Never again.... again.

Two years ago, the day after summiting Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Brad turned to me and said. ¨I never want to go to this altitude again, I felt like my head was going to explode on the top¨......

 

A few weeks ago, as we strapped our crampons onto our boots with frozen fingers at 1 am in the morning, surrounded by snow, I thought of that conversation in Tanzania. It´s amazing how time can change your mind.

Contemplating the climb

We embarked on a three day hike up Huayna Potosi, a mountain just outside of La Paz in Bolivia. We hiked from 4700m to 6088m in this time; the summit day in crampons with an ice pick and a harness. We were placed in groups of two, each group harnessed to an experienced guide. There was team Australia, team New Zealand, team UK and team Europe.

As far as I could get on the vertical wall (practice day)

Look at that technique! Brad makes it to the top...

Final Camp

The hike to the summit commenced in pure darkness, the stars above us, some lightening off in the far distance and the lights of La Paz below us. It was very surreal, everyone trudging along through the snow in silence, attached to two people and wondering what to expect.

About halfway along, there was a 60 degree ice climb. I was most worried about this bit, considering my lack of upper arm strength, but actually it was the easiest part. I felt quite secure using the crampons and ice pick to make my way slowly up, with the guide in front and Brad behind to encourage me. I was so engrossed in my climbing that the guide had to gently remind me to stand up and walk normally at the end (I was still ¨climbing¨ along near horizontal ground).

It was at this point that team ANZAC was formed; us and team NZ walked to the summit together. Slowly, slowly, we made it to the summit for sunrise.

Our wonderful guide, Felix

The last part of the hike is along a tiny ridge with a huge drop off on each side. Those suffering from vertigo would not have enjoyed it very much. There was barely enough room on the ridge for both of my feet sitting side by side. All of our trust was in our wonderful guide, who literally had our lives in his hands at that point. 

My arm was so tired from using the ice pick and my fingers were so cold they were going numb. All I could think was, ¨if I fall and have to use the ice pick to stop my fall, I don´t think I can physically do it.¨ So I used all of my remaining energy to concentrate on not falling and we made it safely! 

The tiny ridge to the summit

At the top I was so cold that I refused to take my hands out of my gloves to take a photo. Thank goodness for Brad, who kindly unzipped my jacket to get the camera and took some amazing photos. 

The view was spectacular at sunrise. We could see for miles and miles over the Andes. We could see Lake Titicaca and La Paz in the distance. As the sun rose slowly, Huayna Potosi made a shadow in the orange light over lake Titicaca and it looked like a transparent mountain in the distance. We have never seen anything like it before in our lives. It was beautiful!

What a view.

Having being told the day before that only 70 percent of people make it to the summit, we were very proud that our whole group of 8 made it to the top! I am pretty sure they just told us that to make us feel better if we decided to give up...

Made it!

It was officially the hardest physical thing I have done in my life, but what an amazing adventure.

So happy to be warm and heading down finally...

Questionable fashion sense?!