Climbing Huayna Potosi
I just got back from a 2-day climb to the summit of Huayna Potosi (6088m, 19975') which lies in the Cordillera Real, North of La Paz.
My own pictures of the climb were lost when I got mugged in La Paz the day after the trip, but I have posted some shots from a fellow climber who was kind enough to let me use his photos. The camp site was a bit rocky as you can see.
We were up at midnight for the climb to the summit which we reached just before sunrise.
I was told it was a non-technical climb and I was expecting a long slog up to the top at high altitude (challege enough) but it turned out to involve quite a bit of scrambling up ice-gullies, walking over very narrow ice-bridges over 30m deep crevaces and one hairy spot where we should have been on belay but weren't.
I was happy not to have any altitude problems other than being scarcely able to breathe. The last 200m is a punishing scramble up a steep ice-field full of man-sized fins of ice formed by the sun and wind. When one of the guides told us we only had 10m to go, I groaned. Doing anything to break the rhythm of my breathing (like wiping my nose) resulted in a sudden burst of heaving gasps.
The climb was beautiful however, and very rewarding to reach the summit.
My own pictures of the climb were lost when I got mugged in La Paz the day after the trip, but I have posted some shots from a fellow climber who was kind enough to let me use his photos. The camp site was a bit rocky as you can see.
We were up at midnight for the climb to the summit which we reached just before sunrise.
I was told it was a non-technical climb and I was expecting a long slog up to the top at high altitude (challege enough) but it turned out to involve quite a bit of scrambling up ice-gullies, walking over very narrow ice-bridges over 30m deep crevaces and one hairy spot where we should have been on belay but weren't.
I was happy not to have any altitude problems other than being scarcely able to breathe. The last 200m is a punishing scramble up a steep ice-field full of man-sized fins of ice formed by the sun and wind. When one of the guides told us we only had 10m to go, I groaned. Doing anything to break the rhythm of my breathing (like wiping my nose) resulted in a sudden burst of heaving gasps.
The climb was beautiful however, and very rewarding to reach the summit.
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