There is a saying about Bolivia that says that it has the biggest sky in the Americas. The comprehension of this statement comes when you are standing in the altiplano boliviano (all of it over 13,000 ft.) and look around. You get the actual feeling that the sky extends more than 180 º around you.

My partner Hector was leading a group of Americans in the Cordillera Real so I decided to join him and give him a hand if necessary.
I could only spend a couple of weeks in this wonderful country, but this 15 days were really intense. If you want to know how we did it here’s a brief description of our trip.

June 2006
After our arrival at the La Paz airport, 13,200 ft. high, we descend to the city, situated about a 1,000 ft. lower. As we go down, the humble houses that line the road turn into better looking ones. In La Paz the lower you go, the higher the income is.
Before we head to the mountains we visit the Tiwanaku ruins. This is an archaeological site from a culture that prospered in the area around 1,500 B.C. located 40 miles from La Paz.

Pequeño Alpamayo 5.350m.

After an hour and a half drive, we get to the place where we will start our approach to the mountain. We use llamas to carry our equipment to Base Camp, about 2 hours walking and at an altitude of 15,000 ft.

Llamas are gregarious and nervous animals that always have to move in groups. Separating them form their herds would be ¨traumatic” so we have to bring the whole group even though we only use around a dozen for carrying.

That night at base camp temperatures reached minus 14 degrees Celsius.
We spend most of next day enjoying the sights this beautiful base camp, at the feet of Concoriri (5,468 m) offers.

We went for a short hike to recognize the way to the glacier we would be doing in the dark next day.
We started our climb at around 4:00 a.m. When we reached the glacier we roped up to cross some heavily crevassed sections.

We first summited Tarija (5,200m.) and after a short rest on the Col between this mountain and Pequeño Alpamayo we carried on to the summit of this last one.

Huayna Potosí 6.088 m.
Huayna Potosí is very close to La Paz, roughly 20 km. We reach base by car in only one and a half hour on a good dirt road. On our way we go by the grave yard of the old Milluni mine.

From Songo we start our hike to high camp on a well marked trail. Near high camp we encounter a steep scree section. It takes us about 2 hours to get there. Camp 1 at 5,050 meters is really close to the glacier. We find some really good platforms to pitch our tents. Just above us is a newly built refuge but I still prefer sleeping in a tent.
Some time ago people used to keep on climbing for 500 meters more to establish camp right on the glacier. It was know as campo Argentino but nowadays no one uses that camp anymore. What you gain in altitude you loose in comfort.

 We start our final push to the summit very early in the morning. We rope up again as we can see some crevasses on our route. The way is really obvious. Most of the climb is done on low angled wide open slopes with some short sections of steeper terrain (45º). There is one bergschrund that we have to over too.

The summit is at the top of a 250 meter long sustained snow slope. Sometimes there is a delicate cornice just before the summit but this year it’s no so bad. From the top you can see the humidity coming from the east where the Amazon basin lies. This warm air collides with the mountain and you can witness an amazing condensation
spectacle. 

The descent goes really fast and that night we are sleeping in La Paz.

Sajama 6.542 m
Sajama, an extinct volcano is the highest mountain in Bolivia. In Aymara it means west.

To get to mountain we have to do a much longer drive this time (4-5 hours) to cover the 250 kilometres that separate it from La Paz.
Sajama is within the Sajama National Park so you have to register at the Parks office. Here you also arrange for mules and you are assigned to one of the several family run hostels in town.

The town of Sajama, 4,220 meters high, is really small but we can still do some tourism as we visit the 18th century Natividad church. We also get splendid views of the twin volcanoes known as Payachates: Parinacota (6,342) and Pomerata (6,282).

Next morning we reach base camp after a 2 hour walk on a nice well marked trail. This base camp is really dusty.

Next day, Hector and his clients leave for camp 1 located at around 5,650 meters. My plan is to leave from base camp at midnight and join him there before daybreak. The route is really obvious; you just follow a long ridge all the way to where it meets a big rock outcrop.

When I leave base camp at 12:00 a.m. I have a full moon. I reach camp 1 at 4 and from here we carry on to the summit together. We have to deal with a couple of steep (up to 45º) sections before we reach the final lower angled slopes below the summit. Here we rope up because there is some crevasses risk. The summit is wide and flat. Hector says it reminds of the summit of Cho Oyu. The descent is a bit more delicate that on the previous 2 mountains. In some sections we find high penitents that can make you loose your balance. But all the same, we go down pretty quickly and that evening we reach base camp. We are back in the town of Sajama early next morning
And we are still able to have a look at the Queñual, the tree that grows at the highest altitude in the world. Some have been found as high as 5,200 meters.

In Bolivia you can climb from April till August. Early in the season snow conditions are better but the weather can be unstable. In August the mountains dry up and penitents formed due to the sun and wind can make for a really uncomfortable climb. At the time, May and June are considered the best months to climb.

In Bolivia you really get your times worth since access to the mountains are really comfortable and fast and weather is very stable.
There are still lots of wild areas though, for those who prefer the least travelled path.