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.