Huayna Potosi, 19,975 ft. The west face is showing.
I'm just returning from my second trip guiding in Bolivia. Two years ago I came down with the illustrious, if not, infamous, Andrew Wexler to guide and climb some stuff on our own. Check out his blog on my sidebar, if you don't come out laughing from his writing, I don't know what will make you smile. Also on his sidebar is a link to an article Andrew just wrote for Gripped, a Canadian climbing rag, in which he details some of our shenanigans from 2007 and highlights the other peaks in the range.
Rodolfo and Emma approaching the Pirimide Blanca.
La Paz on the drive in. It sits in a bowl about 1500 beneath the dusty metropolis of El Alto (which has 1,000,000 people). La Paz has 2 million and it is the last place I would ever want to be in an earthquake because the homes are all built on the steep sidewalls of the valley. Unfortunately the valley is composed of very loose old riverbed rock which is totally unstable. We also met the urban search and rescue team which is responsible for extricating people when their homes collapse, which happens often.
The Condoriri Valley with Rodolfo, Steve, and Emma
El Cabeza del Condor, the capstone peak of the Condoriri Valley, at night under the full moon, with headlamp tracks in the foreground.
If you want to feel tall, go to Bolivia. This is Nestor and his esposa Louise who are subsistence farmers and also will take your gear into the Condoriri on their donkeys and llamas.
This trip was a short one, one 3 weeks, but I'm headed home a bit early now because a combo of a lung hack from last month and the altitude have proved too much this time. Even walking around La Paz at 11,500 feet feels strenuous. But we've had a great trip so far with a few unexpected adventures here and there. Bolivia is always that way for me, expect the unexpected. Its not that the country is disorganized exactly, probably no more so than my own, but they do things a little different here.
Our trip began with an 8 day climbing session in the Condoriri Valley. On day one in basecamp one of our trip members needed to descend because of altitude illness, but then we were off and running with a practice day and two climbs, Pequeno Alpamayo and Pirimide Blanca, both great warm-ups to the higher peaks of the Cordillera Real (Royal Range). I haven't done any climbs here that are complete walk-ups, most involve some amount of pitched climbing, or can if you want them to anyways.
Rodolfo, Steve, and Emma on the summit ridge of Pequeno Alpamayo, 18000ft.
Emma and Rodolfo climbing the final summit block of Pirimide Blanca
The climbing here is described as "high altitude sport mountaineering." Which isn't to take away from the seriousness of high altitude and steep icy slopes. But what might take a week or two to get to in Nepal or the Himilaya is only a few hours drive and a few hours walk from your hotel in La Paz. This trip was different and didn't involve any real fiestas for me. It is easy to get sucked into the vortex of late nights out and early mornings out to the mountains. All the roads here are bumpy and dusty and a good hangover usually leads to a healthy dose of carsickness. I recommend Pepto Bismol and Coca-Cola for that.
Steve on the summit of Pequeno Alpamayo
Looking back at climbers on Pequeno's summit ridge
Some trips are bittersweet. This one was just that with some health issues to complicate my job here and the fun I would usually be having. But it is always nice to be here and see the friends I've made. There is no better perspective for understanding how lucky we 1st-worlders are than 3rd world travel. People here are very very poor, on average, the poorest in South America. Basically everyone is selling something most of their waking hours. The problem is that everybody is selling something so theres not much money to go around. There are many subsistence farmers in the rural areas, and aside from the few middle and upper class people, I would say that Bolivia is largely composed of subsistence livers; people who make barely enough, and often not enough, to simply eat.
Most of these people could literally not leave the country because it costs too much. Its rare that I meet someone of the lower classes who have left Bolivia, and sometimes even this small region, for their whole lives. I've met friends with college degrees who can't come to the United States because the paperwork, beaurocracy, and cost, is much more than their middle class earnings allow.
Part of the issue is that Bolivia has natural resources, gas and oil, but they are landlocked (a sore spot which has caused more than one war with neighboring Chile) and therefore cannot cheaply export their goods. And despite the economic hardships of life in Bolivia, people still seem happy and go about their daily lives with less stress and anxiety than most people in the first world.
I hope to get back here next year, we'll see though, I've got to keep an open mind.