Huayna Potosi, Mission Accomplished

From the moment we arrived in La Paz and being able to see Illimani from our apartment window, I wanted to hit the hills again – it’s been six years since I summited Huascaran in Peru with some friends and I was hungry to get back into thin air. Illimani, at 6.438 meters, was out of the question due to its $500 guided price tag; whereas the smaller Huayna Potosi in the Cordillera Real was totally doable! At 6.088 meters high it would still be a challenge, but for the price I was prepared to take the two day option instead of the more recommended three days that the climbing shops try to sell.

It didn’t seem real to be going so high in barely over twenty four hours, although not for the first time, as ten years ago my climbing friends and I went from Mexico City to the summit of Pico de Orizaba in a similar timeframe. I was excited to see how my body and fitness level would perform. Out of the mass of climbing shops in La Paz, I chose Alberth Bolivia Tours as the office staff seemed knowledgeable and I’d read a couple of good Tripadvisor reviews – their prices were competitive and for me to join a couple of Brazilians who started a day earlier I paid $130, including all food, refuge and shared guides. It turned out that the Brazilians had altitude problems on their first day and headed off to a lower mountain giving me a personal guide.

I met my guide, Teo, at the Alberth shop on the Monday morning, got kitted up with fairly good quality rental equipment and jumped in a taxi to take us on the two hour drive from La Paz to the start of the trek at 4.800 meters. We made a brief stop in El Alto, the city on the plateau above La Paz, to get water and lunch and were ready to begin the hike up to high camp by midday. The landscape was stunning, both where I had come from and where we were going, but I was glad to be leaving behind the very dusty altiplano and hitting rock and snow.

If getting to high camp was anything to go by then I was excited about our prospects of a successful summit, experiencing little effect of the 5.130 meter altitude we were already at. From here we could now see the summit and the snowy trail well established from the vast amount of climbers who attempt this mountain daily. It was great to arrive so early in the afternoon to provide plenty of rest time for the evening’s summit attempt and to prepare my crampons and other equipment so there would be no nasty surprises at 1am. The refuge was comfortable with cooking facilities and plenty of bunk beds all very much in demand based on the number of other climbers arriving by the hour.

Most of the other climbers and guides were getting up at midnight for a 1am departure so we decided on a lay-in with a 12.30am wakeup! The extra thirty minutes didn’t make any difference with the amount of noise and it still didn’t get us out onto the snow until 2am – oh well, we had given most other climbers a big head start! Sleep did not come easy with nerves, excitement and altitude all messing with my head allowing me maybe two to three hours which before a summit attempt is not unusual. My biggest concern was only having the travel Green Gibbon with me, unlike the trusted original who has accompanied me on all major climbs, including Everest, but this one is not proven – only time will tell!

“Is the travel Green Gibbon going to live up to the original?”

These middle of the night starts are my favorite part of climbing, bundled up with only a headlamp illuminating the way, and amazing peace and quiet. We made good time and started passing people pretty quickly but with an estimated four hours to the summit we didn’t need to be too aggressive – standing around on a very cold summit waiting for sunrise was not going to be much fun. Teo made me stop to slow us down on occasion but it didn’t take long for fingers and toes to start going numb so I made sure these were brief. It was fairly easy cramponing for the first couple of hours with nothing too steep and only a single slightly technical section.

In the pitch dark we soon got to within an hour of the summit and Teo suggested we take a very direct route straight up the final face – the normal trail meandered along gaining altitude at a progressive rate but his suggestion was very steep and we would have arrived on the summit in half the time. We began the ascent but very soon I decided it would be better to rejoin the easier trail and skip out on the direct route! On the way down Teo showed me what we would have gone up and in daylight it didn’t seem so bad – oh well. The final couple hundred yards to the summit was at times very narrow and exposed with huge drop-offs on either side making for careful and direct foot placements. With one last push we stood on the very small summit…

After high-fives and what felt like an hour on the cold summit waiting for sunrise we carefully made our way back along the narrow ridge using ice-axes and crampons. The few others who had left before allowed us to pass on the ridge and we made a very fast descent, this time with me at the front of the rope. At 8am we were back at camp, tired and hungry but very happy on a faultless climb – not sure how much of our success I owe to the Green Gibbon!

It was great to be back in the mountains again although the only problem now is what to climb next. Illimani is the obvious choice as it dominates the La Paz skyline and I get to see the huge massif every morning upon opening the curtains! A fair bit more technical, expensive and with an altitude of 6.438 meters it would definitely make for a more challenging climb – I may have to wait and climb this with my regular climbing friends from the US in 2014. Can’t wait!