp were absolutely stunning, and we were able to watch the sun set just behind the peak of Huayna Potosí. We ate a pasta dinner at around 5:30 (once again I could barely eat a thing), then put on clothes and crawled into our sleeping bags to try to get about 5 and half hours of rest before the climb. I slept pretty poorly on account of the cold and the anticipation of the hike. We were restled awake by our guides at about midnight, and that's when I realized that something wasn't quite right with my stomach (my medicine had worn off by this point). Due to my stomach and definitely partially the altitude, I immediately had to run outside to vomit a few times, and then spent about 20 minutes in our outhouse at midnight, in below freezing temperatures at around 17,000 feet above sea level -- an adventure in and of itself. I came back inside to gather my gear and drink what was probably my 4th coca tea in the past 12 hours, hoping that the pains in my stomach would pass.
Before I go on, it's important to preface the rest of the account with an unfortunate detail -- the fact that I had acquired a three day stomach virus from our weekend trip to the Salt Flats. One of the girls in our group had come down with it during the trip and unfortunately I started feeling symptoms on the bus ride back to La Paz on Sunday morning. The next few days I was very careful about what I ate and avoided a lot of the symptoms, but just as I thought I was over the bug, I woke up tuesday morning (the day of our journey) with pretty rough stomach issues.
Tuesday morning we drove from La Paz to the mountain in about an hour and a half. What makes this climb one of the easiest (if not the easiest) 6,000+ meter climbs in the world is that we can drive up so close to the mountain itself. We were dropped off at about a 20 minute hike from base camp, which sat at around 4,700 meters. We ate a lunch of rice, potatoes and a cut up hotdog at base camp and then had the first of our many coca teas (coca is supposedly really good for altitude sickness). I had taken anti-diarrhea medicine that morning which had helped a good bit, but unfortunately one of the side effects was that I had no appetite at all, so I had to basically force my food down. 
The first leg of the climb, the hike to base camp, was a gain of about 500 meters (to close to 5,200 meters) and was supposed to take about 3 hours. We actually were able to make it in two hours -- which our guide told us was very good -- so we were pretty proud.
The first leg of the climb, the hike to base camp, was a gain of about 500 meters (to close to 5,200 meters) and was supposed to take about 3 hours. We actually were able to make it in two hours -- which our guide told us was very good -- so we were pretty proud.
As you can see from the pictures, the views from high camp were absolutely stunning, and we were able to watch the sun set just behind the peak of Huayna Potosí. We ate a pasta dinner at around 5:30 (once again I could barely eat a thing), then put on clothes and crawled into our sleeping bags to try to get about 5 and half hours of rest before the climb. I slept pretty poorly on account of the cold and the anticipation of the hike. We were restled awake by our guides at about midnight, and that's when I realized that something wasn't quite right with my stomach (my medicine had worn off by this point). Due to my stomach and definitely partially the altitude, I immediately had to run outside to vomit a few times, and then spent about 20 minutes in our outhouse at midnight, in below freezing temperatures at around 17,000 feet above sea level -- an adventure in and of itself. I came back inside to gather my gear and drink what was probably my 4th coca tea in the past 12 hours, hoping that the pains in my stomach would pass.
This was by far the most legitimate climbing I had ever done -- we were tied in by rope and harness to our guide, wore crampons, carried ice picks and were to make the hike only by the light of our headlamps (hiking in the sun is particularly dangerous as the ice can melt and then snow can shift below your feet). I started the climb and was at first able to bear the pains as they came and went in waves. However as the climb got steeper and the air got thinner, it became harder and harder for me to ignore my stomach pains. I had to take frequent breaks to let the waves of nausea pass. After an excruciating two and a half hours and about 300 meters (I wasn't even a quarter of the way there) I simply couldn't make it, and had to turn around and head back down to base camp.
It was an extremely disappointing experience, as although I didn't know whether or not I could've actually made it, I knew that I hadn't had a legitimate shot at it.
And for this reason I decided to go back again the next week (this past Wednesday). I made sure that I felt perfectly healthy on the day before, and then went to the agency to reserve my spot. I went along with a French man and his girlfriend, both who I found out had lots of experience mountain climbing (it turns out the man was a guide in the mountains in southern France). I could only really speak spanish with them, which made the whole experience even more interesting. We ended up having the brother of the guide that I had had the week before, and he was a friendly and yet extremely determined guide.
Thankfully I could stomach all the food that I was given which made a huge difference in my energy level, as, led by the French mountain madman, we were able to make the first climb to high camp in only an hour and 15 minutes (remember that it was "supposed" to take 3 hours). I was obviously straggling a bit behind, but it was definitely a confidence boost to be able to keep up more or less.
That night we rested (I slept a good bit better this time) and then woke up and went through the same routine as the week before -- gear and tea. The girlfriend stayed at high camp (she had made this arrangement before because she knew she didn't handle high altitude well) and then we were strapped into the guide, me first, then behind me the frenchman. This turned out to be a great order, as it allowed me to take the climb at my own pace and not to be dragged along by the frenchman (although he ended up being a fantastic partner -- a good motivator but also extremely patient and understanding of my lack of experience). We began the trek and made it without too much trouble to the point where I had had to turn back the week before, which was very exciting for me as while I was tired, I was definitely feeling strong enough to continue. Just before we reached the "halfway" point we had a climb of about 10 meters which was steep enough to where we actually had to use our ice picks to assist our climb. I put halfway in quotations because in reality, the halfway point was at 5700 meters (a little less than 400 meters shy of the peak). The issue was from that point on, the hike had to be made painfully slowly due to the lack of oxygen.
From that point on, the hike changed both in speed and in the type of landscape. previously we had been hiking on hardened snow paths that while only a few meters wide, were not too difficult to climb. Now we made our way on a bit smaller paths that wound back and forth in and around ice caves and icicles. At this point I had to develop a routine, which was step, mini pause, long, deep breath, then another step. No matter what I did, I couldn't get the amount of oxygen that my body was desperately begging me for. At this point, however, I knew that there was absolutely no turning back so I continued to force one foot in front of the other.
The last stretch before we reached the summit was surreal. It was essentially a snow bridge that ran along, with a pretty significant drop on either side. Thankfully we had about a 5 foot high wall on our right side that we could hold onto, and I actually felt pretty safe as long as I didn't stare too long at the drop off on the other side of the wall.
The wind also made that last stretch excruciating, as it was even more difficult to breath the freezing cold air. I've read in books about snot from your nose and your saliva freezing on your face, but on this last stretch I actually experienced it myself.
It was an extremely disappointing experience, as although I didn't know whether or not I could've actually made it, I knew that I hadn't had a legitimate shot at it.
And for this reason I decided to go back again the next week (this past Wednesday). I made sure that I felt perfectly healthy on the day before, and then went to the agency to reserve my spot. I went along with a French man and his girlfriend, both who I found out had lots of experience mountain climbing (it turns out the man was a guide in the mountains in southern France). I could only really speak spanish with them, which made the whole experience even more interesting. We ended up having the brother of the guide that I had had the week before, and he was a friendly and yet extremely determined guide.
Thankfully I could stomach all the food that I was given which made a huge difference in my energy level, as, led by the French mountain madman, we were able to make the first climb to high camp in only an hour and 15 minutes (remember that it was "supposed" to take 3 hours). I was obviously straggling a bit behind, but it was definitely a confidence boost to be able to keep up more or less.
That night we rested (I slept a good bit better this time) and then woke up and went through the same routine as the week before -- gear and tea. The girlfriend stayed at high camp (she had made this arrangement before because she knew she didn't handle high altitude well) and then we were strapped into the guide, me first, then behind me the frenchman. This turned out to be a great order, as it allowed me to take the climb at my own pace and not to be dragged along by the frenchman (although he ended up being a fantastic partner -- a good motivator but also extremely patient and understanding of my lack of experience). We began the trek and made it without too much trouble to the point where I had had to turn back the week before, which was very exciting for me as while I was tired, I was definitely feeling strong enough to continue. Just before we reached the "halfway" point we had a climb of about 10 meters which was steep enough to where we actually had to use our ice picks to assist our climb. I put halfway in quotations because in reality, the halfway point was at 5700 meters (a little less than 400 meters shy of the peak). The issue was from that point on, the hike had to be made painfully slowly due to the lack of oxygen.
From that point on, the hike changed both in speed and in the type of landscape. previously we had been hiking on hardened snow paths that while only a few meters wide, were not too difficult to climb. Now we made our way on a bit smaller paths that wound back and forth in and around ice caves and icicles. At this point I had to develop a routine, which was step, mini pause, long, deep breath, then another step. No matter what I did, I couldn't get the amount of oxygen that my body was desperately begging me for. At this point, however, I knew that there was absolutely no turning back so I continued to force one foot in front of the other.
The last stretch before we reached the summit was surreal. It was essentially a snow bridge that ran along, with a pretty significant drop on either side. Thankfully we had about a 5 foot high wall on our right side that we could hold onto, and I actually felt pretty safe as long as I didn't stare too long at the drop off on the other side of the wall.
The wind also made that last stretch excruciating, as it was even more difficult to breath the freezing cold air. I've read in books about snot from your nose and your saliva freezing on your face, but on this last stretch I actually experienced it myself.The feeling I had when I finally sat down on the summit made the journey 1000 times worth it. We arrived just as the sun was rising, and although it was extremely cloudy, we could still see for miles and miles in the occasional breaks in the clouds (we could even see Lake Titicaca and some surrounding cities). There exists a satisfaction like no other feeling when you put your body through physical hell to achieve a task -- and are successful. It still somewhat feels like a dream (probably due partially to the lack of sleep, food and oxygen).
Overall the climb lasted for 5 and a half hours, from 1:15 am to about 6:50 am, and with an ascent of almost 1,000 meters. Our return trip was difficult, but incredibly beautiful as we could see exactly what we had accomplished in the light of the morning sun.
Absolutely exhausted and with jelly legs we finally arrived back at basecamp. It was probably the most physically demanding thing I have ever done, yet absolutely worth it in terms of the unmatched satisfaction that I experienced at the summit and still feel now. I'm also not sure I've tasted a better beer than the one that we shared with our guide at base camp... I'm so incredibly glad that I went at it a second time, as, like they say, when in Bolivia...
That's all for now. Can't believe I have one week left! wow how time flies...
Hasta Luego!
Whitaker
Overall the climb lasted for 5 and a half hours, from 1:15 am to about 6:50 am, and with an ascent of almost 1,000 meters. Our return trip was difficult, but incredibly beautiful as we could see exactly what we had accomplished in the light of the morning sun.
Absolutely exhausted and with jelly legs we finally arrived back at basecamp. It was probably the most physically demanding thing I have ever done, yet absolutely worth it in terms of the unmatched satisfaction that I experienced at the summit and still feel now. I'm also not sure I've tasted a better beer than the one that we shared with our guide at base camp... I'm so incredibly glad that I went at it a second time, as, like they say, when in Bolivia...
That's all for now. Can't believe I have one week left! wow how time flies...
Hasta Luego!
Whitaker
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