Summit Day!
Man I have been lazy on here. Oh well.... it is what it is. This will be more a photo dump once again in order to share and remember this trip years down the road. I really love Bolivia and this mountain range. I hope to go back some day.
Out of the 4 of us (Tom, Carlo, Bob and myself) only Bob and I made the summit due to altitude sickness. The other 2 turned around at about 19,000 feet which is a great accomplishment in itself! Anyways round trip took us just a few minutes over 12 hours. Long day but short compared to mountaineering standards on high mountains like this.
This was a trip of a life time for me and I am already looking for the next high mountain to target. Below each photograph should lay out the day for you. Thanks for reading!
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| View of Huayna Potosí on the drive to base camp. This photo is taken at about 15,000ft which is the same elevation of base camp. |
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| Base Camp: Cost us $40 each for a ride here and 2 meals. Such a different world down there. |
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| View at sunset of Huayna Potosí from base camp |
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| Looking down the valley from base camp |
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| Our driver to and from base camp, he is also a guide but we choose not to use guides just to up the pucker factor for us. |
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| Another view of Huayna Potosí from base camp dining room window. Staring at it all through dinner knowing in 6 hours we would be starting up in the dark at midnight. |
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| Pre-climb meal made by base camp cook. Eaten at around midnight just before taking off. Steak, eggs and tomatoes. What more could one ask for? |
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| Group shot of pre-climb meal |
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| Sunrise looking towards La Paz, taken from about 17,500ft. |
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| Climb baby climb... some glacier views on the way up. Taken around 18,000ft |
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| More glaciers, the whole top of the mountain is covered in a glacier. |
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| Bob being lazy and posing for the camera. ;o) |
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| Sunrise! |
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| Had to snap a selfie on the final ridge to the summit. That is Bob behind me. We decided to un-rope on this narrow ridge figuring all a rope would do is take the other person along with who falls. This ridge is at about 19,800ft. |
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| Bob on the final ridge to the summit. |
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| SUMMIT! Bob at 19,974ft! |
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| My summit shot! |
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| More summit shots with a little better background of the Andes Mountains. |
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| More glacier shots on the way down. |
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| 70ft ice wall at 19,000ft we had to go up and down. |
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| Tom slogging it out. |
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| Carlo taking a quick break at Camp 1 at 17,000ft on the way down. We skipped this camp on the way up. |
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| Looking back up at the summit just a mile or so from returning to base camp. |
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| Celebration time! Back at base camp. |
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| Carlo is not feeling to well at the finish. |
