HUAYNA POTOSÍ - Our First 6000er

Accommodation

Our trip to Huayna Potosí takes us to two different camps. We spend our first night at the Base Camp "Happy Day". It features a dormitory with 16 beds per room and two rooms in total. There are three toilets: one inside for night use and two outside for daytime use. The dining area is right next to the dormitory. The two camps "Refugio Nuevo Llaulini" and "Refugio Casa Blanca" are next door for other hikers. On our tour to the lagoon a few days earlier, we could see all the buildings from the car. We spend our second "night" at the High Camp "Las Rockas - Refugio de alta montaña." We sleep in the dormitory with 18 beds from afternoon until midnight. The toilets are a minute away and quite tricky to reach at night since they're at the edge and require climbing some steps. There’s one toilet per gender. I believe there are two more camps at the top. The dining area is inside the dormitory. None of the toilets (neither at the Base Camp nor at the High Camp) have running water, and flushing is done with a bucket. Not easy at night, as everything is frozen. It's a big effort to get out of the sleeping bag and go to the toilet at night.

SIM Card

In the camp and elsewhere, we have no signal. ENTEL would be a better choice here as they have coverage in certain areas.

Attractions

Obviously, the glacier! And the amazing summit <3 Next to it is a steep drop of ONE THOUSAND meters. Not a place you want to fall... One of our mates even had a drone with him, thankfully it didn’t crash…

Procedure and Transportation

The evening before, we clarify all the details with our agency. We already receive the equipment and are told to bring a large backpack (50 liters). Included are:

• Long fleece underpants
• Long fleece undershirt
• Fleece jacket
• Balaclava
• Gaiters
• Windbreaker jacket
• Windbreaker pants
• Windbreaking gloves The next day we receive the rest of the equipment:
• Helmet
• Climbing harness
• Plastic boots
• Ice axe
• Crampons We meet at the agency in the morning, and some have to try on their clothes, which we managed the night before, so Pascal can "relax" and look for sunglasses. We’re supposed to bring the following besides the backpack:
• Sunglasses
• Extra pants
• Extra jacket
• Thermal tops
• Three pairs of socks
• Thin gloves
• Hat
• Hiking boots
• Snacks
• Sunscreen
• Two liters of water
• Altitude medicine
• Toilet paper (plenty of it)
• Sleeping bag up to -5°C
• Headlamp with batteries We skillfully negotiate to get the last two items for free :D After everyone is ready, we visit a shop to buy snacks and drinks, then head to the camp where we try on the shoes. The third pair finally fits, and we return to the car fully equipped. We drive the route we’ve already taken twice (to the lagoon and another mountain), further to the camp. We unpack our backpacks and have lunch. We could enjoy breakfast at the hotel at leisure. After lunch, we head to the glacier. We walk about 40 minutes with the ice boots and are pretty exhausted. At the glacier, we learn about the four different movement techniques and have to practice everything: up, down, over, sideways and so on… Then the horror begins: climbing a steep wall. We somehow manage it, luckily it’s only practice for an emergency. The maximum incline during the ascent, I believe, is 40 percent. We return to the accommodation around 5:30 PM—dusk falls early. We relax a bit and have dinner. Exhausted, we fall asleep early (the others are still quite noisy), and guess what? At night, we need to go to the toilet. We painfully get out of our sleeping bags into the cold, and inside, the toilet water for flushing is frozen. Perfect...

Food and Drink

For the first lunch, we have beef with rice, peas, carrots, beans, and fresh vegetables consisting of cucumbers and tomatoes. Solid but improvable. As a snack before dinner, we have salted popcorn, followed by quinoa soup and as the main course, noodles with carrots, pork, and onions. Pretty tasty. The next day's breakfast is really great: fresh strawberries, apples, (bananas, yuck), muesli, rolls, cream cheese, juice, and coffee plus tea. With pancakes and dulce de leche. For lunch, we have chicken, fried plantains, rice with peas and carrots, and half a potato. Also, fresh tomatoes and cucumber. In the afternoon, we eat soup and a chicken fillet (or something) with mashed potatoes, broccoli, and carrots. At night, I believe there is tea and rolls. And upon return, we are greeted with soup. Everything is solid, but sometimes a bit too much.

Cafés and Restaurants

Our meals come from our cook, provided by "Jiwaki." He actually cooks the same for EVERY group—which means? The food is somewhat okay for almost everyone, but the guides eat the same every week.

Plants and Animals

There are neither plants nor animals up there, just rock and ice, ice, ice… The glacier has retreated more each year, but this year it’s grown again, which is great! Although, unfortunately, it won’t continue this way long-term…

Number of Germans in the City

We don’t see any Germans on the mountain, but we do spot the French guy from Isla del Sol.

Contact with Locals

During the descent, we talk to our guide Edwin, who tells us that all the glaciers around Huayna Potosí are gradually disappearing. Without ice, climbing the mountain will no longer be possible, and in about ten to twenty years, he’ll need to find another job. His plan? To open a fish farm, as there aren’t many in the region yet.

People Met

Alice, Frank, Jacob, Josh, Laurence, and Tom are the main characters of our group. At the start, there are ten of us, but two do the two-day variant and leave after lunch on the first day. Three more join on the second day. In total, we have five guides.

Expenses

Originally, our tour to Huayna Potosí would’ve cost 1050 Bolivianos, but we negotiate down to around 980 Bolivianos, including a sleeping bag and for me also including a headlamp. Pascal has his own with him. We pay an additional 50 Bolivianos per person to enter the mountain, and I treat myself to an entire group of Sherpas or guides for 200 Bolivianos to carry my gear down.

Standard Market Offer

There are no stalls or other opportunities to buy anything up there. One of our colleagues doesn’t bring batteries for his headlamp, which have to be brought up from the valley.

Unsolvable Mysteries

Why does our guide want to open a fish farm if there will be no water in the region due to disappearing glaciers? And how did he climb the mountain without water?

Bus Back to La Paz

The bus ride back to La Paz takes about two hours. We travel in two vans, as a few guides head back down to the valley with us, unlike the journey there.

Post Scriptum

Of course, there are photos again this time. During the ascent, we were so out of breath that we hardly took any pictures.
https://hoenisch.eu/photo/mo/sharing/UGkq4N5WD