Bolivia

Ok, a quick note about our recent trip to Bolivia. We arrived, went sightseeing, got bored of sightseeing and went into the mountains. First of all we planned to visit the Condoriri area to acclimatise. This is a popular area where the locals provide a donkey service and have even installed a couple of toilets. Rather too quickly we made an attempt on Pequenyo Alpmayo only 5 days after arriving. Given that I'd not do Mont Blanc after 5 days in the Alps why did we attempt a 5400m peak? Anyway, we were successful but it was extremely painful.

Descending Pequenyo Alpmayo

We did a couple more routes between us in this area and then returned to La Paz to prepare for our visit to the remote Cordillera Apolobamba. We planned to visit a valley that we later found out had never been visited before by anyone other than the local shepherds and their llamas.

When we arrived, following a scary and somewhat dangerous minibus journey along single track dirt roads above awesome drops, the hills were shrouded in mist and clag. We settled down by the road for the night, hoping that morning would reveal a clearing and allow us to see up the valley we had spotted using the power of Google Earth. Morning dawned with a covering of fresh snow but thankfully the clouds had cleared. As we could find no donkeys or llamas for hire we set about humping all our food and gear for the 2 weeks up the valley. This was brutal and took 2 journeys. It was at this point that a local boy out getting his llama nicked Ad's crampons. We later figured that he nicked them coz they were in a Leeds Utd bag and all South Americans seemed obsessed by football, he should have picked a better team to nick than Leeds! Anyway in the light of the security risk (later found to be non existant as the other shepherds were friendly and we never saw robbery boy again) we decided to climb 1 pair on, 1 pair off. This meant Ad could borrow my crampons when he climbed.

First up Simon and I climbed the rock peak on the right by what looked like a nice rock ridge but which turned out to be a pile of choss with a little interesting scrambling. We were, however, able to scope out a nice rock ridge that Kris and Ad did the following day at about PD+

That night we made a sad discovery, both petrol stoves appeared to be blocked. As a result we agreed that Ad and Kris would descend to the nearby village of Illo Illo to try and solve the problem whilst Simon and I would attempt the North West Face of Canisaya, a 5700m peak that had been climbed twice from the other side but never from this side.

Canisaya North West Face. We climbed round the seracs on the bottom right and straight up the top section. The skyline NE ridge is unclimbed.

We made good time on our ascent and soon enough found ourselves at the bottom of the face. The face sported a large number of large crevasses and seracs. Fortunately there was a relatively clear line on the right side which led to the final 45 degree face. This was covered in spikes of neve called penitentes, which made for easy going. We fetched up under the summit seracs in good order and found the way barred by a large rimaye. Initially we couldn't see a way over but then we noticed a partial snow bridge down on the right. Due to the precarious nature of the bridge we belayed the crossing and the following 50 degree slope. Once on top we found the summit guarded by a giant ice mushroom and a moat like crevasse. We walked round the rim of the moat and luckily found a point where an ice slope rose up and crossed the moat. Easily we walked over this and onto the flat summit. The descent by the west ridge was uneventful and we were back in camp by noon.

That night Ad and Kris brought bad news, we had to descend as they had not been able to get the stoves sorted. We moved our bus pick up forward a few days giving Ad and Kris enough time to attempt Charquini, the most impressive peak in the valley. They got around half way before tricky and scary glacier conditions forced a retreat.

Charquini from the descent on Canisaya