Andean adventures

Hiking in various parts of the Andes over the past few months has opened up experiences of mountains I can hardly describe. For a start, I don´t think I´ve ever been so cold in my life before. Honestly. I can´t sleep, I can´t do much at all excpet shiver up there!
But all minor complaints aside (after all, sights and feelings such as these should always be earned somehow), being so high and being in such giant muntains as these, I can only stop and stare in wonder and complete appreciation.

Cuenca itself offered wonderful hiking opportunities in it´s national park, Cajas. It´s a maze of mountains and lakes and wild flowers and it´s an awesome place to practice some high altitude hiking. I think the more I went there, the more I fell in love with it. Always cold and almost always raining, it had a way seducing one back time and time again. Maybe a bit like England – no just kidding :)

My first go at a really high mountain, or volcano to be more accurate, was after I finished teaching and headed up to try out Cotopaxi, at last. I went up with my friend Matt and we spent a couple of days (probably the most miserable, shivery, bored days of our lives ever) in the refuge at the base, or at least at 4800m, of the snowy giant. It snowed all the time we were there.Well, almost all the time we were there. We had one clear evening where we took a walk up the mountain a little way to see the sunset and the many volcanoes all around us in the evening light. While up there we were treated to the rare sight of an Andean fox, a poser so it turned out, who rather liked having his foto taken and was quite intrigued by us!

As one does on these mountains, we got up on the second “morning” at midnight, ready to start at 1am. We do this so the snow is more compact and there is less chance of an avalanche, and also because it´s so hard to sleep when it´s so cold and high anyway.

I have to say, at this point, that I have wanted to climb this mountain for ages now and was super excited just to be up there. However, that night was not to be for us and the mountain. The snow was just too thick and too soft for any safe attempt and we were forced to go down after climbing to just 5050m. It was truly dissapointing, especially as both of us felt strong and ready to climb, without any of the effects of altitude. Nevertheless, it taught me an important lesson: it doesn´t matter who you are, how fit and strong you are or how much you have paid, the mountain is always the one in charge, and she can throw anything she likes at you (especially if she´s a volcano ;) )

After managing Misti and getting a taste of what it felt like ot be at the top though, I had the bug and was ready to get going again and try some other mountains all over the place. Bec, Tina and myself decided on a trek from nearby La Paz, Bolivia, called the Tuni-Condoriri 3 day trek, in the Cordillera Real. (Bolivia, by the way, is a must-see country, it´s BEAUTIFUL!!) The trek was spectacular. Wherever we went there were massive, snowy mountains reaching down into glacier lakes, and the skies were bright, bright blue. It was still freezing, but definitely worth 2 sleepless nights and every shiver we shivered. Just being somewhere so majestic was a real privelege.

I realised during this hike, while I was loving it so much, how different it is to be hiking, or trekking as they call it here, to climbing a peak. Peaks are damn hard work. And I don´t feel good on them. They are both a psychological and a physical battle and sometimes I´m just not up for that. I think they are like an addiction whereas normal hiking, for me, is a deep love.

The day after we got back I decided, once again without much foresight, to try Huayna Potosi, a 6033m towering peak near La Paz. This was probably a bit rushed – I was still tird from Misit and hadn´t had any sleep the last few nights because of the cold. But I figured it wasn´t like I´d be in la Paz next month so why not give it a shot. The first day was pretty easy and short, ending in a wonderful view of the glacier above us and the valleys below us. I even had a couple of hours lapping up the sun (all be it in a coat and scarf and anything else warm I could find to put on!)

The climb the next morning however was another story. It was incredibly steep all the way and I found it hard to get a rhythm or to be able to catch my breath at all. I was also very nauseous and just had no energy, almost from the beginning. I think I realised pretty early on that I had rushed into this a bit. I think my biggest mistake was leaving my partner-in-crime/ motivational guru, Bec, behind! Instead I was with an older, American guy who himself hadn´t expected it to be so tough. This was not quite the winning combination and so we turned around about half way, at 5650m, just before it started getting pretty technical. Once again, I was pretty disappointed, but not too much. It was another 3 hours to the top and I was tired, really tired. I don´t see too much shame in being beaten by such a magnificent mountain anyway. I´ll just have to try again next time ;)

One thing it has done is forced me to rest for a while now. My crampon boots were too small which meant raw heels on the way up and squashed toes on the way down. I still can´t put shoes on now, a week later! So no more for the immediate future. Not too bad though, I´m planning on lying on the deck of a boat in the Galapogas for a few days starting Wednesday, maybe exerting myself only to go and swim with the fishies :)