[TR] Bolivia - Illimani, Pequeno Alpamayo 8/20/2011

[Manacus]

Trip: Bolivia - Illimani, Pequeno Alpamayo

 

Date: 8/20/2011

 

Trip Report:

I am in southeast Peru for work, but just got back from a 10 day window of free time to do some climbing in Bolivia. Given the short time frame and lack of partners, I hired a Bolivian guide, Eduardo Mamami, to help me get the climbs done. I can't recommend Eduardo highly enough, but I'll come back to that. I had been to 18,000 ft before, and knew that I could acclimatize fast with Diamox. My main goal was to climb Illimani. Let me explain my itinerary: Day 1, Bus from Cuzco (11,000 ft) to Puno (12,000 ft) (Lake Titicaca). Day 2, Bus to La Paz (11,000 ft), Day 3 La Paz, Day 4 to Illimani Base camp (14,500 ft). Day 5 day hike to Illimani high camp (18,000 ft) and back to base camp. Day 6, hike to Illimani high camp and camp at intermediate camp (16,500 ft) lower down on the same rock ridge as high camp. Day 7, to high camp in AM (18,000 ft). Day 8, leave for summit at 3:15 AM, on top by 7:15, back down to base camp by afternoon. Day 9, to La Paz. Day 10, day climb from La Paz of Pequeno Alpamayo. Day 11, back to Cuzco on overnight bus.

 

Pequeno Alpamayo was not originally in the plans, and most people with more time would do this before Illimani. I didn't want to waste time driving around and in and out of La Paz, which is why I chose to acclimatize on Illimani. On Illimani, Eduardo got me to the trail head and set me up with some extra gear that I couldn't fit into my luggage. I spent the following days acclimatizing alone, although Eduardo had been hired by another group on the mountain as a lead guide during my acclimatization period, so I saw him around. We linked up for the climb and headed back to La Paz together. Given the way Illimani went, and that I had an extra day to play with, he suggested we do a quick turn around and do P. Alpamayo as a day climb from La Paz. Turned out to be an incredible suggestion. The altitudes are lower, temps are warmer, and the Condiriri Range is absolutely stunning.

 

Here is my observation of guided groups in Bolivia. There are several options: Pay way too much for an American guiding company that will rely on Bolivian guides anyway, and will require you to bring all your own equipment from home, or pay too little for a Bolivian company that is masquerading as climbing company. I saw many of the latter, with leaders with minimal qualifications, that perhaps can get to the tops of these mountains when there is a boot-track in place and conditions are good, but otherwise often don't. Eduardo is one of the few Bolivian UIAGM certified guides. He is 50 years old, has been guiding for 25 years and putting up some of the hardest and most remote routes in Bolivia during that time, and he still climbs as hard as if he were in his 20s. As I mentioned, while I was acclimatizing, another company hired him to be the rope gun on Illimani, and he put in a new boot track where previous parties had been turned around earlier in the week. The cook for this other company managed to get Eduardo and half the group sick with some poorly cooked food. Eduardo toughed it out for me though, both of us powering to the top of Illimani in 4 hours, simul climbing through two full rope length sections of 45 degree snow and ice (with belays on the way down). On Pequeno Alpamayo, we were out at 430 AM from La Paz and back by 6PM. As is common in Bolivia, strikes had closed many of the main roads, but Eduardo knew the back way around them (whereas other guiding companies were simply not heading out). In short Eduardo Mamami has a great sense of humor, he's a great climber and guide (knowing that I had climbing experience, he was happy to talk through the pros and cons of the different techniques he chose to use with me), he loves sharing the mountains and encouraged stopping along the climb and the road for photography (and he set me up with a cd of photos he took of me during the climbs), he knows the locals and the backroads like no other. Another guide I had considered climbing with would have charged me more and was not able to find a route up Illimani before Eduardo put in a new track (I happened to see him on the mountain during my acclimatization period). It was awesome to just go and climb hard and get a lot done with someone who was willing and able to fire up these routes in the short time I had. Eduardo is also really psyched to climb harder routes in remote areas with qualified clients. His one downfall is perhaps that he doesn't speak good English, but this was not a problem for me, as I speak Spanish.

 

You can contact Eduardo here:

eduardo@bolivianmountainguides.com

or

illampuedu@hotmail.com

 

or contact me with questions: timbillo@uw.edu

 

Finally, here is a conditions report for the Cordillera Real right now:

It has been a good snow year. In fact it was still too snowy on some peaks in June and July with a big avalanche on the climbing route on Illimani in June. Every day I was in the mountains, summitting was possible. It often became cloudy by 11 AM, and there was one thunderstorm during the week, but mornings were always clear. Some days were bluebird all day. Temps at campsites were freezing at night, but not much below freezing. Snow is consolidated or nice couple inches of crunchy light Andean powder. Not much glacier ice to deal with yet.

 

Sorry, I don't have the connection speed here in Peru to put up pictures. Maybe I'll get to it at some point.

 

 

[Manacus]

Pequeno Alpamayo, summit in background

[Manacus]

Illimani Summit

 

Corrected spelling: Eduardo Mamani (not Mamami as I had earlier).

 

Website:

http://www.bolivianmountainguides.com/

[Manacus]

A few notes on the difficulty of the climb(s):

 

I found Illimani to be very similar to the Emmons route on Rainier. Physical difficulty of Illimani is in fact easier as the route is shorter and elevation gain is less. Altitude is obviously the bigger issue on Illimani. Depends on how well acclimatized you are, your fitness, etc. Diamox recommended. Slow and steady pace. Forcibly expel CO2 when you feel headache coming on.

Temperatures and snow conditions similar to early June on Rainier, warmish during day at high camp, cold at night, but not ridiculous. I used two 3-season sleeping bags layered on top of each other and was plenty warm. During climbing season camping is on rock, but early in season it's on snow. Summit conditions very cold and windy, especially before sunrise. Have experienced similar on Rainier, but reminded me more of New Hampshire summits in winter. Again, when sun hits mountain temps get better, but climbing side of Illimani doesn't receive much sun until later in afternoon. Route is straight forward and moderate (although there are 2 crucial turns needed to get you around crevasses and up to the saddle between N and S peaks--it's a left turn to bring you to a good spot to cross a big crevasse and then turn right and straight up to the ridge--this would be tough to find in the dark without boot tracks--if climbing without a guide or previous boot tracks, might take a day to scout this before making full push on the route), save for 2 pitches of 45 degree hard snow to bring you up to a bench just below the summit ridge. Bring ice screws to belay this on the way down. We only used one tool each and that was fine. You'll need to chop down a few inches to find good ice for screws. Also carried one picket (but didn't use--might be useful in some scenarios). Summit ridge from saddle is very easy and beautiful walk (probably 15 minutes max). Ridge is broad and not dangerous (just stay away from cornices).

 

P. Alpamayo has overall warmer conditions. More like climbing in other areas of the Cascades in early summer. Good steps kicked in on steeper sections. May want some screws and pickets for belays or running belays depending on confidence/competence. Not as steep or exposed as it looks, but not a place to fall either. Relatively short climb from base camp. Easy glacier and rock approach. One easy 3rd class rock section to get down to start of summit snow climb.