Huayna Potosi 6088m, hawan mu zuwa sama

Huayna Potosi 6088m, our ascent to heaven

Arriving in La Paz, Ruben whispers to me that he would like to go to the mountains with me. Preferably in snowy mountains, to experience what it feels like to have snow under our feet. I am immediately excited about this idea, images of deep snow, snowboarding, and snowshoeing float through my mind. When we arrive at the hostel, a flyer with pictures of snow-covered mountains immediately catches our eye. It says 2-3 day tours, which seems unrealistic to us.

So we spend a few days in La Paz, take the cable car to the huge market in El Alto, buy new clothes, swing, stroll along a huge bridge viewpoint, and notice every evening how the altitude (3600m) affects us.

One afternoon, we decide to visit a tour office, just to find out what trekking tours are available.

...and suddenly we have decided to climb the 6088m high Huayna Potosi glacier! What? I can't believe it. Tomorrow we will climb such a high mountain, it all seems very unrealistic to me. But in between, I tell myself that many tourists do this here and hey, Ruben has never been in the snow in his life, it will be fine...

So the morning comes when we put on our backpacks and go to the tour agency. There we get crampons, ice axes, hard shell snowshoes, helmets, harnesses, winter clothing, and sunglasses ;-) and we are already sitting in the car that will take us to the foot of Huayna, which is only about 30km from La Paz. There are other groups at base camp who will embark on this adventure. After lunch, we hike to the tongue of the glacier, where the equipment is tested and we also get to try ice climbing. Wow, that's really exhausting. Once you have placed the crampons correctly, you also have to manage to drive the ice axes into the ice in a way that they hold, and finally you have to pull yourself up the wall, phew!

We are back at camp in time for dinner, we eat and soon go to bed. Already here, the altitude affects us, we have headaches and a strong internal pressure on our eyes. Yes, everything is fine in the morning, acclimatized. In the morning, we climb a rock and after lunch, the ascent to 'campo alto' begins. The path up to here is quite pleasant. With two or three short breaks, we are up in three hours. The plan is to eat, sleep and get up at 00:00 and start climbing - yes, in the middle of the night - I can't quite believe it, but well, that's the plan. We barely sleep and David, our guide, wakes us up. Get dressed, get ready, we have another warm tea and suddenly we find ourselves in the snow with all the equipment, a big bottle of water, chocolate, altitude sickness tablets, and a bag of coca leaves. We are lucky, the moon shines brightly and everything around us sparkles, wow wow wow. The first steps are hard, the next 5 hours as well.

The three of us are connected by a rope, and step by step we make our way up for the next 5 hours. Breathing is heavy and the heart beats at a frequency unknown until now. Can we do it, really tough and already after the first half an hour. With time, you get into a rhythm, don't look up and concentrate fully on your breathing, that's how it goes. The ascent is taking a toll on both of us. It's not the steepness or the heavy equipment, it's the altitude that is affecting us. It's really not to be underestimated to climb a 6088m high mountain with this equipment. So we climb on, we stop from time to time, and mainly to catch our breath. A sip of water here and there and fresh coca leaves. If you take off your gloves, your fingers freeze, it's really cold.

I feel really nauseous, my heart is racing like crazy, and breathing is really difficult. Ruben says nothing, but he's also going through all the states. Shortly before the summit, I really can't go on, I don't want to continue because it feels like I'm about to throw up any moment. Hey, surely the summit is within reach, it's only 300m away, we can do it!

Yes, right on time for the sunrise, we reach the summit. Below us, a sea of clouds and an extraordinary view! Wow wow wow!

It is incredibly beautiful, we see La Paz, El Alto, we can even see all the way to Lake Titicaca :-)

We don't stay on the summit for long because altitude sickness persists and it's quite chilly up there.

We start our journey back. With each meter, breathing becomes easier again and we can soak up the beauty of nature around us - glistening snow, giant icicles, and a breathtaking view.

When we arrive at Campo alto, we take a short break. We can't imagine descending after two hours, but we have to! The descent is difficult, it's very slippery, and without the proper equipment, quite challenging. After two hours, we reach Campo base completely exhausted and overjoyed, we exchange some stories with the other companions and are taken back to La Paz, where we can finally get a good rest.

The muscle soreness the next day is indescribable, but the feeling is also ultra good hehe ;-)