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.
tiistai 3. tammikuuta 2017
sunnuntai 22. toukokuuta 2016
Climbing on Pico Italiano.
In the later half of April I did two trips to Pico Italiano. The first attempt was not successful because we decided to continue on the glacier for too long. There is a point where you choose to go left towards a couple small snowfields and a couloir, or keep moving up on the glacier and try to get to the 5700m high summit from the opposite direction. We decided to take the glacier approach even though it was obviously full of crevasses. First it was better to follow a terrible, steep, narrow scree slope between a rock face and the glacier. After a gaining elevation slowly there, we arrived at a spot where the glacier looked nice. It was the upper part of the glacier almost where it turns into snowfields.
It was nice and steep at first. Then the angle eased up and we really had to work to find a way across and over the numerous crevasses. Most of them were really deep, maybe 10 meters or more, and some were about 5 meters deep but really wide and had snow on the bottom. Being in that labyrinth of crevasses was actually quite fun for a moment, but eventually there was a very long crack in the glacier that simply made it impossible to cross it. It wasn't even very wide but just enough to be too much, the bridges that covered it were just really really thin and it was too dangerous to try them, walking along the edge of the crevasse was equally dangerous because there was a spot where another crevasse was too close and made the bridge too thin and anyway further away it seemed really bad. Going down a little bit and following the edge of the glacier was not possible because right there was a vertical 10 meters high slick rock wall and right next to it was a vertical ice wall that was as high as the rock wall. A lot of time was spent trying to figure how to get across the crevasse but no solution was found. The elevation there was 5430 meters and the best climbing was really close but we didn't get there.
Just 5 days later I went and tried another route on Pico Italiano by myself. So, this time instead of following the glacier like last time, I took left. I had started the walk from the road early and got to the beginning of Pico Italiano's lower southern snowfields really fast. There was a bad rock fall about 400m to my right. About 10 boulders the size of a closet broke loose and flew and rolled down at incredible speeds. I checked out if there was an easier way up, but ended up taking a quite steep and narrow couloir. It is about 50-55 degrees and steeper than it looks like in the picture.
I had seen this couloir pretty well in December from across the valley. Then it was still covered in snow and all white but now it was very icy. There was a section of approximately 15 vertical meters/45ft that was pure hard and slick ice, not crunchy ice, but higher up it looked like there was crunchy ice. So I got to the last meters of the icy section, grabbed a rock with my hands with ice axes hanging from the leashes and thought I was in a good position, but then my foot slipped. In a couple of seconds I was 50 meters down. I'm lucky I didn't hit the rocks but my knee got twisted and it took 5 hours to get to the car.
lauantai 14. toukokuuta 2016
Climbing Arkhata
Arkhata is a 5647 meters or 18,525ft high mountain about south-west of Mururata. They are very close to each other, and there is a ridge that connects the Mururata main glacier and Arkhata. I didn't use the ridge and haven't really seen it well, but it should be easy.
It was Wednesday April 13th when me and another Finnish La Paz resident left after 10am from the city. Compared to last year, the road was a lot better because it was paved a lot further, and it was widened and ready for pavement all the way to Ventilla (I think that's the name of the very small village) where you have a choice of taking a very steep right down towards Palca and Illimani, or go straight towards Los Yungas (the road goes between Illimani and Mururata), or take a very slight left and drive toward Mururata. When you take the left, the next small town is Choquecota.
The drive is bumby, and eventually you take a right to cross the river. We drove to about 4230 meters/13,880ft and parked. Soon after that spot the little road goes left and up in another valley. Suddenly a man appeared and asked if we were going to Mururata and when we were going to come back and some other questions. Then he left almost running. I never want to talk to these people because you never know what they are up to. Of course they are usually harmless country people but I never really feel safe unless I am at 5000m or higher. So, for me camping there was out of the question and we took out heavy backpacks and headed up. I had been there before and climbed Mururata, so I knew what to expect. This time it looked like a better idea to stay on the right side of the valley. There are actually slight paths there and one of them goes really high, maybe up to 5100m. There are some steeper sections, but all in all it's all quite nice going compared to many other mountain approaches. At about 5050m there was a green area that could have been good for camping, but we had time to go higher so we kept going. The glacier starts at about 5015 meters and we were to the right of it. I think it was at 5130m where we saw another small flat area with some ok camping spots that were fairly wind protected. We left our stuff there and went higher but there were no campsites there, so we went down and got ready for camping.
The sunset was nice, but when it got dark and colder it was time to get in the tents at about 7pm or a bit before that. I think I slept from about 12 to 3. It was a very nice, windless starry night that never got very dark. At 4.25am we started getting ready. Even after a badly slept night that didn't help your recovery, it's a nice feeling to get up on the mountain and get ready for some climbing. All the water and wet areas just outside the tents were frozen, but in the night I wasn't even close to being cold, thanks to my -20C /-4F sleeping bag. I didn't even have to fully zip it or have gloves or inner boots on at 5130m or 16,830ft.
We started walking at 4.55am in the darkness and crispy cold. It would have made no sense to go down to the glacier, so the best thing to do was to keep going up along the right side of the valley on rocky terrain, and eventually we would have reached the Mururata main glacier. Then it looked easier to go right and up a steep sand slope, than to continue to the glacier. So we went slowly up for maybe 150-200 vertical meters until the terrain got flatter. And as the terrain I was reaching the flatter terrain, I could see the Arkhata summit, and it's western glacier. They both looked a lot bigger and nicer than I had anticipated, so I was excited. There was a little pond. My partner was behind me and he had taken a different route, so I got to the glacier by myself, put on my climbing boots and crampons, and headed up.
It was still early, about 8am, and I was on the shadowy side of the mountain so it was cold and the snow was perfectly hard. It was totally calm and the sky was clear. I went up or a while and the saw Jari putting on his boots on the edge of the glacier. From there it was fairly steep but not exactly steep.
It didn't take very long to get to the top. I would have liked the climb to continue longer. It was pretty easy. The top of the mountain has plenty of room and it's almost flat while the opposite side of the mountain is very steep. The views of Mururata and Illimani are great. Starting from the beginning of the western Arkhata glacier now looks like a good idea. It should be an awesome climb, but the beginning of the glacier may be steep (and icy) according to Google Earth.
It was Wednesday April 13th when me and another Finnish La Paz resident left after 10am from the city. Compared to last year, the road was a lot better because it was paved a lot further, and it was widened and ready for pavement all the way to Ventilla (I think that's the name of the very small village) where you have a choice of taking a very steep right down towards Palca and Illimani, or go straight towards Los Yungas (the road goes between Illimani and Mururata), or take a very slight left and drive toward Mururata. When you take the left, the next small town is Choquecota.
The drive is bumby, and eventually you take a right to cross the river. We drove to about 4230 meters/13,880ft and parked. Soon after that spot the little road goes left and up in another valley. Suddenly a man appeared and asked if we were going to Mururata and when we were going to come back and some other questions. Then he left almost running. I never want to talk to these people because you never know what they are up to. Of course they are usually harmless country people but I never really feel safe unless I am at 5000m or higher. So, for me camping there was out of the question and we took out heavy backpacks and headed up. I had been there before and climbed Mururata, so I knew what to expect. This time it looked like a better idea to stay on the right side of the valley. There are actually slight paths there and one of them goes really high, maybe up to 5100m. There are some steeper sections, but all in all it's all quite nice going compared to many other mountain approaches. At about 5050m there was a green area that could have been good for camping, but we had time to go higher so we kept going. The glacier starts at about 5015 meters and we were to the right of it. I think it was at 5130m where we saw another small flat area with some ok camping spots that were fairly wind protected. We left our stuff there and went higher but there were no campsites there, so we went down and got ready for camping.
The sunset was nice, but when it got dark and colder it was time to get in the tents at about 7pm or a bit before that. I think I slept from about 12 to 3. It was a very nice, windless starry night that never got very dark. At 4.25am we started getting ready. Even after a badly slept night that didn't help your recovery, it's a nice feeling to get up on the mountain and get ready for some climbing. All the water and wet areas just outside the tents were frozen, but in the night I wasn't even close to being cold, thanks to my -20C /-4F sleeping bag. I didn't even have to fully zip it or have gloves or inner boots on at 5130m or 16,830ft.
We started walking at 4.55am in the darkness and crispy cold. It would have made no sense to go down to the glacier, so the best thing to do was to keep going up along the right side of the valley on rocky terrain, and eventually we would have reached the Mururata main glacier. Then it looked easier to go right and up a steep sand slope, than to continue to the glacier. So we went slowly up for maybe 150-200 vertical meters until the terrain got flatter. And as the terrain I was reaching the flatter terrain, I could see the Arkhata summit, and it's western glacier. They both looked a lot bigger and nicer than I had anticipated, so I was excited. There was a little pond. My partner was behind me and he had taken a different route, so I got to the glacier by myself, put on my climbing boots and crampons, and headed up.
It was still early, about 8am, and I was on the shadowy side of the mountain so it was cold and the snow was perfectly hard. It was totally calm and the sky was clear. I went up or a while and the saw Jari putting on his boots on the edge of the glacier. From there it was fairly steep but not exactly steep.
It didn't take very long to get to the top. I would have liked the climb to continue longer. It was pretty easy. The top of the mountain has plenty of room and it's almost flat while the opposite side of the mountain is very steep. The views of Mururata and Illimani are great. Starting from the beginning of the western Arkhata glacier now looks like a good idea. It should be an awesome climb, but the beginning of the glacier may be steep (and icy) according to Google Earth.
torstai 14. tammikuuta 2016
Another trip to Hampaturi to Climb Serkhe Negra
January 10th: rolled out at 5.08am and again went over Pampahasi and again it was raining. In Palcoma I turned right and went over the bridge. I took the small road that goes towards Hati Khollu that I climbed last May, to climb another peak. Soon there was a hill that was so muddy that I couldn't drive up anymore. Maybe I could have cleared it using the 4x4 but my tires are quite slick and the road was so slippery that I didn't even try. And maybe there were similar slippery places further up the road. An old man told me there is another way around that later joins the upper part of the road. So I went back to Palcoma and tried to find the road the old man was talking about but I couldn't find it. Instead, I took a tiny and terrible road for a while but turned back because it was so bad. I was sure that the road up to the lakes was better so I decided to cross the river again and kept going up that way to climb Serkhe Negra.
I left my car at the Laguna Aiun Khota at 4450 meters and started moving on foot at 7.18am. I had lost 30 minutes in Palcoma. I didn't want to try to drive to Laguna Serkhe Khota at 4800m because I was worried about the road conditions and didn't want to get stuck. That meant I had 3,4 km or over 2 miles more to walk but it was ok. During that walk the sky cleared up and it was sunny but in 30 minutes it would be all cloudy and at times foggy too. I saw a very easy walk up to the northwestern base of Serkhe Negra and decided to take advantage of it because I had seen one week earlier that the south face of Serkhe Negra doesn't have any snow. It was pretty muddy everywhere that day. I discovered that the north side of the mountain has a wonderful corridor that goes up, first the angle is very easy, but later all four limbs were needed. When this part of the mountain is covered in snow, this could be a nice climb but now only the last 150 vertical meters had snow.
There was a cross at the top (5460m 17,913ft) and I spent at least 20 minutes on the top part of the peak, walking around and looking. Going back it was raining really hard and I hurried to the car knowing that the road gets worse and worse. And it really was a muddy and wet drive for the first 15 minutes and I felt lucky having made it back.
I left my car at the Laguna Aiun Khota at 4450 meters and started moving on foot at 7.18am. I had lost 30 minutes in Palcoma. I didn't want to try to drive to Laguna Serkhe Khota at 4800m because I was worried about the road conditions and didn't want to get stuck. That meant I had 3,4 km or over 2 miles more to walk but it was ok. During that walk the sky cleared up and it was sunny but in 30 minutes it would be all cloudy and at times foggy too. I saw a very easy walk up to the northwestern base of Serkhe Negra and decided to take advantage of it because I had seen one week earlier that the south face of Serkhe Negra doesn't have any snow. It was pretty muddy everywhere that day. I discovered that the north side of the mountain has a wonderful corridor that goes up, first the angle is very easy, but later all four limbs were needed. When this part of the mountain is covered in snow, this could be a nice climb but now only the last 150 vertical meters had snow.
There was a cross at the top (5460m 17,913ft) and I spent at least 20 minutes on the top part of the peak, walking around and looking. Going back it was raining really hard and I hurried to the car knowing that the road gets worse and worse. And it really was a muddy and wet drive for the first 15 minutes and I felt lucky having made it back.
Climbing in the Hampaturi in January.
January 3rd: I left home at 5.01am and drove over Pampahasi, descending toward Irpavi a little bit, and then to Lorocota and Carpani and Palcoma. I drove very slowly because the road is bad, but the funny thing is that as soon as there are no more houses along the road, the road turns really good for most sections (still a dirt road). I believe that must be because there is a mine further up the road and also the local water company uses the road at least sometimes I think. It would have been much shorter for me to drive up the paved road toward La Cumbre for 10km and the take a dirt road that climbs up and descends into the next valley by the Hampaturi dam, but that road is quite dangerous in the dark and it was raining a little bit too so I took the safer option. But most of all I wanted to avoid the parts of the road that have rocks that hit the bottom of the car.
So I stopped at about halfway between the first two big lakes. I think their names are represa Hampaturi and Laguna Aiun Khota. The elevation was 4330 meters and it was 6.35 am when I started on foot heading up. In the beginning there was a short flat area, and it took me a while to find a place to cross the river. Then the terrain was amazing for walking and quite steep. I gained 560 meters in the first hour and crossed an old mining road; there is another, abandoned mine high on the mountain and on other parts of the mountain there are plenty of similar old roads. Abandoned mines and abandoned roads have their creepy charm. I like to imagine mining trucks on those narrow tracks.
From about 5050m on there was a rocky ridge that slowed me down a lot but it was still quite easy if you think about rock climbing. Finally there was an easy walk on sand leading close to a peak that only had a little bit of snow at just over 5200m. I don't know if that peak has a name. From the peak I saw another peak that was snow capped and headed toward it. I descended an easy sand ridge a little bit heading east. Then there was a rocky section with a drop and I tried to find a direct way down to be able to continue on the ridge, but the drop proved too high. The rock there was really weird; I could grab a handful of the spiky rock and throw it away. On the other side I found an easy sand slope and went down. There was a slope that led to the top at quite nice angle, around 35 to 40 degree. From where I was putting on my boots and crampons at about 5050m there were first patches and lines of snow, and higher up it was all snow. The snow was really thin, only about 10cm or less and it was already quite warm, but the snow had a very nice crust. I was delighted because on Parinacota in November and on a trip to a Huayna Potosi subpeak (failed to summit) in December there was no good snow at all to climb on so this was the best climbing since June. It was also very safe and worry free. Low part of the slope in the picture:
At 10.30am I reached the top of the peak and my gps read 5316 meters 17,440ft. I don't know the name of this peak either, if it has one. Almost on the top there was a low area that could be nicely wind- protected if somebody wants to camp at a high altitude. I saw the next peak that was even higher and had a quite impressive northwest face that looked fun to climb:
Again, I had to go down quite a bit on a steep sand slope, over 200 vertical meters to reach the bottom of the face. This one too had a nice angle 40- 45 degrees. The snow was softer and a little bit deeper. Close to the top it snowed pretty hard for maybe 10-15 minutes. At the top I read 5391 meters 17,686ft. Went down the slope and from there took a different route back to my car, just so that I could get a better idea of this area. I'm not entirely sure, but based on my previous 3 trips to these mountains last May it looks like this part of the range is in it's best condition during the wet season in December- March unless you just want snow- free hiking. It was fun to be back home at 4.20pm because it was warm and sunny in the city.
So I stopped at about halfway between the first two big lakes. I think their names are represa Hampaturi and Laguna Aiun Khota. The elevation was 4330 meters and it was 6.35 am when I started on foot heading up. In the beginning there was a short flat area, and it took me a while to find a place to cross the river. Then the terrain was amazing for walking and quite steep. I gained 560 meters in the first hour and crossed an old mining road; there is another, abandoned mine high on the mountain and on other parts of the mountain there are plenty of similar old roads. Abandoned mines and abandoned roads have their creepy charm. I like to imagine mining trucks on those narrow tracks.
From about 5050m on there was a rocky ridge that slowed me down a lot but it was still quite easy if you think about rock climbing. Finally there was an easy walk on sand leading close to a peak that only had a little bit of snow at just over 5200m. I don't know if that peak has a name. From the peak I saw another peak that was snow capped and headed toward it. I descended an easy sand ridge a little bit heading east. Then there was a rocky section with a drop and I tried to find a direct way down to be able to continue on the ridge, but the drop proved too high. The rock there was really weird; I could grab a handful of the spiky rock and throw it away. On the other side I found an easy sand slope and went down. There was a slope that led to the top at quite nice angle, around 35 to 40 degree. From where I was putting on my boots and crampons at about 5050m there were first patches and lines of snow, and higher up it was all snow. The snow was really thin, only about 10cm or less and it was already quite warm, but the snow had a very nice crust. I was delighted because on Parinacota in November and on a trip to a Huayna Potosi subpeak (failed to summit) in December there was no good snow at all to climb on so this was the best climbing since June. It was also very safe and worry free. Low part of the slope in the picture:
At 10.30am I reached the top of the peak and my gps read 5316 meters 17,440ft. I don't know the name of this peak either, if it has one. Almost on the top there was a low area that could be nicely wind- protected if somebody wants to camp at a high altitude. I saw the next peak that was even higher and had a quite impressive northwest face that looked fun to climb:
Again, I had to go down quite a bit on a steep sand slope, over 200 vertical meters to reach the bottom of the face. This one too had a nice angle 40- 45 degrees. The snow was softer and a little bit deeper. Close to the top it snowed pretty hard for maybe 10-15 minutes. At the top I read 5391 meters 17,686ft. Went down the slope and from there took a different route back to my car, just so that I could get a better idea of this area. I'm not entirely sure, but based on my previous 3 trips to these mountains last May it looks like this part of the range is in it's best condition during the wet season in December- March unless you just want snow- free hiking. It was fun to be back home at 4.20pm because it was warm and sunny in the city.
maanantai 23. marraskuuta 2015
Climbing Parinacota 6347m
In La Paz it has been raining often lately and the mountains surely have been receiving a lot of fresh snow. The best season for climbing is gone around here but for the past 4,5 months I didn't think about climbing much. Then I decided I wanted to go climb Parinacota on the Chilean border to still climb at least something this year. That part of Bolivia had still been very sunny and forecast looked good. This time I asked two other people to go with me and both were able to come so we were three. One of them was from Finland, living in La Paz, and one was Bolivian.
After just over 5 hours including a few stops, we were in the sleepy village of Sajama. We stopped there shortly to ask about a mountain hut that is not working but if you find the right person you might get the key to enter the hut. A woman in a hotel said we should try to find señor x around the plaza, who might know more. Instead, we kept on driving toward the mountains ready to spend the night in a tent. The terrain is all soft sand mixed with volcanic ash, and it's like driving on a sandy beach. At one point we got stuck in the sand going up a slight hill, and it took quite a while to get moving again even using 4x4. The other Finn thought my car might have what's in Spanish called "4x4 bajo" which is one more speed or gear while using the 4x4. I thought 4x4 was either on or off, but in fact learned that there is more to it, and that's how we got out of the sand and I turned the car around and drove back a little bit on top of a small hill. Now we most likely would have been able to clear the hill where we got stuck, but I was a little bit worried about the engine overheating because it had taken great efforts to get out of the deep sand. Also we believed the base camp and the mountain hut were not far. One estimate was that it was 1 kilometer away! So we started walking in the soft sand and very strong wind and with very heavy backpacks and a lot of bottled water from 4415 meters/ 14,500ft of elevation. We were quite hopeful that the walk wouldn't very long and after about 1,5 hours we were getting a little bit tired. Our goal was to get to the hut to be able to rest and eat next to it, protected from the wind and then keep on walking higher to camp. But hours passed and we never saw it. Suddenly it got really cold when the sun disappeared behind the mountain and we were at 5100m/ 16,700ft. There was a big rock behind which we thought we might have to camp even though it was not a flat area. Me and Javier decided to leave our backpacks and take a last look just a little bit further, just in case we would see a better camp spot. After about 400m of walking he saw the hut among huge rocks, and we returned to our backpacks to walk the last hundreds of meters of the hard day. In the end we had walked 7,1km or 4,5 miles with super heavy loads gaining over 700m of altitude in the soft sand.
Then Javier, who arrived first, tried the door and it was open! We couldn't have been happier or more surprised. The hut had 8 bunk beds, water and gas for cooking, and electricity from a solar panel. Needless to say it was a lot warmer inside than outside in the wind. The rocks outside around the hut were about the size of a cargo van and much bigger, with mostly very straight lines and would have provided some shelter from the wind, and the sand might have been nice and soft for sleeping, but there is nothing like getting to sleep inside in a bed after a hard day when it's cold and windy outside. Not to mention how much space we had inside. We ate and then went to bed at 7.45pm. As expected, I didn't sleep much, maybe 3-4 hours of really being asleep. In the night the clear sky was incredibly full of stars. My buddies slept about 10 hours which time I also spent in my sleeping bag. It was quite late 6.30 am when we started the walk toward the snow and the top.First it was about an hour in the sand, then when it got steeper, it was better to walk and climb over rocks instead of the soft sand. It took hours for us to get close to the snow. Because it's November and it has not been snowing much in months, the snow has been burned off by the sun until very high on the mountain. I think the snow started at 5800m 19,000ft. There the other Finnish man had to stop and go back down. The neighboring Pomerape had snow from about 5300 meters or 17,400ft at least on two southern slopes so maybe Parinacota too had more snow on its other sides. At first it was great fun going up or around the nieve penitentes that were about 1 meter tall or less but of course it was really slow and tiring too. Again it took hours to get to the next stage which was icy ladders. I'm glad it was like that and not straight ice.
After just over 5 hours including a few stops, we were in the sleepy village of Sajama. We stopped there shortly to ask about a mountain hut that is not working but if you find the right person you might get the key to enter the hut. A woman in a hotel said we should try to find señor x around the plaza, who might know more. Instead, we kept on driving toward the mountains ready to spend the night in a tent. The terrain is all soft sand mixed with volcanic ash, and it's like driving on a sandy beach. At one point we got stuck in the sand going up a slight hill, and it took quite a while to get moving again even using 4x4. The other Finn thought my car might have what's in Spanish called "4x4 bajo" which is one more speed or gear while using the 4x4. I thought 4x4 was either on or off, but in fact learned that there is more to it, and that's how we got out of the sand and I turned the car around and drove back a little bit on top of a small hill. Now we most likely would have been able to clear the hill where we got stuck, but I was a little bit worried about the engine overheating because it had taken great efforts to get out of the deep sand. Also we believed the base camp and the mountain hut were not far. One estimate was that it was 1 kilometer away! So we started walking in the soft sand and very strong wind and with very heavy backpacks and a lot of bottled water from 4415 meters/ 14,500ft of elevation. We were quite hopeful that the walk wouldn't very long and after about 1,5 hours we were getting a little bit tired. Our goal was to get to the hut to be able to rest and eat next to it, protected from the wind and then keep on walking higher to camp. But hours passed and we never saw it. Suddenly it got really cold when the sun disappeared behind the mountain and we were at 5100m/ 16,700ft. There was a big rock behind which we thought we might have to camp even though it was not a flat area. Me and Javier decided to leave our backpacks and take a last look just a little bit further, just in case we would see a better camp spot. After about 400m of walking he saw the hut among huge rocks, and we returned to our backpacks to walk the last hundreds of meters of the hard day. In the end we had walked 7,1km or 4,5 miles with super heavy loads gaining over 700m of altitude in the soft sand.
Then Javier, who arrived first, tried the door and it was open! We couldn't have been happier or more surprised. The hut had 8 bunk beds, water and gas for cooking, and electricity from a solar panel. Needless to say it was a lot warmer inside than outside in the wind. The rocks outside around the hut were about the size of a cargo van and much bigger, with mostly very straight lines and would have provided some shelter from the wind, and the sand might have been nice and soft for sleeping, but there is nothing like getting to sleep inside in a bed after a hard day when it's cold and windy outside. Not to mention how much space we had inside. We ate and then went to bed at 7.45pm. As expected, I didn't sleep much, maybe 3-4 hours of really being asleep. In the night the clear sky was incredibly full of stars. My buddies slept about 10 hours which time I also spent in my sleeping bag. It was quite late 6.30 am when we started the walk toward the snow and the top.First it was about an hour in the sand, then when it got steeper, it was better to walk and climb over rocks instead of the soft sand. It took hours for us to get close to the snow. Because it's November and it has not been snowing much in months, the snow has been burned off by the sun until very high on the mountain. I think the snow started at 5800m 19,000ft. There the other Finnish man had to stop and go back down. The neighboring Pomerape had snow from about 5300 meters or 17,400ft at least on two southern slopes so maybe Parinacota too had more snow on its other sides. At first it was great fun going up or around the nieve penitentes that were about 1 meter tall or less but of course it was really slow and tiring too. Again it took hours to get to the next stage which was icy ladders. I'm glad it was like that and not straight ice.
The last step was 20 vertical meters loose rocks. This was a lot harder than I thought and very slow because there was a thin layer of quite small rocks on top of a surprisingly hard ground, so it was slippery. Eventually I got to the crater rim to wait for Javier who got up 15 minutes later still in his crampons. I should have done the same instead of taking them off. On the top it was windy and there were some snow lines. First we went to the left and then to the right while looking for the highest spot and my gps showed 6347 meters 20,820ft.
I'm not sure we stood on the highest spot, maybe not, but that's ok. The ascent took so long because there was so little snow, and no good snow at all. We didn't have the energy or the time to walk the whole crater. After almost exactly 12 hours we were back at the hut, exhausted. Ate and went to sleep before 8 without a clear plan for the next day but it was our goal to attempt also Pomerape which is almost as high and over 6200 meters . Again, everyone slept or rested for about 9,5 hours. In the morning I felt terribly tired and generally bad, and so did Javier who had been a little sick, and Jari was perhaps in the best shape of us. We "decided" to go for Pomerape, but gave up before leaving the hut : D It was just impossible. I had slept really poorly and very little for the last three nights. Had we arrived all the way to the hut in a car, we would have been in much better position, but now the first day's walk had been a lot for us. I barely made it to the car that day in about 2,5 hours. At least one total rest day would have been required for us to try Pomerape, probably two days of just resting. So, walking 7km to the car was no rest and the next day should have been a rest day, but we went home. Maybe there will be one more trip to those mountains later.
lauantai 19. syyskuuta 2015
Triathlon nationals in Santa Cruz
In May and June I was 2 months without running, and about 6 weeks without cycling or swimming. I just went to the mountains, but of course that helped to maintain some fitness. After that, training has been going quite well but mostly I've been doing just about 10 hours a week while now working 30hours a week. Once I managed 20 hours of training in 7 days.
On Sunday September 13th there was another Bolivian championships triathlon. A strange thing about triathlon here is that there are 3 nationals each year, and every time the distance is the same. Normal would be having a sprint, olympic distance, half distance and even full distance nationals. For example, in the Bolivian "elite" category the distance is always draft legal olympic distance 1500m- 40km- 10km but I think sometimes they make an exception and make it a sprint if there is an international sprint championships race coming up and the winner goes to the games.
Age groups here begin from 7 years old and there are some that are over 60 and compete. There is an "elite sprint" category for people 16-19 years old, and then there's another category for competitive 20-23 year olds who don't want to compete in the "elite olimpico" and I think that's on top of the age groups. Adults also have their own non- age group, non- elite, kind of in-between championship category "mayores".
Once again it would have been a 17-hour bus trip, so I flew to Santa Cruz the day before the race. Based on information I had before the race, I thought I was going to race at 7.30 in the morning but it turned out that it would be at 11 or 12, nobody really knew. In the morning I went to the race site early with the La Paz team. It was about 30 minutes from the hotel. I waited all day and finally our race started at 2.30. Everybody was really hungry beginning the race. The swim was in a 3-lane 50 meter outdoor pool (next to it was an indoor 25m pool). The pool was horribly cold. The coldest pool I have ever entered. Santa Cruz has a hot climate most of the year and it's quite close to sea level at 400m of elevation. We were lucky to have cool weather that weekend. I swam a 23.00 or 23.02. Pretty good for me (no flip turns allowed) but after so much training and living at around 3600m or 12,000ft I couldn't quite get everything out swimming fast close to sea level. Maybe should have just tried harder. But this time I was "only" 2.35 min behind the fastest swimmer. In transition I forgot my number hand lost 20-30 seconds going back to get it. Or I had thought it was not needed for the bike leg but some people told me to go get it so I did.
The bike course was 16 laps, each including two u-turns and 6 90 degree turns. It was also quite hilly so it was a really really slow course. The city of Santa Cruz is totally flat, but once you cross a river on the west side, it's hilly. Inevitably the two fastest swimmers got together, and I was told that soon they were a group of 5 together, because you couldn't get disqualified for getting lapped. I had company for about one lap but got no help so in reality I rode solo the whole time. Bike time was just about 1.08 and I was still 2 minutes behind, and in 3rd place. I ran really well and passed 2nd place after 1.5km but it took almost until km 9 till I was with the leader. I tried to drop him but it didn't work, so then we took it easy for about 1km. In the last, long hill we sprinted, then sprinted a slight downhill to the finish line and in the end I lost by 1 or 2 seconds. I think it has been 9 years since I've had so much lactic acid in my legs running. I forgot to stop my watch but run time was about 39 for the hilly course that totaled 10.3km and the last km was slow except the end. Finish time was 2h.13 minutes. Overall I'm in the best shape since end of 2013 so I think I'll keep training.
I lost my return flight by 4 hours but only had to pay about 17 dollars to take the last flight of the day. Very nice.
On Sunday September 13th there was another Bolivian championships triathlon. A strange thing about triathlon here is that there are 3 nationals each year, and every time the distance is the same. Normal would be having a sprint, olympic distance, half distance and even full distance nationals. For example, in the Bolivian "elite" category the distance is always draft legal olympic distance 1500m- 40km- 10km but I think sometimes they make an exception and make it a sprint if there is an international sprint championships race coming up and the winner goes to the games.
Age groups here begin from 7 years old and there are some that are over 60 and compete. There is an "elite sprint" category for people 16-19 years old, and then there's another category for competitive 20-23 year olds who don't want to compete in the "elite olimpico" and I think that's on top of the age groups. Adults also have their own non- age group, non- elite, kind of in-between championship category "mayores".
Once again it would have been a 17-hour bus trip, so I flew to Santa Cruz the day before the race. Based on information I had before the race, I thought I was going to race at 7.30 in the morning but it turned out that it would be at 11 or 12, nobody really knew. In the morning I went to the race site early with the La Paz team. It was about 30 minutes from the hotel. I waited all day and finally our race started at 2.30. Everybody was really hungry beginning the race. The swim was in a 3-lane 50 meter outdoor pool (next to it was an indoor 25m pool). The pool was horribly cold. The coldest pool I have ever entered. Santa Cruz has a hot climate most of the year and it's quite close to sea level at 400m of elevation. We were lucky to have cool weather that weekend. I swam a 23.00 or 23.02. Pretty good for me (no flip turns allowed) but after so much training and living at around 3600m or 12,000ft I couldn't quite get everything out swimming fast close to sea level. Maybe should have just tried harder. But this time I was "only" 2.35 min behind the fastest swimmer. In transition I forgot my number hand lost 20-30 seconds going back to get it. Or I had thought it was not needed for the bike leg but some people told me to go get it so I did.
The bike course was 16 laps, each including two u-turns and 6 90 degree turns. It was also quite hilly so it was a really really slow course. The city of Santa Cruz is totally flat, but once you cross a river on the west side, it's hilly. Inevitably the two fastest swimmers got together, and I was told that soon they were a group of 5 together, because you couldn't get disqualified for getting lapped. I had company for about one lap but got no help so in reality I rode solo the whole time. Bike time was just about 1.08 and I was still 2 minutes behind, and in 3rd place. I ran really well and passed 2nd place after 1.5km but it took almost until km 9 till I was with the leader. I tried to drop him but it didn't work, so then we took it easy for about 1km. In the last, long hill we sprinted, then sprinted a slight downhill to the finish line and in the end I lost by 1 or 2 seconds. I think it has been 9 years since I've had so much lactic acid in my legs running. I forgot to stop my watch but run time was about 39 for the hilly course that totaled 10.3km and the last km was slow except the end. Finish time was 2h.13 minutes. Overall I'm in the best shape since end of 2013 so I think I'll keep training.
I lost my return flight by 4 hours but only had to pay about 17 dollars to take the last flight of the day. Very nice.
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