Itinerary

The first day is spent traveling by boat on Lake Titicaca and driving across the altiplano to a trailhead in the central part of the Cordillera Real. Covering a substantial part of Bolivia's altiplano, Lake Titicaca is the world's highest navigable waterway, and from its waters we enjoy memorable views of the scores of seventeen to twenty-thousand-foot peaks that make up the Cordillera Real. This range has great vertical relief, and the steep faces of ice that characterize its peaks rise up in dramatic contrast to the broad and undulating altiplano.

We visit a small island where 15th century Inca terraces can be observed, and we see villagers who carry out farming, spinning, weaving, and reed boat construction much as their ancestors did during the rule of the Incas.

In the afternoon we drive east from the lake to the foot of the central Cordillera Real and then to a trailhead where we meet our llamas and support staff and camp for the night. With the animals carrying the bulk of our gear, we make an easy-paced ascent to our base camp at 15,000 feet.

The trek takes us through some beautiful valley landscapes, and our camp provides excellent views of the many surrounding mountains and puts us in position to make a series of single-day ascents. During the first days of the program we tailor our schedule of instruction and practice climbing to suit the needs of the participants acclimatizing at different rates. We give instruction in climbing technique on a glacial practice area near our camp while team members gradually acclimatise more fully to the 15,000 to 16,000-foot altitudes, and then cover additional skills in the process of making summit climbs. We make a beautiful short trek to the Condoriri Lake District and there make two ascents on 17,000 and 18,000-foot peaks. This
area includes two of the most beautiful mountains on the continent, Cerro Condoriri and Pequeno Alpamayo.

Our approach is once again made easy by the help of llamas, and we set up camp near a lake below the magnificently sculptured white tower of Condoriri. We practice additional climbing and rescue techniques and then make our first major climb, most likely of the beautiful Pyramide Blanca. After a day of rest or more practice climbing, we tackle our primary goal in this group, Pequeño Alpamayo, a hidden peak with a very impressive pyramidal summit. We climb a broad glacier to a col, traverse along a ridge to the base of the summit pyramid, and then ascend directly to the top. The entire route is photogenic, offers excellent climbing, and makes use of all the skills taught earlier in the program.

We then move south past a series of colorful altiplano lakes to the Pass of Zongo, right at the very foot of Huayna Potosi (variously calculated from 19,996 to 20,011 feet), from which we take a full day to establish a high camp at 18,000 feet. Setting off from that camp the following morning with sunrise over the Amazon Basin to our east, we climb a beautiful route which includes serious glacier travel and intermittent sections of moderately steep ground — challenging climbing but well within the skill level developed by the climbing team during the preceding days of the program. With Huayna Potosi's summit a well-defined point at the end of a beautifully sculptured ridge, the last few steps to the top provide an exhilarating finish to a great climb.

Topics intended to be covered during instruction include:
· selection & use of personal equipment
· anchors for fixed & running belays
· selection & use of ropes, knots, & harnesses
· an introduction to high altitude physiology
· design & selection of technical equipment
· response to high altitude illness
· principles of glacier travel
· nutrition during extended trips at altitude
· belaying techniques on snow & ice
· introduction to natural hazards evaluation
· French & German cramponing techniques
· crevasse rescue procedures
· principal ice axe positions
· rappelling
· concept & application of the self-belay
· route finding & evaluation

Following our ascents above, we return to La Paz and have a day and a half to prepare for this next stage of the expedition. We leave the city traveling southeast over very rugged roads to a small settlement where we meet our Arriero and his llamas. With our gear loaded on his animals, we climb gradually higher while
enjoying brilliant views of Illimani, and eventually pass through the isolated village where he and his family live. Here Aymara life is very traditional, with thatch-roofed homes constructed of mud brick and stone and villagers busy attending to the soaking, drying, and freezing of their potatoes (in the world's original freeze drying process).

We climb above the village and establish base camp at a small lake at 15,000 feet, where in the evening we enjoy the dependable arrival of a flock of Andean geese that spend the night at the water, and from which we have a beautiful view of sunset over the altiplano.

The next day our Arriero returns with members of his family who help us as porters. With them we make a 3000-foot ascent up trails and a rock ridge to reach a snowy bench at 18,000 feet where we establish our high camp. From that camp we get great views into the enormous, steep-walled cirque of Illimani and across Lake Titicaca into Peru. The next morning we begin our ascent of the peak's steep southwest buttress. The route is broken by a series of large crevasses, and we carefully zig zag our way up, using snow bridges and ice ramps where we can to shorten our route.

Eventually we climb a 40 to 45-degree glacial face and gain the final ridge to the summit — a gently rising, exposed, and very photogenic finish that provides some of the finest views in the Andes. Always scenic and offering rewardingly varied alpine climbing, this is an exciting expedition on one of South America's greatest peaks.

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