RAFMA Bolivian Venture 1992

Mel's Personal Log

(My 12 summits higher than Mont Blanc are high-lighted in red)

Wednesday 6^th May. I was one of a 2-man reconnaissance party leaving well before the main group, with Mike Parsons and I flying from Gatwick via Miami to La Paz. Here is a later photo identifying the two of us:

Thursday 7^th May. We landed before dawn at La Paz international airport, which is on the Altiplano at an altitude of over 4,000 metres, leading to an instantaneous mild headache on landing. We were met by Col Van de Nort, the UK Defence Attaché, who, alarmed that we had no hotel reservation, had booked us into the 5-star Plaza Hotel, were he took us. On our drive, the mountains Illimani and Huayna Potosi were identified on the skyline in the dawn light, and the humidity was very low which was quite pleasant. The Defence Attaché picked us up a couple of hours later to take us to the embassy, where we met Armando Monasterio of the Club Aldino Boliviano, who, through an embassy interpreter, agreed to arrange transport from the airport for the main party, arriving 14^th May, plus transport and porters to meet all of our requirements. Afterwards we searched the city centre and chose and made reservations at Residencia Rosario, at 3,635 metres amsl. We then walked around La Paz looking at shops and prices, and also cooking equipment.

Additional notes about La Paz and its population. Although only Bolivia’s third largest city, La Paz is its state capital, and there are obviously two quite separate populations, the original indigenous native Bolivians, and the descendants of the Spanish. La Paz is situated in a deep physical depression in the ground, with those Bolivians of Spanish descent taking up the lower area, with an excellent city centre, and the indigenous Bolivians taking the higher ground which enjoyed a much better view. This was presumably because the indigenous Bolivians had evolved to cope better with the high altitude of their country.

Friday 8^th May. After a continental breakfast we checked out of the Plaza Hotel and took a taxi to Residencia Rosario, checking in to a twin room with en-suite. We explored the town area for food sources.

Saturday 9^th May. We located the government map store and identified the maps we would all need. We explored the street markets, taking note of what was available where.

Sunday 10^th May. We took buses via Calacota (Plaza Humboldt) to Barrio Arunjuez, walked to the golf course, and then via Mallasa Village through the Valley of the Moon back to Barrio Arunjuez, and then a bus back to Plaza San Francisco.

Monday 11^th May. We took a taxi to the foot of Chacaltaya, 5,421m, and climbed to its summit to photograph Huayna Potosi and the surrounding area. It is obviously a technically easy walk, but it is significantly higher than Mont Blanc (4,807m), so was a bit breath-taking. Chacaltaya was once the top of the world’s highest ski resort, and there was some snow around, but you can see in the recent photograph immediately below the effect that global warming has had. We took a taxi back to La Paz, both of us with headaches due to the altitude.

Chacaltaya, 614m higher than Mont Blanc

Tuesday 12^th May. We woke with headaches after climbing Chacaltaya the previous day, so we took it easy.

Wednesday 13^th May. We went up to El Alto (the area surrounding the city) to look around and to take photographs of the city and its surroundings.

La Paz, with Illimani (6440m) on the distant skyline

Thursday 14^th May. We welcomed the main body of our RAFMA party, now totalling 18, and took them on tours of the city.

Friday 15^th May. Tim and I reconnoitred the area around (and to the North-East of) La Muela del Diablo, but without reaching the summit.

Saturday 16^th May. The whole team ascended La Muela del Diablo (3,825m). We then crossed a stream (in bare feet) to Mallaisa and then took a bus right back to Calle Illampu.

Muella del Diablo

Sunday 17^th May was another strenuous acclimatization day.

Monday 18^th May was spent shopping for food etc.

Tuesday 19^th May. We split into two parties, each with different objectives, each travelling by road to as near to our objectives as possible.

Loading up outside Residencia Rosario

Our party then trekked to our chosen Base Camp shown in the photo below, accompanied by pre-organised locals transporting our kit.

Our first Base Camp

Additional Note on the climate. The Bolivian Andes lie around 17 degrees south of the equator, so there are around 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night. We rarely saw a cloud and we detected no wind during our expedition, i.e. there was no weather! This meant that when the sun drops below the horizon, the temperature promptly drops to around minus 20 centigrade. The stream of water flowing past our tents froze swiftly at nightfall. We were each using sleeping bags designed for this, drawn from the RAFMA stores.

Wednesday 20^th May. Mel, Dave and Mike traversed Cerro Wilja Llojeta, 5244m, East to West. Rod, Paul and Liam traversed Cerro Culin Thoje. 5368m, SE to NW. Pete and Neal explored the glacier to the West of Mina Naturidad to 5000m. Murray and Russ had a rest day.

Cerro Wilja Llojeta

Thursday 21^st May. Rod, Paul, Pete and Ross traversed Cerro Wila Llojeta, 5244m, East to West. Mike and Mel traversed Cerro Jankho Huyo, 5512m, East to South-West. Dave and Liam explored the corrie to the West of our Base Camp.

Friday 22^nd May. Pete, Russ and Dave traversed Cerro Janko Huyo, 5512m East to South-West. Liam, Neal and Murray traversed Cerro Wila Llojeta, 5244m, East to West.

Saturday 23^rd May. Neal, Mike and Mel ascended Cerro Nigruni, 5468m,. The remainder had a rest day.

Sunday 24^th May. Neal, Pete and Russ climbed Cerro Mullo Apacuta, 5368m. Mike and Mel climbed Cerro Culin Thojo, 5266m, . Dave, Rod, Liam and Murray climbed Cerro Negruni, 5468m.

Monday 25^th May. Mike and Mel traversed Cerro Jiskha Pata, 5508m, and Cerro Jachcha Pata, 5424m. Murray and Dave traversed Cerro Wilja Llojeta.

Tuesday 26^th May. Pete, Russ and Neal climbed Cerro Culin Thojo, everyone else enjoyed a rest day.

Wednesday 27^th May. Mike and Mel climbed Cerro Mullu Apacuta, 5368m.. Pete and Neal explored the Mina Santa Rosa valley. Dave, Rod, Liam and Paul climbed to set up a bivouac below the north face of Cerro Wilja Llojeta.

Thursday 28^th May. Rod and Paul climbed the north face of Cerro Wilja Llojeta, the remainder enjoyed a rest day.

Friday 29^th May. A pre-arranged team of locals and their backpacking lamas, transported our equipment back to the road and hence by pre-arranged transport to La Paz.

Saturday 30^th May was spent shopping for food.

Sunday 31^st May. Mel, Rod and Murray explored Lago Titicaca.

Lake Titicaca

Monday 1^st June. We were taken by road to camp alongside a long-abandoned horizontal tunnel to what used to be a silver mine, at Mina Candelabria.

Tuesday 2^nd June. Locals with backpacking lamas took us and our equipment to our next base camp.

Domesticated Lama, used for meat, milk and as a pack animal

Wednesday 3^rd June. This was our only bad weather day of the expedition, with wind and now-fall. We did nothing.

Thursday 4^th June. Mike and Mel climbed Viluyo Jankhouma, 5540m

Friday 5^th June. This was spent at base camp, planning higher advanced camps necessary for next objectives.

Saturday 6^th June. We climbed to a higher camp at 5182m near to a small lake.

High Camps: Below are photos of 3 of our high camps, but I regret I have no record of which mountains they refer to:

Sunday 7^th June. We climbed Jankhopiti, 5875m and descended to base camp.

Monday 8^th June was a rest day.

Tuesday 9^th June. We climbed to Camp 1.

Wednesday 10^th June. We climbed to Camp 2 at 5800m.

Thursday 11^th June. Mike and Mel set off to climb Jankhouma, 6427m, my first 21,000 footer. Mike broke a crampon part way up and returned to Camp 2 to try and fix it. Mel continued and soloed it, Near the top this meant ascending and descending around 250m of (Scottish) Grade 3 ice. On Mel’s return he met Mike, who had fixed his crampon and continued up to solo the summit himself. Both returned to base camp that afternoon. Note: Advanced camps were used on consecutive nights by different pairs of climbers.

Jankhouma

Friday 12^th June was a rest day.

Saturday 13^th June was also a rest day.

Sunday 14^th June. Locals with lamas took us from base camp back to the road at Mina Candelabria for the night.

Note: referring to them as roads might be misleading. The only surfaced roads we encountered in Bolivia were in down-town La Paz and the road to its airport. All other roads we used were really dirt-tracks.

Monday 15^th June. We were collected and driven back to La Paz.

Monday 16^th June was spent in La Paz.

Thereafter. In my 30-year old handwritten notes that I filed away, I cannot find any record of my final mountaineering trip, but I do remember that it entailed, in order, a road journey followed by a trek supported by porters to Base Camp, and that there was a succession of 2 higher camps before we could climb our final objective. Only the summit day was recorded accurately.

Friday 20^th June. Mike and Mel climbed Illimani, 6440m. This was our second 21,000 footer, and still the highest mountain I have ever climbed.

Illimani

Thereafter. I have no records of the end of our expedition, but I do remember spending some time in La Paz before all 18 of us flew home via Miami to Gatwick.

Postscript on Climate Change: Here are some observations:

1. All glaciers had receded from the position shown on the maps;
2. The glaciers were bare of snow at 18,000 feet;
3. These high bare glaciers were well-adorned with twisted upwards-pointing fingers of ice, around a centimetre thick and as much as 5 inches high:
4. There was very little meltwater from the glacial snouts, but we came across several levadas (horizontal channels) that had originally been constructed to carry water from glacial snouts to villages; all of them had long dried up and been allowed to fall into disrepair.

This might suggest too-low precipitation and evaporative loss under a hot sun, rather than simply melting to form streams, but I’m only guessing.

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This webpage was prepared and uploaded 4^th September 2022.