Bolivia Expedition Dispatch

June 18, 2011 – Pequeno Alpamayo and Tarija Summit Day! – Part I

Today it has been a long day for sure. Everyone woke up at 1:30am as planned and actually left for the summit on schedule at 3am. The weather was really strange the entire day; switching back and forth between heavy clouds and sun, it was the kind of day that required us to change our gear constantly.

Nate, who has not acclimatizing well from the first day, was still struggling a bit, but decided to give the summit a shot and went up. Once he reached the ridge, happy with his efforts, he turned around and returned to base camp.

Jared and Bill reached the summit of Tarija and returned down to base camp.

Bart, Richard, Mark, Lucas and Ryan went for Pequeno Alpamayo and had a long, exciting day as well. They are all safely back at base camp, getting ready to return to La Paz where hot showers are waiting for them.

As we mentioned in an earlier dispatch, we’ve decided to adjust our program to avoid a possible strike which could cause highway delays. Instead of spending the night at base camp after the summit, we decided to tough it up, pack everything and drive a day early to La Paz in order to leave for Sajama a day before the scheduled strike.

I returned a bit earlier to La Paz with Nate and Osvaldo because Nate’s breathing was not completely stable and it would be better for him to go down to La Paz, where is lower altitude. As predicted, as soon as he got back to La Paz his condition improved.

The rest of the team arrived back in La Paz at 9:30pm, quite tired. Some people craved Burger King down the road, but most decided to order room service and rest. The plan was to leave for Sajama at 2pm on Sunday, but not before some more shopping in the morning at the witches market.

Thanks to all of the guides today for again going beyond their call of duty and doing a great job today! These guys are the best and we are so lucky to work with them!