Bolivia this Summer?

[esugi]

Looking for 1 or 2 people to join Jeff and I on a summer trip to Bolivia. We are going for 21 days 6/16 - 7/6. Our objectives inclue Chalcataya, Pequeno Alpamayo, Huayna Potosi (via de los Franceses), Illimani (normal route), and Sajama. Plus tourist stuff too.

 

Can't go for 21 days? Open to joining us for 10 days (leave after Potosi) or 16 days (leave after Illimani).

 

Previous glacier experience is a must and previous high altitude experience a plus (Mexico, Ecuador, etc...).

 

PM me or call 253-315-4287.

Alternatively, e-mail: eiji_sugi@tmo.blackberry.net

 

Thanks,

Eiji

[flatnose]

I had been planning a trip to Peru this summer but my partner had to bail out a couple of weeks ago to take a new job. I'm very interested in going to Bolivia if you guys want another partner. I've been climbing for about six years on both rock and in the mountains with ample experience on glaciers. I've summitted Hood close to thirty times, Rainier approx. half a dozen times as well as a number of the volcanoes in the Cascades. I've also climbed a bit in the bugaboos, squamish, leavenworth etc. I don't have any high altitude experience but have never experienced any trouble in regards to AMS or the like up to the 14000 ft. range.

You can reach me on this site or at my email flatnose@gmail.com

Adam Jones

[mneagle]

Please don't be offended by a little advice...

 

Chacaltaya isn't a climb, it's just a place to get a few ski runs on the highest lift serviced ski area in the world. It's a nice day trip from La Paz, though.

 

(I'll look for a picture when I get home.)

 

It seems like kind of a waste to go into the Cabeza de Condor basecamp and only climb Pequeno Alpamamyo. From that camp you can tag several other summits of varying difficulty from walk ups to the more difficult stuff on Ala Derecha and Huallomen. We tagged an excellent line on the South Face of Ala Izquierda, which I would highly suggest provided conditions are good.

 

Ala Izquierda (We climbed the left side of the serac at the bottom of the face and then traversed to the right to the mixed face. Descended the east ridge at right skyline.)

Ala Izquierda (climbing the lower serac.)

Ala Izquierda (Upper mixed pitches...don't forget the stubbies and screamers.)

 

View from Condoriri (Illampu and Ancohuma in the distance):

The ridge on Pequeno Alpamayo is pretty beautiful though:

 

 

 

Illimani actually is a pretty cool climb that can be done in 3-4 days round trip from La Paz. The "trade route" turned out to be pretty challenging with hard/icy conditions with 1000's of feet of fall potential. Bring a few screws and pickets for the steeper wind-blown sections. Two French guides from Chamonix died there 2 weeks after we climbed it. They left their ice axes in camp and tried to climb it with ski poles...ooops.

 

I've never been higher or colder than I was on Sajama. Not too thrilling otherwise but the local hotsprings are pretty cool if you can find them. Avoid the "commercial springs" and go a little further down the road looking for the rock stacks used to dam up the hot water.

 

Sajama:

 

If you are doing tourist stuff, don't miss the road to Coroico. Best to take mountain bikes down the road and spend a few days hiking back to La Cumbra. Unless you would rather ride in the back of a truck like this:

 

Don't miss Lake Titicaca either:

You can rent climbing shoes from Bolivian Journeys and go sport climbing in La Zona Sur in La Paz for an afternoon as well.

 

La Florida, La Zona Sur:

 

Have a great time.

[esugi]

No offense taken. Yea, Chalcataya is not a climb but its well worth location for accli. We'll go up to the top nontheless. If we had more time, we would climb other routes in the Condoriri but we only have 21 days. So, for our first time there, we chose the typical "most climbed mountain by guide service" mountains. It'll be a great experience just to go into the Condoriri...hear its an awesome place.

 

Thanks for the pics. If you have any more, I'd sure like to see them. Did you do H.P.? If so, what route? We're thinking of via de los franceses. Any idea what I can expect? Man, so many questions......

 

Thanks again.

[esugi]

Adam, sent you e-mail. Let's talk

Edited April 6, 2006 by esugi

[dalius]

If I recall, via franceses starts at the same basecamp as the normal dog route and the first several thousand feet are the same, but instead of heading to the right around the peak, you head straight up the south headwall. All I've heard is that since it's south facing, it can be quite a wallow.

 

When I was up there I did the normal route (east face? - I forget the name) and then the west face a week later. The west face is 3000' of stellar steep snow and ice and unlike the normal route, NOBODY goes up it! I highly recommend it!

 

I agree with what Mark said. It'd be a shame to go to the Condoriri and only climb Peq.Alpamayo. While it's a beautiful peak, it's not much of a climb. It's pretty much a glacier walk with 35-45 degree snow up the short summit pyramid. Instead of heading up that summit ridge, it may be worth checking out that face on the climber's right. (shaded face in mneagle's picture) Looks fun! The Condoriri has a phenomenal wealth of climbing all from one basecamp - it'd be a shame to miss out on it.

 

Cabeza de Condor is a much funner climb, with way less people, and is pretty straightforward. Pyramide Blanca (climber's right, on the way up to Peq.Alpamayo) has a really stellar route on the right flank - some steep snow/ice followed by a spectacular ridge - and it's close to camp!

 

I'll see if I have some pics of the routes I mentioned. Do you have Mesilli's guidebook?

 

Nice photo onslaught, Mark.

[mneagle]

Huayna Potosi high camp. Via de los Franceses is the slope at the top left of the photo. The standard route goes off the picture to the right and circles around.

 

I was a sexy beast 10 years ago with those sweet gators. Expect lots of gapers like this on the standard route. And yes, I really did need 2 sleeping pads.

[/img]

 

 

Huayna Potosi West Face. Dalius, I'm jealous you got to climb it. A big storm came in 2 days before we were going in and conditions were too sketch.

 

This is the piste on Chacaltaya complete with painfully difficult to use surface lift.

 

Here she is, Condoriri. Ala Derecha is to the right (duh) and Ala Izquierda is a bit hidden to the left.

 

Summit ridge of Condoriri from just above the ice gully.

 

Now Dalius, you are the actual photographer...let's see some shots.

[dalius]

I posted some pics in the California & Everywhere Else forum. Check 'em out!

 

Bolivia Pics

[flatnose]

Nice pics, dalius. I'm headed down there as well this summer. What time of year were these pics taken?

[dalius]

Those pics were taken in July/August of 2004. Winter (June - October) is the climbing season down there - it's cold and clear mpst every day. I was told that the snow/ice coverage was rather sparse that year, below the average. That being said, it seems that the tropical glaciers are the ones receding the fastest and peru/bolivia/ecuador are going to be some of the first to loose them. Where are you headed?