Bolivia Expedition Dispatch

June 16, 2011 – Cerro Austria Summit Day

This is Leila Silveira reporting from Condoriri Base Camp. Today we woke up to another clear, beautiful day. The full moon has been absolutely amazing. It is almost like daylight all night – it is never dark.

Today we climbed Cerro Austria which stands at 16,405ft/3,281m. It stands just 1,200ft/366m lower than Pequeno Alpamayo, our next goal. It is definitely a great acclimatization hike. The team took their time and spent 45 minutes at the summit to improve their acclimatization.

Nate was feeling a little under the weather with some altitude symptoms, so he decided to take a day off to rest. I went with him on some short hikes around camp. By evening, he was feeling much better.

Dinner tonight was great. We had veggies and kebabs. For dessert we had a big surprise – brownies that I brought with me from Canada. Needless to say, they were a hug hit.