Bolivia

[HHR]

I'm getting ready for a climbing trip to Bolivia in July. I'm planning on climbing one or two of the 6000m peaks in the Cordillera Real, as well as some of the 5000m peaks in the Condoriri region. In the guidebooks I've read, I haven't seen anything yet about the temperatures that I can expect. Does anyone know anything about the day and night temperatures at various elevation levels? How would the temperature and winds compare to some of our northwest mountains (like Rainier) in winter?

[mtnnut]

I was down a couple of years ago in the month of August. Not sure if we were just lucky or not, but the weather was quite good. Had only about 2-3 days of precip the entire month. In the early part of July there may be the remainder of the seasonal moisture hitting Peru, though I’m not sure if it has enough strength to reach Bolivia.

 

Sometimes even when you don't have a weather system strong enough to produce moisture, you occasionally can get clouds that will wrap around the peaks. This didn't happen to us on any summit days, but if it was a day you needed to navigate with that could be a problem. Given the status of the maps for the area, you kinda want to see where you are going. One day when we were trekking over a pass and down to an unfamiliar valley, we did so in clouds, and it made it harder to join up with a trail that we expected to find on the other side. My guess is that these sorts of clouds would be found at middle elevations, and the summits of the big peaks would likely stick up through them.

 

As far as temperatures go, it isn’t going to be as cold as Rainier in the winter. Maybe preparing for winter camping somewhere between Paradise and Muir would be sufficient gear, though you won’t be needing to camp on snow except perhaps for your highest camps. Base camp in Condoriri would get water to freeze at night, but I doubt it got colder than mid-teens (Fahrenheit). Daytime would find travel at that base camp elevation could be done with just a mid-layer or perhaps with fleece on (probably around 40-50 -ish degrees). If you are planning higher camps for some of the big peaks, you can sort of extrapolate. A puffy jacket for the evenings is a good idea, but whether you go so far as to take fleece or down pants is up to you. You could probably make it work with layers, like long underwear or expedition underwear along with something equivalent to a Schoeller pant (plus wind/weather shell). The wind surely can blow, and would blow more if you had a higher, more exposed camp. I actually had a mediocre three season tent, and the weather never really challenged it, but then we didn’t camp in super high or exposed locations either.

 

To adjust for altitude, you can use the rules of thumb from meteorology regarding the rate at which air cools with elevation:

 

3.3 degrees Fahrenheit per 1000 feet for moist air,

as much as 5.5 degrees per 1000 feet for dry air.

(the air down there would generally be considered dry)

 

I had similar questions before going down there, the guidebooks don't seem to pass this sort of information for clothing planning along. Since we are talking about guidebooks, be wary of Yossi Brain's books. The times may be a little aggressive (shorter than you may choose to do them), and the technical difficulty may not be accurate. As an example, the scramble down Tarija en route to Pequeno Alpamayo is listed as something like 5.2, such that we would have guessed that a rappel would have been in order, but instead it was more like class 3+. I can't say whether the ratings always err in favor of claiming it to be harder than it really is, just recognize that you can't take them for face value. Perhaps the ratings were influenced by someone wearing crampons on rock?

 

Oh yeah, one other tidbit. The compass needle dips down there to line up with the magnetic pole. What that means is you won't be able to hold your compass flat and have it free swinging. The manufacturers would claim that you need an "international" compass to compensate for this, and if you plan on doing much navigation in the southern hemisphere you might consider it, otherwise, you can kinda make do with a compass designed for the northern hemisphere. I guess whether you would want one would depend on how much in the way of detailed maps you might want to purchase or use.

 

Hope that helps. I loved the trip down there and hope to get back again someday.

[HHR]

Thanks a lot for the great information!

[mtnnut]

Check your Personal Messages. I found and saved a posting by "mneagle" that he posted last year. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be on the CC.com site anymore (the search engine didn't produce it).

 

He has a more recent post that is still on the site, but it might not be exactly have the sort of info you were looking for:

 

http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=002356

[CharlesEvans]

I was in Bolivia in mid-June through mid-July. We climbed in the same areas as you mentioned. A down jacket was pretty much essential at night and early mornings. I don't remember what the other three in our party were using for bags, but we used a combo unit of a Western Mountaineering Apache (-7C) and an MEC Emperor Penguin overbag. Never had any complaints, and she sleeps cold. We bivvied at the nido de condorres (sp?) on Huyana Potosi 18K(?) with that combo and a bivy bag and it worked ok. Too much wind to sleep properly, but warm enough.

PS As of 1997 don't ask for white gas. Apparently it's used to separate the cocaine from coca leaves and asking for it can win you a chat with the federales. Things may have changed. Prepare for the omni-present scent of shit with traces of diesel.

[ivan]

look out for "los banditos yanquis"

 

you know what happens when you live in bolivia, right?

 

you get colorful

 

dammit

[mneagle]

If you are interested in reading my TR from last year, it's still on CC at:

 

http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000642

 

There was supposedly a ton of snow in the Condoriri region which should have firmed up by now making for some great climbing.

 

On Sajama and Illimani we both wore down coats for the entire round trip on summit days, which were blisteringly windy. Jill wore a Feathered Friends Front Point. I used more layers: long sleeved polypro, Patagonia Puffball pullover, Feathered Friends Volant Jacket and a MH gore-tex jacket. Despite wearing Koflach Artic Expe's we both had to stop periodically and shake feeling back into our feet before the sun came up. On the sub 5000 meter peaks in Condoriri I got away with a lot less, polypro shirt, +/- fleece and a gore-tex jacket. Most of the climbs near Condoriri can be started at 5-6AM and you'll see sun pretty soon. Cabeza del Condor is the only one we got an alpine start on at 2 AM.

 

As far as gas goes, you can buy canisters at Condoriri on Sagarnaga for 35 Bolivianos (as well as cool chalk bags). The white gas is supposed to suck, so we bought kerocene.

 

I would definitely use Adolfo Andino (on Sagarnaga, across the street from Bolivian Journeys) for transport and info. Adolfo is a great guy who speaks english well and will cut you a good deal.

 

Have a great trip.