Huayna Potosi

6088 metres above sea level, just on the outskirts of La Paz, lies Huayna Potosi, a large mountain frequented by thousands of tourists every year. Not all make it up the gruelling ascent, but on the 15th November 2012, this intrepid explorer set off on the freezing cold journey to the summit!

Day One

At 7am on the 15th, I went to the offices of my tour agency, where I met the other members of our tour group and got fitted for our boots and briefed on our trip. Then we were taken to our minibus and given the rest of our kit, which quickly weighed down our backpacks! Then we headed up to El Alto, where we got some snacks and water, before setting off again to base camp.

When we reached the camp, we put down our bags, found our beds and tucked into some lunch. After lunch we put on some of our gear, then headed out towards the glacier. On the way we saw some great views of the lakes, mountains and hills in the surrounding area. When we reached the glacier we put on our crampons (spikes to put on our boots), then practised walking up the steep ice face.

Finally after an hour or so of walking around the ice, we approached a wall of ice, where after the guides finished setting up the ropes at the top and giving us a quick climbing lesson, we took turns to climb the wall. After seeing the first two people slowly but surely climb the wall, I volunteered myself to be next. After being harnessed on to the rope I started making my way up. At first it was fairly easy, but as I got higher the incline also got higher and I got more and more tired. Then out of nowhere, one of my ice picks came loose from the ice, but before the guide had a chance to catch me with the rope, I swung my other pick into the ice - properly action movie style, really good fun! I slowly climbed the rest of wall, before abseiling back down.

After heading back and taking our heavy gear off, we were given some hot chocolate and snacks, after which most of us had a quick nap, before being woken up for dinner. After a quick chat and more cocoa, we headed to bed.

Day Two

On the second day, we woke at about 7am. We got breakfast, then after packing our backs, we set off towards high camp, where we were to spend the next night. We initially headed towards the same glacier, until we took a detour up the rocky cliff to the high camp. This took around three hours, however it was a pretty gruesome climb and I was left with the wind thoroughly taken out of me, so another good nap was called for. Afterwards I took a quick stroll around the camp and took a few photos before dinner was ready. Soon after we all went to bed in the attic, prepared for an extremely early morning the next day.

Day Three

I got very little sleep on the last night, and so the next morning at 1am, I was slightly dreading the six hour trek up the mountain. I was partnered with Carlos, one of our guides and Harrison, an Aussie who was quite luckily feeling under the weather too. After kitting up, we started up the mountain in the dark. With flashlights we headed up the ice and even at the very start I was feeling a little ill, with my stomach cramping and feeling short of breath, however I persevered and kept climbing onwards and upwards! We crossed a few deep and scary looking crevasses and after a couple of short breaks we got to a steep cliff. Here we had to employ a bit of our ice climbing skills from the first day, scaling the treacherous ice before reaching more solid ground. From there we carried on crossing more crevasses all the while it was getting colder and colder. At about 5am we could finally see the summit. However this was where the incline kicked in, during on of the breaks, Harrison was really starting to struggle, even coughing up a little blood. However, jeered on by his friends, he was determined as I was to make it to the top. After an hour or so more of tricky climbing, we finally and triumphantly made it to the top!!!

Next up, was the seemingly easy task of getting back down the mountain. Turns out it wasn't so easy. After taking a few photos we headed back down. The sun was now beaming down on us, and the lower we got on the mountain, the hotter it got. Harrison and I were really struggling; we fell pretty far behind the others and had to take a number of stops as we cooled off. Another couple of hours trekking later and a lot more stops, we finally made it back to high camp, where I could take off a few layers and get some more water inside me.

We then headed back down to base camp, again with me trailing back with heat exhaustion, but nevertheless continuing on. When I finally made it down to base camp I collapsed to a bed before packing my things and getting back on to a minibus for the two hour journey back to La Paz.

So there we go, that was my epic journey, my fight against nature, altitude and sleep deprivation. I pretty much spent the next few days sleeping, then the next week planning trips and tours only for them to be cancelled, leaving me sitting in my hostel!!!