Almost...

Wednesday 16th April

Well, today I returned from Huayna Potosi... the 6088m snowy mountain near La Paz. Alas, mine is not a tale of victory, boo, but it was an adventure nonetheless.

We started yesterday with a 2 hour trek to the 'high camp' at 5300m... thats pretty high. More than enough to make going to the loo a breathless experience! Hmm, perhaps a bad choice of example...

We had a spot of dinner, then went to bed at 6pm... to be woken at midnight for our summit departure at 1am. So, not much sleep and alot of clothes putting on later we were ready for the off. I was paired with a guide all to myself... called Andreas. He was tiny (compared to me) and had gold around his front teeth which seems to be the fashion here. There was another girl in the group who also had her own guide... we were grouped according to speed. And two giant dutch guys who were speedy and grouped together with the 3rd guide.

I had a pair of kickass plastic boots... illuminous yellow with mean crampons. Had there been any planes flying over I could have easily landed them by waving my boots in the correct manner. Unfortunately the boots were way too big and 4 pairs of socks later my poor wee tootsies were still floating around... nevermind, onwards and upwards.

So off I went, up the snow, following the footprints illuminated in the ittle circle of light from my headtorch. And that was my view for the next 5 hours. The dutch guys soon passed me and were gone, the american girl was way behind so it was just me and my guide in the dark. It was one of the loneliest physical challenges I've done... just me against myself really.

All went well for a couple of hours but I then started having stomach issues and dizziness. Battled on with it for another 2 hours, including a bit where you have to climb across a crevass and then climb a near vertical snow wall with ice axe and crampon power. I actually liked that bit, was fun.

Kept pushing on, determined as usual, but just got to the stage where my legs were so tired I could barely lift my boots and I was wretching every few steps (nice huh)... my feet started not quite going where my brain was telling them to. I hadn't been drinking, honest! So Ma and Pa you'll be pleased (and maybe surprised!!!) to hear that I was SENSIBLE and decided to turn round just as soon as I started feeling unsafe. And to be honest I knew I couldn't have finished the climb which I knew was another half hour at least and then a 1 hour climb up a 150m wall.

The walk back was beautiful. The sun was rising and the sky burst into a million colours. I was amazed at just how far I'd actually gone and how steep it all was. That was the good thing about climbing in the dark, you are happily oblivious to what you're climbing on, round and up! In the photo, I got to just below the right hand snowy peak/point (which is the summit). You can just about make out the tracks in the snow which start on the left and go up and to the right, above the rocky bit. Then onward and upward over the second peak's shoulder to the base of the summit peak.

Anyway, got back down to the hut having reached about 5900m where I found 2 other people who had turned back earlier... was disappointed especially as I should have been able to do it but I just felt weak for some reason. But then, its good to be reminded every now and again that we cant always have what we want. And especially where the rather wonderful Mother Nature is concerned. So, I missed my 6000m mark by a snippet, but I'll get it one day... hopefully with boots that fit and stronger legs (and a better stomach)! Glad I tried though. Snow climbing though was fun, if very tiring... looking forward to taking a course somewhen.