6000 meters high

Weds March 24, 7:15 am

6000+ meters high on Mt. Huayna Potosi!

Okay, before you think we´ve completely lost our minds, here's the rest of the story--where we stopped was not the summit. It was about 20 minutes further on this dizzying ridge (see below), which we could feel in our trembling legs was NOT something we were up to! Meanwhile, Gonzalo (our guide) was fairly dancing on the precipice (with a 1000 meter vertical drop to his left!) when this picture was taken:


View from "our" summit
Going back down.


Why did we do this? Long fascinated by stories of climbers and elusive summits, Larry and I decided to try this one for ourselves because: a) Sergio (Rosi's husband) was willing to take us, b) Gonzalo, a guide who has climbed for many years with Antonio and Sergio (and who has climbed this particular peak as many as 5 times in one week!) was available and c) (this was the part that for us didn't seem to be true) this was a non-technical, "beginners" mountain.


It was an amazing experience, but VERY challenging--we'd venture to say the hardest thing we've ever done. The hiking was absolutely grueling. We started hiking at 2 am and got to "our" top at 7...then 2 hours back down to base camp and 2 more hours to the car. Thats 11 hours of hiking, gaining 3,000 feet (from 16,000 to 19,700) then losing 4,600 feet mostly on snow/ice, with some really steep parts that required ice axes, and all in footwear that was very akin to a ski boot with strategically placed large nails sticking out of the bottom!!! And the effect of the altitude made much of the all-night hike an exercise in endurance. Twice I (Karen) really thought I could not take another step, but then amazingly, you just push on--a sip of warm tea and a bit of chocolate make it all better for a little while! And actually, hiking in the dark meant you didn't know what was ahead of you--on our way back down we could not believe what we had come up!!!


But the view from up on top was truly spectacular, looking down on the clouds. The sheer scariness of it, too, was exhilarating beyond words. Not to mention that we actually made it (although not the true summit, it was plenty enough for us!!)!


For the journey narrated thru the pictures, here's the link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/krchildress/2010HuaynaPotosi?feat=directlink