UUHOLO blog: Condoriri Track, Huyana Potosi

Hi, we are back from our trip. Three days hike and three days climbing Huyana Potosi which is a majestic mountain with 6,088 metres above sea level.

Trek is called Condoriri - we started at village Tuni (4,200 m) and within three days we passed twoo passes at 5,000 metres. We spent nights at 4,600 - 4,700 m and the last day we reached the Huayna Potosi base camp. Nothing special happened during this trip - only few occasional accidents during the nights, when lack of acclimatisation became obvious... Altiplano was beautiful, stunning and deserted - not many people could survive there. It´s steamingly hot during a day and freezing during the night. Water in the tent got frozen regularly...

Also I want to say we have taken local guide so we didn´t get lost (maps of area more or less do not exist and when we meet one solo Americano, he confessed he did tried to do the same trek but he kept getting lost and at the end he tried to join our group to make it to the end). Another advantage is that your tent and matress is carried by either a mule or by car. And there is also a cook! Four times a day fresh meal! Pity was you don´t get the same appetite in this attitude. Jana could never finish her portion (soup and mains for a dinner) and also it took her about an hour to eat one (!!!) piece of bread with jam. It was a real luxury for us which we are not used to, but on the other hand locals get some paid job and it´s probably much better than rest of jobs here...

After the trek we spent one day at the base camp of Huayana Potosi. In the afternoon we went for practise on the glacier. To climb an ice wall was a great fun. Great experience and a rest day for us before moving to higher camp. Next day we started slowly our ascent of Huyana Potosi. Firstly we moved to refugio Campo Alto (high camp at 5,130 metres), that was alright without any problems. Second day we supposed to wake up at 1 am and start climb at 2 am. At the end everything was delayed by half an hour and after several crisis we reached the top at 9-30 am. Couple of times we almost gave up, firstly water in camel bag got frozen after couple of minutes outside and we had to wait till sunrise and for sun to get up for water to defrost. Secondly Michal couldn´t sleep last night and Jana couldn´t eat properly for last couple of days. At the end, exhausted by cold and completely tired, we reached the top. Same day we moved to base camp and got back to La Paz by minubus. We reached La Paz by 3 pm and went straight to bed. We even didn´t watch olympic games which starts at 7 pm and slept till morning. Today we spend half a day in bed watching the olympic games.

Yeah, and because guides speak very little english, our spanish has improved a lot. We taugh them how to say "rakoska" - in Czech it means really really cold - and they told us how to say it in spanish "chucho" - not sure about spelling, those were just verbal lessons. Although the language problems, we made them laught very often with innocent jokes and our funny behaviour!

Now we are planning trip to Salar de Uyuni (salt desert), city of Potosi and then down south to lowlands - jungle and pampas.

PS My appetite is back and I´m starving!!!

Tak jsme se vydali na 3-denni trek a pak 3-denni vylet na majestatni horu Huyana Potosi (6.088 m.n.m).

Trek se jmenoval Condoriri, vychazeli jsme z vesnice Tuni (4.200 m.n.m) a behem 3 dnu jsme prechazeli dve sedla ve vysce 5.000 m.n.m. Spali jsme okolo 4.600-4.700 m.n.m a posledni den jsme dosli do zakladniho tabora Huyana Potosi. Behem cesty se nic zvlastnho nestalo, krome par problemu v noci, kdy se ukazalo ze nejsme jeste uplne aklimatizovani, ale postupne se to usadilo. Altiplano bylo uzasne, krasne a opustene. Nezije tam moc lidi. Ve dne hrozny pekac a v noci rakoska - pravidelne zamrzala voda i ve stanu.

Taky jsme chteli rict, ze jsme celou tuhle cestu podnikli s mistnimi pruvodci, takze jsme se vyhnuli bloudeni (mapy oblasti vicemenene neexistuji a kdyz jsme jednou po ceste potkali nejakeho americana, tak se nas pak drzel jako kliste a pak i priznal, ze jde ten samy trek jako my, ale ze doted ani zdaleka ne nejkratsi cestou). Dalsi vyhodou je, ze vam vezou autem nebo na mule stan a karimatky (ty poskytujou vlastni). A taky uvari - 4x denne cerstva strava neni k zahozeni. Skoda jen, ze ve vysce vam tak netravi. Janca nebyla schopna nikdy snist celou porci (k veceri vzdy polivka a hlavni jidlo), taky snidani (jeji standartni jednu housku s marmeladou) zvykala skoro hodinu. Pro nas uplny luxus, na ktery nejsme zvykli, ale zase na druhou stranu to mistnim dava nejakou praci a dost mozna zajimavejsi a lepe placenou nez to co se nabizi ve meste ...

Po treku jsme zustali jeden den v "zakladnim tabore" Huyana Potosi, odkud jsme si odpoledne zasli udelat cvicny den na ledovci. Ledovcova stena byl hrozna legrace. Docela dobry zazitek a hlavne odpocinek pred vystupem nahoru. Na ledove stene jsme se uplne vyblbli. No a dalsi den jsme sli na Huyana Potosi. Nejdrive na chatu Campo Alto (vyskovy kemp v 5.130 m.n.m.), coz bylo docela v pohode, druhy den bylo naplanovano vstavani v 1 rano a odchod ve 2. Nakonec se vstavalo i vychazelo o pul hodiny pozdeji a nakonec jsme se po nekolika utrapach dostali asi v 9-30 na vrchol. Nekolikrat jsme to malem otocili, protoze jednak nam zamrzly hadicky na camel bagu (pytliku na vodu) a tim padem jsme na vodu cekali az do vychodu slunce a pak az to rozmrlo, druhak Michal se posledni noc prakticky nevyspal a Janca mela poslednich par dni problem snist pridelenou porci. Nakonec ale zmozeni mrazem a na prahu sil, ale nahoru jsme se dostali a stejny den jsme dosli dolu do zakladniho tabora a minibusem do La Paz. Sem jsme dojeli asi ve 3 odpoledne a pelasili jsme na hostel a spat. Ani jsme nestihli vysilani z olympiady, ktere zacina v 7 vecer a spali az do rana. Dnes rano jsme vybehli jenom na snidani a kratky nakup a jinak jsme lezeli az do poledne na posteli a sledovali olympiadu.

Jo, a pruvodci vesmes neumeli anglicky, takze nase spanelstina se vyrazne vylepsila. Naucili jsme je rikat cesky "rakoska" a oni nas to na oplatku naucili po jejich "cuco". Presto, ze ten jazyk byl problem, casto jsme je rozesmivali nasimi zertiky a chovanim. Ted planujeme vylet na jih na Salar de Uyuni (solna poust), mesta Potosi a potom dolu do "nizin" - dzungle a pampy.