Bolivia Expedition Dispatch

June 26, 2008 – Piece of Cake!

It's the 26th of June and I’m calling you from Sajama Base Camp, our elevation 15,900 feet. It’s really amazing how this group has adapted to the altitude, after the time we spent in Bolivia to now. Our hike yesterday from the hostel down by hot springs out on the flat Altiplano took us only four hours to get up here. Felt like a piece of cake! No one was breathing hard. There were absolutely no altitude symptoms in anyone and we really enjoyed the hike rather than seeming like we were struggling at altitude even though the whole thing took place over 15,000 feet. But now of course we are going to climb much higher for this expedition of Sajama. We are going to carrying up to high camp today. High Camp is 5,700 meters above sea level, that’s about 18,700 feet and that’s a whole new range for this group. Of course this is much higher than our highest summits that we climbed back in Condoriri. I am confident that this group is up for it.

The support we have in the BAI Bolivia staff has been amazing. Simon is our cook, our chef I should say, and he’s responsible for all the menu planning. He is also a mountaineer so he’s going to carry up to high camp with us today and prepare meals for our summit attempt. But back in the kitchen Simon has always had a few wonderful helpers, that is Maria and Heidi. Those girls have been great fun and support for us throughout the trip and the meals that they fix in Simons kitchen have always been superb (lost transmission).

I’m sure they have prepared a really nice feast for this group. We might be too tired to enjoy it Friday night after our summit climb but probably by Saturday morning we will be in the mood to reflect on a great climb and enjoy the hospitality back at Base Camp before we move back down to the Valley.

So that’s the update as we prepare to move higher. The team is in good spirits. We talk a lot about one team companion that Karen brought along called Nervous Nelly. When Karen gets apprehensive about whether she can do the climb or not, it kind of spreads through the group and it really starts worrying about high winds, whether they have enough warm clothes, how steep the climb is going to be and then we always laugh and say that Nervous Nelly is still with us. We may have to leave Nervous Nelly behind but the rest of us are planning to go to the top of the highest peak in Bolivia, Sajama. We will keep you posted about our progress.