Letter from Bolivia
December 17th 2007 00:59
I checked my email at work this morning to find a message from a friend who is travelling through South America right now. It is a fairly impressive tale, and it made my morning.
Mt. Huayna Potosi
Faaaark!
Mate just got back from the craziest and most hectic ice climb attempt ever. 5 of us tried to climb Huayna Potosi, a very scary looking mountain that sits at a lazy 6088 metres above sea level. I think this is the one you said you regretted not doing.
I can easily say that it was the scariest and best experience of my life.
The tour guide advertised it as an easy climb that was suitable for climbers with no experience. No worries. The guide also said that the weather was going to be perfect and that we should have no problems getting up.
Yesterday morning we set off at 9 am and drove the two hours to the base of the mountain. We then had a very tough 6 hour hike to the refuge from where we were to make our assault to the summit. We were carrying all of our gear so we were pretty knackered when we got to the refuge at about 5.30. Weather had been spot on so there were no worries. We had some food and then tried to get some sleep, because we were getting up at 12.30am to climb up the ice to get to the summit. The climb had to be done at night because during the day the sun melts the ice and avalanches are frequent.
We all got up feeling shithouse, the altitude is pretty intense at 5200, which was the height of the refuge. Had a quick stale roll with jam (standard breakfast fare over here), and started kitting up. We were wearing thermals, pants, t-shirt and two fleece jumpers, all of which were covered by a full ski suit and gators to stop the snow/ice from getting into your heavy duty boots. Balaclava and two sets of gloves mandatory. We had to wear massive spikes on our boots for traction, and the piece de la resistance was the nasty ice axe we had to use to climb.
As we set off, there were massive flashes of lightning all around us, but they seemed to be in the distance so we ignored them and began the climb. Climbing was very difficult, the ice was very steep, and quite soft in parts. The ice axe was a life saver, you used it every step to push your self up. About 45 minutes into our ascent, it began to snow (it is late december i might add). As we kept walking the snowfall increased and increased until you could only see as far as the person you were tied to in front of you (we were all in harnesses and in groups of three, there were 5 of us and three guides). In some sections we were crossing over passes that were so narrow and that if you fell off you would be dead straight away. In other sections we had to jump over the nastiest looking crevasses ever, one metre wide jobs that looked like bottomless pits. Adrenaline was flowing big time, i´m scared of heights (used to be anyway) which only added to the madness of it for me.
We reached about 5500metres, 500 from the summit, and apart from being rooted from the altitude and a bit cold from the snow (which was now a flat out blizzard), we were going well and making good time to get to the summit before the sun rose. Here´s where the fun started. We reached the first of two 30 degree ice climbs. This climb went up 80 metres effectively vertically. You had to stop using the ice axe as a walking stick and start throwing it into the face of the ice cliff, then stab your spiked boots into the ice and haul yourself up. Each effort probably gained you 1.5 metres, and it was ridiculously exhausting. It was like a chin up using your feet. So many times i thought i was certainly going to fall but you knew that if your throw with the ice pick wasn´t good and you didn´t get your feet into the ice you would fall and die, and bring down your mate and guide with you. So you just had to go mental and get up. I can´t explain the mixture of fear, adrenaline and general bemusement i was feeling. I kept thinking of how ridiculous it was that i was doing this on my summer holiday!! There is no way that any old punter could do it, not suggesting that i´m strong or anything but there is no way the majority of people could get up.
Anyway, we reached the top of this ice face and now stood just below the summit. As we walked along another impossibly narrow pass towards our final climb a deafening buzzing noise started and i saw metre high sparks coming off the head of the head of my mate. I shouted out to him but no one could hear a thing over the blizzard and the buzzing noise. The next thing i know our guide is pushing us to the ground screaming ËLECTRICALE!!! We were lying face down in the snow and a massive crack of lighning struck somewhere nearby. Our guide is shouting MUCHO PELIGROSO! (much danger!) at us and holding us down. Here we were, on the side of a monstrous mountain, wearing metal spikes on our feet and carying a virtual antenna in our hands with the ice axe, and we are in the middle of an electrical storm. Brilliant. We were all genuinely afraid now, we were way out in the open on the top of a narrow pass. Even our guide was panicking. We lied down for an impossibly long time, and i started to worry that if we didn´t get hit by lightning we were going to die of hypothermia. For some reason i started to find the whole thing quite funny. I guess you either do that or start crying.
After a while our guide pointed us back down the side of the mountain - lighning was crashing every 2 minutes and if you held up your hand, the sparks would start flashing off them again. There was so much electricity in the air you could smell it. So, despite having made it to 5800 metres, a mere 200 metres from the summit, we were forced to climb back down. It was pretty disappointing to have got so close but we quite seriously would have died had we stood up and attempted the climb in that weather. The climb down was hairy as well, we had to jump over another really ugly looking crevasse and also scale down a ice cliff backwards, which was even scarier than going up.
Anyway we made it back alive, and it was an incredible experience - one i will never forget. I think i might have to come back one day to beat it. The mountain only won by default, it was the lightning that beat us.
Having a cracking time over here, head to BA on the 19th for xmas and new years before Rio. Will be in touch, hope all is well on the Black front and work front.
Adios amigo,
Lace
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Comment by katyzzz
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I'm so glad I'm not a guy or a testosterone laced female.
katyzzz
Comment by Andy 2
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Still here, I fell off the diet wagon in a massive way after a boozy weekend, hence my orble absence.
You really don't find that story appealing? Wow, I wish I was there right now! I'm getting back opn the south beach as of tmrw.
I love my orble - not going anywhere!
Comment by katyzzz
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Your mate sounds real 'cool' which is rather stating the obvious.
katyzzz