Huayna Potosi *High Camp 5.200 to Top 6.088m*

  Huayna Potosi, Bolivia
Thursday, July 5, 2007

Let me start with a short beta on the mountain borrowed from  http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/jondells/jondel l/1179180060/tpod.html

Let me give you guys a little background on this mountain, and yes it is a mountain, not some hill. It is about located about 15 miles north of La Paz in the Cordillera Real.  The summit is 19,974ft (6,088m), base camp is at 15,420ft (4,700m), and high camp is at 17,060ft (5,200m).  Just to put this into perspective let me give you some other stats. The base camp at Everest is at 17,600ft (5,380m) where climbers usually spend a couple of weeks acclimatizing to the altitude. From there they go to advanced base camp which is at 19,900ft (6,065m) and then on to a couple of other camps until the summit at 29,028ft (8,848m). 

My own acclimatization consisted of biking in Sucre (2600m), drinking in La Paz (3600m), visiting a famous archeological site in Tiwanacu (4000m) and a gringo tour to Mt. Chacaltaya (5400m). For me, the utmost minimum.

At the base of Mt. Chacaltaya, the van dropped my friend Marketa and myself off and the adventure could begin. As the other tourists took their pictures of us, the two ladies disappearing into the middle of nowhere (and as they probably thought, for ever) we embarked on our search for Mt. Huyana Potosi. Highest in the range and visible from great distance, its base refugio was not so easy to find. With the sun running down, and temperatures and our tempers as well, we finally reached the Base Camp at 4 700m.
In the refugio we met people ready for the climb the following day, all fit manly determined young guys. Being the ladies, we took our time and added some extra acclimatization time, doing some fun ice climbing at the glacier at about 5000m the next day.
The day after we began the two-day ascent. Climbing to the High Camp at about 5200m. The snow only starts there, so we carry most of our gear in our backpacks - at this altitude it is quite a workout. We meet the guys from the base camp, unfortunately they did not reach the top of the mountain. They said that they just couldnt go any further. They finished right before the steepest final section, saying there was just no way to go further. I want to see what it is that makes you give up and turn around just before your goal. Another guy returned from the same place cas his toes were freezing. He too couldnt go further. We were getting no good news and rather stopped asking. What the hell are we about to face ?
We eat scarcely and go to bed to catch a few hours of sleep. We were supposed to get started at midnight. Our guides keep talking into the night, preventing my sleep, and then they sleep in and only awake us at 2am. At 3 am we start. Its freezing, not suprisingly. We walk through the night, at dusk reaching the last bit - a wall of about 200 meters at about 55 degrees. This is where people usually end (those who return without reaching the top, that is). From what we heard, we are quite scared. But finally we will know the truth - do we make it or not? I was personally afraid that this side of the mountain was too steep for a tourist climb and cursed the fact that we will have to walk more to some easier side of the mountain. However, the guide started uncoiling the rope here and my heart jumped with joy and nervous expectations.
Well, we made it. Marketa was using a big share of her energy reserves which probably gave me some time to take pictures and make a few videos (which I didnt fully remember taking). The sun rose while we were climbing, unfortunately for the view, fortunately for my toes.
We experienced a few moments of happiness at the summit and embarked on the descent - all the way down to the base camp. We met a few that asked (like us the day before) whether we made it to the top - providing the answer they didnt expect was nearly as good as reaching the top itself.
------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------
Tak jeste jednou a podrobneji. Meli sme vstavat o pulnoci a kolem jedny rano vyrazet nahoru... No nevim jak je to mozny, ale nasi giudi jaxi zapomneli naridit budika, a tak nas budi kolem druhe s tim za 5 minut vyrazime. Pred treti rani uz jsme skutecne na ceste. Nechci je moc podezrivat, ale rikam si, jestli nas neodhadli, ze stejne na vrchol nedolezem, tak proc se kvuli nam otravovat tak brzo rano. Jsme totiz vytecna squadra, Izraelec Uri, kterej uz travi nekolik dni po hygienickych zarizenich a svuj den D neustale odklada, a dve krehke zeny (Marketa a ja, aby nebylo pochyb) ktere skuci s bolesti hlavy uz v Base Campu. Nicmene vyrazime na vrchol... a vidime i nekolik podobnych opozdilcu.. a o neco pozdeji nektera ranni ptacata jaxe vraci (bez dosazeni vrcholu, jak povzbudive, ze by ta porekladla o rannich ptacatech mela neco do sebe?). Je to docela fuska prestoze se sinem jak sneci, prsty na nohou mrznou docela zahy, a jdeme skoro hodinu nez vubec nas guide, Lorenzo, uzna, ze je cas na pauzu. Zkousela sem pit i za cesty, ale fakt to nejde, cloveka to uplne odrovna. Rovnez mraky cokolad s sebou tahneme uplne zbytecne, pac jist se neda ani kdyz se zastavi. Sviti docela mesic, a tak ani nepotrebujem celovky. Asi v pulce prijde docela prudka cast, o ktery si neco matne pamatuju, ze sem slysela pred vystupem. Pak zas deme, porad deme, skoro nic nevidime, jen se tak sinem pomalu nahoru. Ale dost rychle na to, aby to cloveka utahalo. Holt je tady toho kysliku asi fakt min. Uz me to moc nebavi, a rikam si proc vlastne se sem deru. Pak zas deme, uz me to fakt neba, tak se ptam Lorenza, cuanto mas (btw mluvit je tu taky docela fuska). Prej dve hodiny na vrchol. Z toho 1 1/4 h trva vystup zaverecnyho krpalu, pred kterym to vetsina lidi vzda (btw vsichni, ktery to nedosli, a kterejch sme se odvazili ptat na vic info). Takze uz u nej vlastne skoro sme. 

Za chvili sme u nej. Mam docela radost, pac se mi na prvni pohled zdal docela prudkej a mela sem strach ze ten nas bude treba z druhy strany ty hory a my to budem jeste muset cely obchazet. Takhle uz tu aspon jsme a uvidime na cem jsme. Zacina svitat. Cas mame docela dobrej, ale vyrazili sme pozde, a proto bohuzel svitani probehne behem toho co stoupame nejnarocnejsi usek cesty. Marketa chvili vypada ze se ji moc nechce, mam dojem ze uz behem posledni hodiny padlo par ostrejsich slov (coz uz musi bejt, pac tady se moc nemluvi), nakonec ale vyrazime. Me se to hrozne libi, uplne ze me spadne vsechna unava, vubec se necejtim ze bych byla tak vysoko a skoro si preju aby to neskoncilo a bylo to prudsi a technictejsi. Me to prijde jako fakt nadherny lezeni. Dikybohu Marketa to vidi ponekud odlisne a nasazuje tempo prihodne pro tuto nadmorskou vysku s castejma pauzickama, pac kdyby tam nebyla, ja bych se asi rozbehla (rozumej rozlezla po 4) nahoru a po 50m bych byla ko. Takhle to vydrzime cele obe. Strasili nas, ze to ma 220m, ale podle toho jak nas pak Lorenzo spoustel, tak to melo max. 190m.
A sme na vrcholu, huraaa. Kousek pred nami dosel i Uri se svym stihacim guidem (to je btw ten, co nas uhnla pri predvcerejsim vystupu k ledovci) a za nama se blizi dalsi chlapek solista. Fotime jako divy, kupodivu tu neni zas takova kosa/nebo ji v ty euforii necitime. Nas guide uz je docela netrpelivej, tak toho teda nechame a mazem dolu. Ten svah nas spousti dolu, na nas vkus docela rychle. Pak nas tam necha nezajisteny pichly na svahu, sejdem k nam, a spousti nas dal. Takze sme to vlastne taky mohly sejit. No a pak uz deme pesky dolu, a konecne vidime co sme vlastne v noci vysli.,.asi dobre ze sme to nevidely, je to docela streka.V jednu chvili prijdeme k mistu, kde jasne vidim, ze jedina mozna trasa vede rovne... ale ouha, Lorenzo na me vola ze doprava...Kua jako kam, tak je skoro kolmej sraz dolu... chvili si myslim ze si dela srandu, ale fakt sme tudy prisli...To byl ten prudkej usek veprostred..no jeste ze sme to nevidely, jinak bysme tam asi odmitly jit :) No a pak uz jen dolu a dolu, je desny vedro, nasich milion vrstev zacina bejt znat, sebrat veci v High Campu a hura do Base Campu. Ja mam hroznej hlad a Markta dava prednost odpocinku. Ale sme obe hrozne happy, hlavne kdyz se nas kazdej pta, jestli sme to daly, a my muzeme rict ze jo. Navic to vypada, ze cekali opacnou odpoved, pote co proslo par chlapku co to nejak nevylezlo.