Yolosa - La Cumbre: Bike race with 3440 meters of absolute elevation gain

Yesterday I raced a very special bike race. It's called Yolosa - La Cumbre or YLC and it starts from the jungle at 1220 meters' (4000ft) elevation and finishes 63 kilometers (40 miles) later at 4650 meters (15,250ft). The start is below Coroico town and finish close to La Paz. I am sure that there are only a few races, if any, with this much absolute elevation gain in the world. For a lot of cyclists around La Paz this race is the highlight of the year and now was the 12th time the event was organized.

On Saturday there was the first stage of the race, a short cross country race in Coroico. Somehow in my mind I had completely ignored this stage while thinking about the main race all the time for the past weeks. I took this first stage very easy and finished in 45 minutes and placed 99th out of 270. I kind of felt sorry for the not-so-good folks that pushed really hard and passed me, but I knew I was going to feel great the next day.

I didn't really sleep the night before the big race because there was a lot of noise in the touristy area of Coroico. Next time I need to make sure to be further away, but now I didn't really have time to look for a hotel before the first stage. I got up at 5.30 in the morning and after 6 I rode my bike down from Coroico at 1750 meters to Yolosa at 1220 meters. Women started first at 7. Then men according to age. At some point I looked at my bike and noticed that my bottle was missing. I was totally sure it should have been in the cage but I don't know what happened. Luckily right there was a tiny store already open and they had Powerade. I bought one bottle and drank all of it. Problem solved and now I got to start without the weight from a full bottle.

 I was in the elite category and we were supposed to start at 7.15 5 minutes after the last age group. As the last start was going on, I was alone behind everyone and people urged me to start, so I did. Apparently the elite had already left, but that was ok because the race used chip timing. So I had about 270 people ahead of me. I got into my own rhythm and passed people all the time for the first hour or more. There was enough room for passing and the speed was low so no problem. This is a one lane dirt road that has some quite steep sections, but for the most part it rises very gently. My seatpost slowly slipped down and I quickly stopped to fix it twice. While it was a little annoying, I tried to tell myself that it was only good to use different muscles as the seat height changed... I was on a friend's bike that weighed 14,8 kilos (32 pounds) with my pedals, but otherwise it was a great bike, almost new.

 It was a little bit difficult to decide how fast to ride. I thought I would finish in 4,5 to 5 hours. Riding as hard as you can for 4,5 hours may sound simple (and absurdly hard), but there is no real way to know how hard you should go for the first hour or two, for example. I only have a power meter on one road bike wheel, and also the changing elevation would play a role in power output. The first 1-2 hours at the low elevations felt quite easy and I was not breathing hard. Muscles slowly got more tired, and obviously in the end muscle fatigue was going to be the most important limiting factor, I thought. I ate a lot of Oreo cookies while slowly but surely gaining elevation on the green mountains. It's not like I have traveled the world, but I would say that this area between La Cumbre and Coroico is about as spectacular as it gets. The dirt road is carved into the side of a mountain, and there is a steep drop most of the way right there on the side of the road. There are also 2 or 3 waterfalls that fall over the road.

There were three hydration points on the dirt road. First I took two mugs of Powerade, and on the second station some water. At this point I was alone, just occasionally passing riders. There is no real vehicle traffic on this road and nobody except the organizers were allowed there during the race. The third hydration was close to the paved road and there were a lot of people watching. I had given a bottle of Gatorade to a buddy the night before so he could give it to me at this spot, and there he was. I was also handed a bottle of Powerade, which I drank entirely. I was in a good situation for the second half of the race which was on a paved road from maybe 3100 meters elevation up. I knew I was going to pass more competitors. Legs still felt good, I was thinking clearly, and I smiled to the people cheering me on.

I adjusted my seat height one more time and this time it worked for good. From the beginning of the paved road I felt like I really needed to start going hard. I have been training on this part of the course probably more than anyone else in the race because for me it's conveniently close, but still it requires a long ride to get to the race course. I felt like at home there. Someone told me that 17 riders had passed before me, and so I started pushing hard. I passed many, and all of them seemed exhausted and could not follow at all. This gave me a spark, but once I got to a spot well known to me after riding almost 3 hours, I kind of panicked because I thought I was barely going to finish in under 5 hours, or maybe in 4.50. That's when the race was totally on for me.

A couple of friends appeared in a car and they rode beside me on and off making all kind of noise, which gave me a boost. The last 2 hours of the race were really strong and at some point I believed I had a chance to go under 4 hours 30 minutes which felt like a big deal, so I kept driving as hard as I could. When I assumed I had maybe 25 minutes to go, I saw two racers in the distance. I didn't want to lose the opportunity to gain 2 more spots and tried even harder. Quite soon I passed them in the steepest part of the paved road and left them behind 15 minutes before finish line.

I got sixth overall in 4 hours 29 minutes. I wonder how much faster I could go on a bike that's 5 kilos lighter, or more... Dragging 5-7 kilos less for 3400 elevation meters should make a huge difference, but I guess I'm doing it right by having a light body weight and a heavy bike, not the other way around.

Winner was the icon of Bolivian cycling, Oscar Soliz. He has been the most successful Bolivan cyclist by a lot for about 10 years and he's the face of the sport here. For years Soliz has been riding for Movistar on continental level as a tiny climber and team captain, but for some reason he didn't make it to Europe. He did the Yolosa - La Cumbre in 3.51. Second place was Tinker Juarez from the U.S. in 4.08 and third was a local guy who rarely races with 4.10. Fourth was a Chilean racer, fifth another local and then me. In the combined results of both stages I was 7th overall. Would be very interesting to have power numbers from that race. Anyway despite the elevation changes throughout the course I believe I rode the later half at much higher effort. I think next time I'll ride a little bit harder on the dirt part.

Edit: At the end of November Oscar Soliz was suspended for cera, a type of epo. Ok then, we won´t be seeing him until 2021.  Or, in fact he might still show up to independent races like Yolosa-La Cumbre.

On the weekend of October 6-7 there was an interesting triathlon here in La Paz, organized by Club de Tenis La Paz. They also organized the olympic distance triathlon at lake Titicaca in March. This was the first time this race was put up. It featured a 1000 meter swim in an outdoor pool on Friday night when it was already dark. Pretty nice. The pool is a 25 meter pool in a garden-like setting, and there is also an indoor pool of the same lenght. The club is at 3250 meters elevation, which is over 600 meters less than where I live, so swimming felt "easy". There were maybe 40 participants, and four different swim starts. 2 swimmers per lane. The water was not cold, but the night was chilly and we were free to use wetsuits. I think my swim heat started at about 8.30pm and I managed a time of 14.32 which was surprisingly fast since I had been swimming very little. It was 2nd fastest of the night and I was one minute behind the leader.

The next morning at 8 we started cycling. In the past weeks and months I have finally focused on training instead of wanting to be at 100% for every possible race. In training I have done more hours and hard sessions have also been longer. During the race week I did 4,5 hours of cycling on Wednesday and 3:25 on Thursday. The bike was a mass start, even though it would have been nice to  leave one by one in the order of swim times. The triathlon was named Triatlon Xterra Hampaturi, and the cycling route was about one third pavement, one third stoned streets (very bumpy, much worse than cobbles), and then dirt roads. The course started from 3300 meters elevation (10,800ft) and climbed up to 3830 meters at transition. First two guys took off very fast, and it took me maybe 15 minutes to take the lead. I rode really hard the whole time and I am sure it was a much harder effort than in a typical on-road triathlon. Running shoes arrived at the transition in a bus. Before the start I said to a buddy that hopefully the bus arrives at transition before us. I got to the transition first, and about 20 seconds before the bus... luckily my rival was not in sight. Cycling took 47 minutes. I'm not sure about the distance but it was supposed to be 12 km.

Run started well despite riding hard. Legs felt light. This was a 6 km course, with the first 4 km rising slightly while there were also some downhills. After the first 2 kilometers there were no more houses and no people or traffic along the route. Then the little road got steeper, and the last 2 kilometers included as much as 250 meters elevation gain! The last kilometer was the steepest and I was only barely able to run. This was very hard, and the finish line was by the Hampaturi dam at 4245 meters elevation (13,927 feet). Run time was 38 minutes and I was a little bit surprised to finish 5 minutes ahead of the second place, so I won by four minutes overall. They gave me a watch that works like a smartphone. I haven't explored it much yet, but at least it works really well when calling from one room to another inside the house.

The next weekend on Sunday there was a race from outside El Alto to the legendary Chacaltaya mountain. This too was a mountain bike race but on dirt roads. We started from 4300 meters (14,100ft) and the finish was at 5220 meters (17,125ft)! It's not likely that there is another race in the world that reaches such elevation, so this should be the highest cycling race in the world. This race attracted some racers from other regions too, or at least I had never heard of a few fast riders that were there. I must say that doing competive endurance sports at 5000 meters is quite hard : )

Foto: Joel Zarate Alanz

 It snowed part of the way up but luckily the worst of that day's storm was further away. I finished in 1 hour 30 minutes and got 9th overall. It sure looked like for many racers their altitude genes kicked in since I could not keep up with some guys I typically beat. Or maybe it was because I had already been riding for an hour and 55 minutes before the start.

Today on October 22 I participated in my favorite local bike race. It's a road bike uphill race from 3760 up to 4660 meters (15,288ft). So this might be the highest road bike race in the world, while it does have categories for mountain bikes as well. The last time this was done was in June. I got second that time, but I had just recovered from bronchitis and was suffering from a stomach bug that bothered me for a few weeks until I finally took antibiotics for it. I like this race because I just need to roll downhill for 4 minutes from where I live to get to the start, and from the top of the mountain it's a breeze to get back home. This is also the road I train on the most when I ride outside. Also it's a lot like time trial and takes one hour or more, depending on the wind. This time the wind was a headwind while going up and my time was 1.04:50. I had a good day despite having ridden the indoor trainer 4 hours 20 minutes on Thursday (and 3 hours 40 minutes total on Wednesday) and pushed my record watts for the route. I got second overall out of 42. On the way down I hit 88,6 km/h (55 mph). It don't get no better than that!

Foto: Anniel Pelaez

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On August 20 I was in a cycling race and hit a dog after about 10 minutes. The streets in Bolivia are full of dogs, and you literally have to watch every step to avoid getting your shoes dirty. The race passed a small village and I came through a corner and then there was a very short downhill before equally short uphill. At the bottom there was a dog on the street. It looked like it was going to cross the street, but I think it got confused right at the last moment and I ran into it. There were racers around me so I would not have had much chance of swerving around the dog. It was quite a hit but luckily my glutes took the worst of it. With worse luck I could have easily fractured my hip. After a couple of minutes I decided to keep riding because my stuff was in a car on the way to the finish area.

I kept riding the trainer the next week and I did two swims that week too (with wounds covered as well as possible), so on Sunday road rash in my hip, elbow and ankle were like fresh. I wanted to race a time trial that Sunday because based on all the road races I had done around here, I thought I could be the best time trialist around La Paz. I ended up winning that race by 0,1 seconds even though muscles felt really heavy from the start.

With the wounds still open, I needed to rest so I took 2 days off, then did a short run on Wednesday and as running was still painful from the crash, I decided to rest 2 more days. At that point I also decided not to go to triathlon national championships that weekend in Santa Cruz. By now I was pretty sure there was a small tear in the affected mucle so I took it easier for one more week

Cycling national championships were supposed to be held at the end of May, and I was in very good cycling shape then, but the race got canceled because there is a new "rebel federation" that wants to take over. So then at the end of August national championships were announced for September 16 and 17 (time trial and road race). It is very typical in Bolivia to let people know about important races 2 or 3 weeks before. In the real world that would be about a year. But anyway, I was not asked to ride for La Paz in the time trial or in the road race where 5 riders from each department compete. Over the years in Bolivia I have learned to expect very little of anything or anyone, so this was not even a big surprise or a big disappointment. It did bother me a little bit that one guy who is always wayyy slower than me was there competing.

Highest Sprint Triathlon in the World

La Paz is in a valley, El Alto is above in the flat area. There is no other limit between the two cities, and El Alto is a bit bigger in terms of population and probably has more area too. About 900 000 people live in El Alto.

On Saturday August 12th there was a triathlon in El Alto. It was a sprint with a pool swim in a quite new pool. This was not the first time there was a triathlon in El Alto but first time I participated. The pool is at 4050 meters elevation (13,290 ft). El Alto´s city center is at 4100 and the highest, north eastern parts of the city reach 4275 meters (14,025ft)! So, I am confident that this is the highest  triathlon in the world.

In Bolivian triathlon the current situation is that there are three national championships every year, each of them being equally important. It´s a disgrace, but the olympic distance no longer exists in these championship races and all of them are sprints. One can not just sign up, but you have to be a member of a club and participate in a regional qualifying race to be selected to repsesent your area, which in this case is La Paz. Every time before regionals you have to provide copy of birth certificate, copy of id card, and a copy of medical certificate plus some money. You only get a license about 5 or 10 minutes before the nationals race from regional "authority" and right before the race the race organizers take it...

In May I participated in the national championships in Cochabamba as part of my return to triathlon. That was the first time since September 2015 but unfortunately I had not tightened my bike handlebar properly after flight and it was moving so I had to take the bike leg a bit carefully. In fact right after starting the bike leg I noticed that my rear wheel was rubbing against bike frame too so I had to stop to adjust it and that took way longer than it should. And still at least in the turn arounds I could hear the tire rubbing. These things never happened to me before... That race didn't go as planned and I ended up 4th in the elite and sixth overall. There are athletes that are training really well for the 2018 South American games that will be held in Cochabamba. I know that at least the second place guy has been training full-time for almost 4 years and others are pushing hard too.

So this race in El Alto was a regional qualifier. It was a regular, sunny but cold morning in La Paz, but up in El Alto it was very windy (and colder of course). In the end the organizers decided to shorten the distances and make it a run-bike-swim with a little break before the swim. They thought it was not worth it to expose people to the cold wind after swimming. At times the scene was much like in a sandstorm, but I didn´t think it was that bad. The triathlon at Titicaca in March was a lot worse in terms of cold. But as usual, I was the person with most clothes on and I am sure most people were not ready for those conditions.

The run was 4 kilometers and bike was 13 km. There were a few really good runners from the military team and they (4) left me far behind. As usual for running, it felt like I could not get the best out because of the altitude. I was about minute and a half behind the leader at the end of the run even though I am in a pretty good running shape.

The best runners from La Paz, El Alto, Oruro and Potosi who were born and raised at super high altitudes can maintain around 3.30 (a few even 3.20) per kilometer for a 10k running at 13 000ft.

Cycling went well and I caught everyone quite soon and in the end I was at least 30-40 seconds ahead of second place. After a short break we swam 500 meters in the pool. That was quite difficult after a maximum effort in the run and bike and I only managed 9 minutes. I don´t even know how the military men swam because I had to go home as soon as possible but later it turned out I won the "elite" category.

The next day I went to a cycling race outside El Alto with 3 other cyclists. It was a pretty competive 80km race. Obviously legs felt tired. It was windy again but not nearly as much as Saturday. I raced carefully and never responded to the crazy attacks at full speed. Instead, I kept a steady hard pace behind the lead group at least 3 times when they left me. About 10 km before finish line 10 racers escaped again but eventually I managed to join the top 5 just before the final 1 kilometer hill and took the lead briefly before 3 of them took off. I finished 4th.

Sajama solo climb: Straight from base camp to Summit

Sajama is Bolivia's highest peak at 6546 meters or 21,476ft. Obviously I had thought about climbing it countless times, and it's quite possible and even likely that Sajama is the highest I'll ever climb. While the idea of going to some 7000 meter peak or much higher is certainly quite attractive, I think it still makes more sense to climb the peaks here in Bolivia while I'm here. In one day I can get in some really good climbing from where I live, Also this is where I am familiar with and where some of the best (and maybe safest) mountaineering conditions exist. But any climb could be my last one, mountaineering is not something I have planned to do for decades ahead.

Edit: On the other hand, it would make a lot of sense to go and attempt a climb in the 7000-8000 meter range straight from La Paz, already fully acclimatized. Some nights spent at 6000-6500 on a Bolivian mountain would easily cut a week off a typical Himalayan expedition that are 4 to 8 weeks long with a lot of time spent on getting used to the altitudes because almost everybody lives at sea level.

In 2016 I planned to climb Sajama with a Russian person and a guide, but we heard that it was not worth it: As last year was very dry, there was no snow on the mountain. Only ice, and sand on the critical steeper section.

Now I finally decided to climb Sajama, by myself, and I knew the amazing snow conditions around La Paz would also extend to Sajama. And according to mountainforecast.com it was going to be very calm. To top it off, it was full moon only a few days earlier so the moonlight was going to be bright.

My plan was to climb from the base camp to the top in one push, because I don't like carrying a huge and heavy backpack, and I can never really rest and sleep while camping, so eliminating one night's poor sleep would be beneficial for me, I thought. So that would mean over 1700 meters of elevation gained. That would be the most I have ever done. I had done over 1500m at least three times. On my Illimani climb I went from 3880 to 5410 meters in less than seven hours of total time, carrying a full backpack, which is around 20 kilos with water and everything. That was 9,1km. On Mururata I gained 1650 meters in 4,5 hours total time over 11 km carrying a light backpack (4230-5880m). While climbing Maria Lloco I had to climb over 1680 meters, so surprisingly that was the day with most vertical meters gained. That time I went from about 4780 to 5250, down to 4710, up to 5550, down to 4730 and again to 5100 before getting back to the car!

I was determined to try the climb straight from base camp, but I was aware that I might not be able to do it. For example, I didn't know if the path to high camp was going to be soft sand. That would be exhausting. Or if it was going to include some rocky sections. That can be very slow if you have to watch every step you take. Sometimes it can be difficult to find the route, especially in the dark, and sometimes you just have a bad day and can't move fast. High ice pinnacles or nieve penitentes are typical for mountains in the Sajama area, and they slow you down a lot. Deep snow could also be a problem.

On Wednesday July 12th I had some things to do in the morning, and I hesitated leaving for Sajama because it was getting a bit late. I had prepared all my stuff in the evening, and at 9.30 I left but I still had to buy a warning triangle for my vehicle.

It took about 1 hour 15 minutes to get out of El Alto and at noon I was in Patacamaya. From there begins my favorite drive of about 170 kilometers or 105 miles to the Sajama village. This was the third time I drove that road. It reminds me a lot of Arizona deserts and redlands. There is very little traffic, and most of it is big trucks coming from Chilean ports. I was finally in Sajama at 3.20 and I was not sure if I should carry on because it was late. I drove straight through the village and north from there. Surprisingly soon I saw a sign that said "base camp". I had planned to leave my car there, but then I drove just a little bit further to turn around. I'm extremely glad I did that, because there was an actual little road going up the hill on my right. It took me 1,1km further towards the base camp! I didn't know that road existed, but it saved me precious time and energy. The road ended at 4420 meters.

I had to eat and drink a lot before leaving the car, and do some final preparations, so it was already 4.32 when I set off on foot. It was warm and sunny and the path rose only gently. It was a good path all the way, nothing like the approach to nearby Parinacota that's all very soft sand and volcanic ash.
I was carrying a backpack of 20 kilos (I weighed it), but I felt strong and walked the 4,56 kilometers or 2.83 miles to the base camp at 4810 meters in exactly 1 hour 30 minutes, including one stop. There were two tents in the camp. The sun went down behind the mountains at the very moment I got there, and the shadow moved incredibly fast. One of the tents was empty, but from the other I heard a language that was Russian or some Eastern European language. There was a Polish couple. The woman said their plan was to just go the high camp, but I saw at least one pair of crampons. It didn't even occur to me to ask why they were just going to the high camp, because why would I question their doings? Just trekking there is amazing when you are into it.

Only a few minutes after the camp site had fallen into the shadow, I saw that a tiny stream of water nearby was already partially frozen. The change from warm sun to very chilly temperatures was so quick it boggled my mind. That's the kind of stuff you see on TV!

The empty tent was a high cooking tent. I wasn't sure if I should use it. I only have a small bivy tent that's maybe 80cm high. So I decided to sleep in the cooking tent that obviously belonged to some group that was higher on the mountain. The camp site here is big and flat, and the best part is that it's very comfortable for laying down. Must be the best one I have seen in Bolivia.

At about 7.10 I was in the sleeping bag. Eventually I slept roughly from 11 to 1 a.m. After that I could not sleep anymore, even though my alarm was set for 3.15. I got up at 1.50 and started the walk at 2.15 a.m. That is the earliest I have ever started a climb. On my Illimani solo trip I started at 3.30. but that was from the high camp. First there was an almost flat plain, then a zig zag uphill, and another almost flat section. Some might have ignored these initial parts of the journey, but to me this was perhaps the most memorable part. From the beginning the moonlight was so bright that I didn't need the headlamp. I enjoyed these lonely moments in the middle of the night, knowing that I had taken a super early start. In the desert-like environment and the bright moonlight, the first hour with the gentle rise felt like walking on the moon. It was totally calm and quiet.

The path was easy to follow and the surface was good. At 5100 meters and at 5300 there are flat spots that can be used for camping. I might have used one of them had I known. From about 5200 the path zig zags up and it is steeper. In the first hour I gained 440 meters (4810-5250). In the second hour 386 meters (5250-5636).

I'm not sure if it was 4.33 or 4.43 a.m. when I got to the high camp at 5685 meters, but anyway it was still early and I was happy about the progress I had made and legs felt strong. At 5.12 I stopped to put on boots and crampons, to put more clothes on and to eat and drink for 31 minutes before setting out on the snow at 5.43. I switched on my headlamp for the first time that day! This is a ridge that does not have snow until this very high elevation, but on both sides there was snow at lower elevations. Compared to the ridge on Illimani, this was very safe.

Close to La Paz there is snow as low as at 4860 meters, but the Sajama area is a different story.

I could see two headlamps higher on the mountain, so at least two people had started from the high camp that night, although there were four tents. They were maybe an hour ahead of me. In the third hour I gained 314 meters getting up to 5950m. These times don't include dedicated stops when I also turn the timer off.

There was a steeper section at up to 50 degrees where the ridge joins a slope coming from below, but the snow was really good. From the way it had been melting and then frozen, it almost had like small steps, so I was not afraid of a fall. Later on the way down I saw that it would have been a really bad place for a fall: nothing would stop one for hundreds of meters. After the steep rise, you have to follow the upper ridge and there are about 3 spots where you have to be careful while passing some rocks, but overall it's not difficult or scary. I think these rocks can be avoided by not taking the first steep snow gullies that go up, but by continuing more to the right and climbing directly to the upper snow fields.

There were high ice pinnacles or penitentes from 6000 meters to 6150 meters so that part was super slow, but after that the snow was perfect. In the fourth hour I got from 5950 to 6144 m so that's 194 meters per hour. At times the angle was maybe 45 degrees, at times 30, until the final part that is around 15 degrees. There were a few crevasses but it didn't feel like a risky area. As usual I did carry a rope and wore a harness just in case. I never really got extremely tired, and just kept gaining altitude meter by meter. In the fifth hour, above the ice pinnacles I gained 292 meters from 6143 to 6435 meters elevation. Everything just went really well the whole day and I didn't get a headache at any point even after the climb in the evening. As I was reaching the summit plateau, I saw the 2 climbers going down. I got to the top of Bolivia at 8.35. It was like the best case scenario. 6 hours and 20 minutes from base camp to summit. That's 274 meters per hour and 318 meters per hour if all the stops are excluded. The summit is a flat area. I spent 14 or 15 minutes there and then started going down at 8.50. I was back in the camp sometime around 1 p.m. I think just before 1. View from the camp:

Ate a little bit, packed and slowly walked back to the car following people who had come down from high camp that day, including the two who made the summit that day. At maybe 3.30 I was back at the car. I gave a Colombian and a British climber a ride to the town. I like the Sajama town. I estimate that there are 50 houses, but it feels very empty and quiet, almost like a ghost town. In a way I admire the people who live in that hostile but beautiful environment and tolerate the cold nights at 4250 meters. Sajama area is very prone to high winds, and that's when it must feel like Siberia... I spent the night there in a nice new hostal at the very north end of the village. Only 35 bolivanos 5 USD. Went to sleep at 8.

A climb in the Hampaturi

On 1st of July I left at 5.30 in the morning for Hampaturi. I wanted to see if I could climb a pretty much unknown 5500 meter peak. It is between Serkhe Kollu and Hati Kollu. While there is some information on Serkhe and Hati (I have climbed both), this peak has nothing, not even a name, it seems, but according to Google Earth it's at least 5520 meters high. I was not sure if it had ever been climbed.

There are two ways to get there: The "road" that goes to Serkhe, or the "road" that goes towards Hati. From the road to Hati it would be at least 6km to this hidden peak's glacier, and from Google Earth I could not be sure if it was a walking path or a driveable path that goes there. It would have been a good idea to take a mountain bike ride there to find out. So I chose the road that I knew, the one that goes towards Serkhe Kollu.

It was cloudy in La Paz, and higher in the mountains it snowed. During the approach it snowed and the peaks over me were covered in fog. It was a very bad day for July, since it's almost always clear in June and July.

Longer story short: I got to a gully that had a wide but very thin ice fall right next to it at about 5400 meters. The ice was falling apart, and at least once every minute there was some ice coming down, but luckily in very small pieces.This was the sunny side, and there was a break in the clouds, so the wall heated up.  I had to do some rock climbing, but eventually the slick, wet and steep rock was too much. I was about 6 meters from what I think was a narrow snow slope leading to the summit, but I had to go down.

I traversed to another gully more to the southwest, and began going up again from 5220 meters. Eventually at 5420 meters I got to the ridge, and on both sides there was a peak. I went to the first one which was 5470 meters, and then the other that was 5484 meters. From there I could see that there was what looked like a cairn at the top of the peak that I initially wanted to climb. So it looks like it has been climbed before. When I saw that, I wasn't really so interested in finding out if I could have made it to that peak from where I was.

Climbing Pico Italiano 5756 m: New Route

I have been aiming to climb Pico Italiano various times, but each time for various reasons I had not been successful. On Tuesday, June 27th I left home at 5.10 in the morning and my goal was to climb a minor peak of over 5500 meters in the Huayna Potosi massif. A couple hundred meters after the Milluni checkpoint I took a slight left turn on to the road that goes to Tuni Condoriri. I had been on that road one time before, when I climbed Maria Lloco. I parked at 4785 meters elevation. Too bad that I don't have a picture of that, but it was quite awesome to be able to park so close to the snowy mountains. For the first time ever I put on my climbing boots in the comfort of my car! Then I walked 15 minutes on an only slightly rising path to the snowline at 4865 meters. The initial slopes pictured early in the morning:

The snow was firm at some spots, but all soft in other spots. I have a lot of experience on snow, but still I could not really understand why it was like that. The first slopes were gentle, finally rising at 30 degrees. Then I got onto a low ridge from which the views were really nice. The peak that I climbed is not in this picture, it's more to the left.

In fact, I climbed to both of these, kind of indistinct peaks:

Quite nice slopes.

The other peak in the background.

Once I got to the top at 5508 meters, Pico Italiano seemed to be quite close. I mean truly close. So I was curious about whether it would be possible to go down on the opposite side of the peak I had just climbed, and then get onto the western glacier of Pico Italiano. I took a break and considered my possibilities. It was already 11 am.

In general I think it's curiosity that makes me climb: I want to know what the mountain or route is like.

So I went down about 180 meters. As this was the sunny side, there was no snow. Luckily I didn't need to go any lower, and at 5330 meters I traversed for a while before getting on the snow again at noon. I thought 2 hours or in worst case 3 hours would be enough to get to the top at over 5700 meters. I didn't know exactly how high the peak was.

The route:

Boliviaclimbinginfo.org is a site with plenty of information on mountains and routes climbed in Bolivia. Not all routes that have been climbed in the past are recorded there, but mostly they are. According to their information the west side of Pico Italiano had not been climbed previously. It certainly is a remote corner of the area, and I'm sure that even the "normal" route to Pico Italiano  sees very few ascents each year despite its relative proximity to the very popular and even touristy Huayna Potosi normal route.

Unlike the route I had climbed in the morning that was snow that's normally not there, this was all glacier. First it was quite easy-angled, but soon I worked with both ice axes. There was what looked like a hidden bergschrund, but at least where I crossed it, it was full of ice and easy to get over. From there the angle was first 50 degrees and then I think up to 55 degrees. Quite steep. Because this is a slope that gets all the afternoon sunlight, the snow had pretty much melted. So there was not much more left than the ice, but luckily the surface had a nice crust. I was able to kick front points in enough to feel secure and ice axes went in nicely, but if the ice had been harder I would have been in for trouble. On my right there would have been an easier (not so steep) option... low part of the slope in the picture.

It took 40 minutes to get up that face onto easier ground at 5640 meters. The final, south face is quite steep but not too high. From the bergschrund it was 80 elevation meters to the top. The bergschrund seemed like trouble from distance, and I thought it was really big and covered in soft snow. I was fully aware of the option that I might not be able to cross it. But once I got there I discovered that it was in fact full of firm snow. Easy, no problem at all. Immediately after that the steep south face began. The snow was quite perfect for steep climbing, firm enough so that I could kick good steps, but soft enough to minimize the risk of falling because my feet went in pretty deep. I used ice axes by sticking them in bottom first. This part took about 25 minutes and the angle was 60 degrees.

It was a relief to get to the top at 2.15pm, but I really hoped that I wouldn't have to climb down the south face. It turned out that there was an easy way down on firm snow. I was super happy and made it back down the whole route in just over 20 minutes, almost running. So I went back to 5330 meters and then up to 5500 meters and further down super quickly to my car.

Climbing Charkirini (Charquirini, Ch'iyar Qirini) with a lot of snow

Sometimes I leave home by foot, go down a little bit and then walk up 35 minutes along a steeply rising water channel. The angle is around 30 degrees. This walk is good training, especially before doing a real mountain climb. Sometimes I do this two times, but usually I run 40 minutes up at 4180 meters where there is a flat path and no people. From there I can see the Chacaltaya area, and of course Illimani, Mururata and Hampaturi area. Almost always the Chalcaltaya is all brown and free of snow, but this year has been totally different. To the north-east of Chacaltaya there is a peak that looks like a pyramide. Since it is now covered in snow, I wanted to climb it.


On Sunday, June 25th I woke up quite late at 8.15 but that was ok because the route I had planned did not include glaciers. I drove up some roads that I was familiar with because I had been riding mountain bike around there multiple times. I took about 1 hour 10 minutes to get to the end of a road at 4580 meters. From there I started the walk at 10.40 A.M. and after 50 minutes I got to the beginning of snow at 4905 meters. The snow was quite good and firm, the weather sunny and calm. The angle was around 30 degrees, but at times 40 degrees. There was only one section where it was a bit steeper, and where a fall would have been bad because there was a cliff below. After that the angle was mellow again and the snow slopes were pretty.

After enough time plodding up, I got to the top at 5370 meters. That doesn't sound like a lot, but still it was a decent climb with 790 meters of elevation gain and it was on snow from unusually low elevation, especially considering that normally there is no snow on these mountains!

It took 2.25 hours of moving time to get to the top, maybe 3 hours total. From there I went down 70 meters and then on to another peak that was a bit lower. From there I found an interesting route to go down. It would have been an excellent route to climb up: a couloir with firm snow, 350 meters gained at steady 40-45 degree angle.

All in all this took only 5 hours 50 minutes car to car and the drive home took 1 hour 4 minutes. Nice!

A mountain climb in Bolivia.

In Novermber-December La Paz ran out of water because the year had been so dry. This year has been very snowy in the Bolivian mountains. In early March I happened to ride bike outside (I almost always ride an indoor trainer) in the highlands and noticed that all the mountains that usually don't have snow were now all white. Since then I have gone up from La Paz almost weekly for different reasons, and the mountains are still covered in snow.

At the end of May I decided to climb a mountain after about 9 months. Even in April and May it rained a lot and snowed in the mountains so it was a bit difficult to find the perfect time to go. Cloudy and rainy weather is not very nice for climbing, and there could be avalanches after it snows heavily. Especially around the last weekend of April it rained very much and it was cold. I usually don't watch the Bolivian news because there are so many bad things happening, but once during that weekend or the next Monday I saw the news and there had been a tragedy on Illimani due to an avalanche.

The last weekend of May was supposed to be partially sunny, so I made the decision to go to the Huayna Potosi area to try and climb Pico Italiano. I woke up early and left home at 3.48 in the night (morning) even though it was raining and foggy. I hoped it would clear up by sunrise. The drive was quite slow and on the small dirt road that rises from Autopista towards the mountains I could only see about 10 meters because of the fog. Higher, close to Chacaltaya I surprised myself by getting surprised by the snow that was on the road. After Milluni checkpoint it started to snow and the road was covered in about 5 cm of snow.

I started the walk towards the "normal" route on the rarely climbed Pico Italiano while it was still all dark, at maybe 5.40 A.M. Once on the glacier, there was a lot of soft snow. I had been on that glacier various times before, but this was the first time that it was covered in snow. The crevasses were covered in snow and it was difficult to see where they were. For some reason I experienced some mild snow blindness a couple of times: everything seemed just white. I proceeded slowly trying not to step in crevasses, but also the soft snow made walking there quite tiring. As it got warmer, my crampons started to ball up with the moist snow that made walking even more difficult. I don't know about the more modern equipment, but I once weighed my boots and they are 2,0 kilos or 4.4 pounds each with the inner boot, the boot itself and a crampon. That is quite heavy at least at the end of a long climb. I got my boots used from an agency in La Paz that rents equipment for guided climbs.

For a moment it was sunny, but soon extremely heavy clouds rolled in.

It took too long to get to the beginning of the narrow and steep couloir that rises 100 meters from 5400 to 5500 m. It also looked loaded with loose snow. It would have been very slow, tiring and also a bit risky to take that route so I decided to abandon the plan and just climbed to a very minor peak that was 5410 meters high.

 On the way down it snowed heavily the whole time. It had been so cold the whole day that I was only barely able to start my car. I got a bronchitis after the trip and spent 8 days resting.

Titicaca Triatlon Olimpico: World's Highest Olympic Distance Triathlon at 3800 meters 12 500 ft

Back in November I heard that a "tennis club" from La Paz was going to organize an olympic distance triathlon (1,5-40-10 km) at Lake Titicaca. Club Tenis La Paz is a very exclusive club located in the best residencial area of La Paz. They have really nice facilities that include at least multiple tennis courts, 25 meter pool indoors and outdoors, a gym and a sauna, some social facilities and I don't know what else. Sometimes they organize swim meets and at least once a year a half marathon. So I thought I wanted to participate in their triathlon. Since fall 2015 I had only done some cycling races.

Originally they planned to have space for 80 or 100 participants (I'm not sure of the exact number). I was quite sure I had plenty of time to sign up later, but one morning about 6 weeks from the registration deadline I saw that this was the last possible day to sign up. The options were to fill out an online form, then go to a bank to pay and finally bring the receipt to the tennis club offices no later than that afternoon, or you could go there and sign up and pay in person. So I went there and signed up. I asked how someone could become a member of the tennis club to have access to the facilities. The answer was that you just have to pay 48 000 USD and get recommendations from 2 people who are already members. There is no monthly amount you could pay. But still, it was a normal late Friday morning and there were about 50 cars in the parking lot.

That was in the beginning of February. In mid-February there was an uphill cycling race from La Paz center to neighboring El Alto, which is 400 meters higher. I had a really good race except that I had to fix a flat tire 8 minutes into the race. Very good legs and watts were higher than last time on same route.

Sometimes I managed to swim 2 times a week, but on average just once a week. I have dumbbells at home so they replaced some swims. Running progressed quite nicely while doing 2 workouts each week, all of them at over 3800 meters elevation or 12 500 ft where I live.

Six days before the triathlon there was a 60 km cycling road race outside El Alto. I got away by myself from the gun and time trialed on my road bike all of the distance. One very good 43-year old cyclist also got away from the group and was about 300 meters behind me for the last 40 km but luckily he didn't quite catch me and I won by 15 seconds in the end. It was my first win here after having done 14 of these races.

3 days before the tri I finally put my wetsuit to use for the first time since November 2013 and did 3x500 hard in a 50 meter pool. On Friday I took a bus from La Paz to Copacabana with a friend. The trip took 4 hours and it rained in the city, but in Copacabana it was sunny so I decided to swim in the Titicaca for the first time. The water was super cold and I used my neoprene cap. I only swam maybe 7-10 minutes because I just wanted to know how the water felt like. Then we rode easily the bike course that would be 2 laps and a bit extra.

I had always thought that it would be terrible if it rained during the race. Here in the Bolivian highlands that include La Paz and Titicaca, it can be quite nice when it's sunny, but as soon as it's cloudy it feels chilly. Add rain, and it's cold. Always. Saturday morning came and before I wanted to wake up I heard it was raining outside. The rain stopped but it was totally cloudy. The race start time was 8.30 so there was no way the temperature was going to be even near comfortable at that time with the cloudy sky. There would be an individual triathlon, team triathlon and also a bike+run race, and all participants combined there were over 160 people racing that day.

It was truly cold with a bit of a breeze, I think before the race the temperature was around 7 degrees (45F)  and in the transition area everybody were shaking while getting ready and putting their wetsuits on. When it was time to get in the water, there was a lot of hesitation in the air and once we were on the "start line" in the water, everybody were screaming "VAMOS!" I believe the water temperature was barely over 10 degrees (50F) and no way it was more than 12 (54F).

Without any warm up, the cold water and high elevation made for really difficult first 200 meters, and on top of that the we had to swim straight into the waves. The swim was 2 laps on a triangular course. After the first turn it got a little easier but swimming parallel to the waves made me just a little bit dizzy. I think my neoprene cap was a big advantage and quite quickly I almost forgot about the cold, but sometimes I would try to move my fingers to see if my hands were ok. It never got difficult to move my fingers, so it looked good. The swim went quite good overall but I don't know what my time was because I didn't wear a watch and no one told me my time. No one also told me how far behind the leader I was. Usually at least someone would be there to tell racers what the situation is. A guy who won one of last year's national championships quit in the swim.

It was raining when I got out of the water so I knew I had to put some extra clothes on even though I knew pretty much no one else would do that. I knew I would lose time but I wanted to be comfortable during cycling. I could not imagine getting out of the cold lake, into the cold air and riding at quite high speeds that would make it feel even colder. Being quick in the transition seems to be kind of a priority so almost everyone else just started riding in their triathlon suits or shorts and a top. Only those who were in the team competition doing the cycling seemed to have clothes on. Of all the participants in the triathlon and bike+run, 27 individuals did not finish, and the cold conditions may have a lot to do with that.

 I got my wetsuit off quite quickly but then I put on my hat, long sleeve shirt, a light jacket, a vest, long tights to keep the legs warm, and also gloves! I put on my cycling shoes right there, because after the transition area there was about 300 meters long hill that was not exactly cobbled, but the surface was made up of kind of stones so I thought it would have been difficult to get the shoes on while on the bike, especially in the wet. Again, I think I was pretty much the only one who did this, based on the race pictures I saw afterwards. Most wanted to be quick in the transition, but I chose to be able to pedal properly in that hill. The first kilometer in the town was on stoned / cobbled streets, but after that the surface was ok. Now it was raining only very slightly and at some point it stopped. We rode to the Peruvian border two times (Kasani village) and then did some extra. The bike course was closed to traffic! The profile was nice with a bit of flat riding and some hills. There were some sharp speed bumps.

Cycling felt very strong and by the end I was just 50 meters behind the leader of the individual race. I think that after my slow transition I may have been up to 5 minutes behind. On a short cobbled section just before the end my chain dropped on a slight uphill and I had to stop to put it back on.

Before starting the run I took my jacket, vest, hat and gloves off. The run was 2 out and back loops on Copacabana beach. Now it was raining again. After maybe 4 km I caught the leader and we ran side by side for a while. This is a guy from La Paz that I know well and who has represented Bolivia in the 2015 Pan American games in Canada. Another Bolivia's top triathletes participated only in the team competition and did the run segment. At one point there was a police officer on a motorbike who said that this is where the turnaround is. There was also a table with water mugs and a girl there, but she didn't say anything, so we assumed the policeman was wrong and decided to run all the way to the finish area where we believed the turn around point was. We got there, but there it did feel like we were not supposed to be there and we stopped for a while to ask where the turn around is and then just headed back for the second loop. Soon I got away from the other guy and eventually managed to finish over 1 minute ahead of him. I'm glad that the 3rd place guy was not very close to me and 2nd place because it turned out that we really did at least 1 kilometer of extra. My finish time was 2.21 but it would have been maybe 4-5 minutes faster without the "extra mile" but anyway it was expected that at this elevation especially the run would be quite slow.

To my surprise was given a nice Huawei cell phone and 1000 bolivianos ( over 140 USD ) for my win!

Sports

From the beginning of August I slowly took up sports again. In December 2015 and January 2016 I barely trained at all. Somehow I was in very good cycling form in the beginning of April and did two road races. Then again from mid-April until August I didn't really do anything.

In the beginning I did mostly just cycling but not much at all. Then started jogging and increasing hours on the bike. Still the training was very modest but I participated in cycling races. I think in October I started doing occasional hard running workouts, and sometimes I was able to log in  quite decent training weeks. Sometime in November I started swimming 2 or 1 times a week . In December cycling fitness started to be really good and running was ok. In total I did 8 cycling races between August and December 11th. Swimming is still slow. So for the whole year I totaled 10 cycling races, but no running races or triathlons. Finding time for training is not easy when you work 45 hours a week and need 3 hours to do a 1 hour swim workout and five hours if you go and do a good track workout after the swim. It's not very sustainable especially if something comes up and you have to do something extra like taking care of some paperwork or go to the dentist or doctor.

Another trip to Pico Italiano in July 2016

A few days after Illimani on July 23 I headed for Pico Italiano for the fourth time. This time my only goal was to look for my ice axes that I had lost there at about 5320 meters after a fall in April. I felt quite relaxed because I knew it was not going to take all day. Just wake up well before sunrise ( can't remember at what time), drive slowly to Huayna's base camp, walk the path a little bit and head to the big glacier without snow. Like I've written before, the mountains in Bolivia practically don't have any snow. They are in sad condition.

An icy slope lead me to where the ice axes should be. I went through a large area very carefully, and all that time I was afraid of rock falls. They are very common around there, I have seen it. Luckily just some small ice particles fell down, and small stones. I thought the ice axes could be found easily, but it took some time to find one. The other one was nowhere to be found but I was ok with just one.

Illimani July 2016

In mid-July I wanted to climb Sajama with a Russian person but we were advised against it by two people who knew the current conditions quite well. So we went to Illimani instead, with a guide. I had climbed Illimani in 2015 alone but I was happy to go there again because it is a pretty and very high mountain and the symbol of La Paz. I also believed that it could be in an ok shape because the route is on the side of the mountain that is more in the shadow. So I thought it might not be all ice.

The climb was not successful but still the trip was pretty nice. 4 days. It was fun to see the place again and to pass all the features along the route that I had seen the year before. Somehow the rocky ridge to high camp felt more difficult than last time. It would be a nightmare with a little bit of wet snow there.

On the third day we woke up a 1 a.m. I had actually slept better than I expected and the tent was quite warm, I didn't need to sleep with my big jacket on. Last time I went without a tent. That does sound a little rough now. The camp was at 5490 m. The beginning of the climb was a steep ridge that was rock and sand. Normally it would be snow but this year (2016) there is no snow on the mountains. I didn't like that ridge either. Just like the ridge below the high camp, one mistake could have extremely serious consequences. You could fall and not be able to stop or not be stopped by rocks and go all the way down for an eternity. With snow it is a lot easier. This year it has not rained or snowed much and since about October there has not been enough water for the city. Many have been weeks mostly without water.

The we put on boots and crampons. From there the ridge continued but it was not very hard. However it was all ice. Luckily the ice was in forms of medium sized penitentes so it was not so hard to stay upright. We were very slow, going roped up. The Russian complained for at least an hour because her rented boots were too big, feet were hurting, walking with the ice axe was hard and whatever.   Finally there was a section with snow. Good snow. One of us almost didn't see a crevasse and that caused a moment of mild exclamation marks. It was still dark when we had to cross a narrow ice bridge. The Russian was ahead of me but stopped right after crossing the bridge and I had to stop in the middle of it. I don't think she even realized where we were. The guide yelled at her and we kept going.

Then the ice got more slick and the slope got steeper. I had to be really careful. Falling was definitely a quite big possibility. Pretty quickly I started to have doubts. I was afraid of falling myself and also afraid of the Russian falling. Since we were connected by a rope, one of us three falling would have taken everybody down and the guide was a bit nervous too. It would have also been very difficult to stop oneself from sliding: a self arrest on almost slick ice must surely be almost impossible even when the slope is not very steep. I didn't think it was going to get any less icy higher up and I knew there were a few 40-50 degree sections ahead. So I decided to unclip myself and go down. We were at 5920 m of altitude. It was an easy decision even though I was not tired physically because we had been climbing so slow.

I started going down and in a few minutes met the only other 2 people on the mountains, 2 nice Colombians. After a little chat they decided to go down as well, but I think their decision was based on both of them being quite fatigued at that point.

On the way down I noticed that the guide and Russian had stopped on what looked a steep slope. Time went by and I got to the high camp but they didn't move. I'm sure they were still for an hour and a half and I was a little bit worried, but at the same time I was very relieved that I was not there. I never got a full explanation of what happened but they didn't get any higher than that. I think they were stuck at about 6000 meters before finally coming down.

It's interesting to think about what had I done if it was just me? Had I turned around? I think when you are alone, you are more focused on keeping going and "doing it" and getting to the top. It makes sense that in a group you feel safer, but at least in my case I think it's easier to give up and get comfortable when I am with others and things get difficult. When I am alone, I'm usually a little more demanding.