Hari Mix 5/27/19 Hari Mix 5/27/19

Integral: The Illimani Traverse

Then it came time for the last climb of the trip. And this one was by all measures big. A complete traverse of the Illimani massif, consisting of about 9 miles of technical terrain, most of it over 20,000 ft. At 21,122 ft, Illimani is the highest peak in the Cordillera Real and the second highest in Bolivia. This time, we were joined by Bolivian aspirant guide Marcelo, who added a great energy to our rope team. We stripped down light, opting to go for speed rather than comfort on our attempt. We planned two bivouacs on the route, with both locations just below the glacier where we could access running water to save gas. On our main day, we climbed for 20.5 hours straight, mostly in truly "heads-up" terrain, where absolute focus on the task at hand was critical. For hours on end, a slight mistake or lapse in judgement by any one of us could have led to disaster. We often dealt with challenging unconsolidated snow conditions, which made not only for difficult forward progress, but also upped the risk. It was also violently cold and windy...none of us felt fingers or toes for much of the outing. Nonetheless, and light on sleep and nutrition, Marcelo, Alex and I made it back down to a gorgeous meadow on the morning of our third day and had enough energy to rally for a nice, celebratory end-of-the-trip dinner in La Paz. In the photo essay below, pretty much every time you see a ridge, we were on it.

The road to a mine, the traditional starting/ending place for the traverse was washed out. So we had a five hour climb to our first bivouac.

Marcelo battles the cold. The night was frigid.

Following the ridge in earliest morning light. The traverse followed the entire ridgeline behind us. Photo: Alex von Ungern

Somewhat typical terrain on the traverse. Often the snow was completely unconsolidated sugar, making the difficulty of getting good axe and foot placements quite high, not to mention the consequences of a mistake. Photo: Alex von Ungern

Here, I follow a challenging corniced section. Photo: Alex von Ungern

The second half of the traverse. The main summit of Illimani (21,122 ft) is on the right.

Marcelo leads the long ridge ahead. Photo: Alex von Ungern

We followed the entire skyline (and more behind).

Marcelo and I staying to the sides of cornices. Photo: Alex von Ungern

Most of the traverse is visible on the skyline

Me reaching the summit as the sun sets. Photo: Alex von Ungern

After a lengthy and involved descent, we bivouacked next to the first running water, 20.5 hours after starting our climb. Too tired to eat dinner, we just chugged some streamwater and went to bed. Here, the next morning, Alex descends between high camp and base camp on the normal route.

We traversed the massif from left to right. Main summit is on the right.

Freddy drove us home on beautiful, yet "interesting" roads.

Hari Mix 5/23/19 Hari Mix 5/23/19

The West Face of Huayna Potosi

The past few weeks have been a progression. I've acclimatized and built the skills and teamwork with Alex to move into the big time. The West face of Huayna Potosi is a truly big undertaking--the second highest face in Bolivia, with 4000 ft of steep snow and ice topping out a few feet shy of 20,000.

Over the course of 30 hours or so, we hiked in and bivuacked beneath the mountain. We woke up at the now-standard midnight, started up the face at 1AM, and topped out 10.5 hours later. We simul-climbed the whole face with few breaks. I consumed an energy gel and less than a liter of water. After a quick descent down the normal route, we were back in La Paz for dinner. The capstone climb of the trip starts tomorrow!

Huayna Potosi. The most popular mountain in Bolivia. Our objective was its challenging and seldom-climbed west face, the top half of which can be seen on the left.

There was a cemetery near the base from a labor protest massacre.

Views towards Condoriri and Pequeno Alpamayo

We followed a convenient water pipe almost the whole way to the base

The West face of Huayna Potosi. Our route followed the snow and ice from left to right to the summit

In the middle of the face. Photo: Alex von Ungern

Following through the variable mixed sections. Photo: Alex von Ungern

The cornice proved to be a little tricky

Me negotiating the loose cornice (as seen by Alex on the summit). Photo: Alex von Ungern

Hari Mix 5/20/19 Hari Mix 5/20/19

Getting bigger: Chachacomani

After a three-hour drive, Freddie dropped us off in Alto Cruz Pampa, where we were greeted by mule drivers and their dogs

The long approach to base camp was beautiful. We trekked up the length of this valley before climbing 1000 ft up a valley to the left

Views of our objective, Chachacomani, 19,930 ft

Nico, an aspiring mountain guide, bouldering on the way to base camp

We established camp in this beautiful meadow

After a 1AM start, daybreak was quite welcome. Here, Alex leads to the col.

Following the last section to the col. The glacier was heavily crevassed. Lake Titicaca in the background. Photo: Alex von Ungern

The vast Amazon basin is covered in clouds below. It's amazing in the Cordillera Real to see both Lake Titicaca and the Amazon from the same vantage point.

Chachacomani (summit is on the right). We chose the steepest line, extending vertically down from the true summit.

Alex leads the lower face past the awful bergschrund.

Me following the lower face. Photo: Alex von Ungern

Alex caught me in the sun-shade line as I follow the face! Photo: Alex von Ungern

Finishing one of the upper pitches. Conditions were quite variable, but many of these sections were horrible unconsolidated snow. Photo: Alex von Ungern

Looking down at the crux. It was necessary to make some mixed climbing moves to overcome the incredibly steep and loose snow in the gully.

Summit with the Amazon behind. Photo: Alex von Ungern

Our team, L to R: Me, Alex von Ungern (guide), Nico (cook), and Freddie (driver)

Hari Mix 5/17/19 Hari Mix 5/17/19

Bolivia's Cordillera Real: Acclimatizing in style