American Alpine Institute - Dispatches: August 2015

Monday, August 31, 2015

2015 Bolivia Part II - August 31st, Dispatch #8

Guides:
Richard Riquelme

Climbers:

Greg Castle
Tim Watson
John Salisbury

This morning the team left basecamp at 2:40am for their final destination for this section of the trip, Huyana Potosi. Everyone reached the summit around 6:30am! It was quite chilly, so they only spent about 10 minutes on the summit before descending back down.

This afternoon will be spent back at basecamp at the Casablanca Refugio where the teams will rest up, warm up, and eat up. Around 2:00pm today they will pack up and head back to La Paz where they will gather for one last celebratory meal together this evening. Everybody is feeling great and very proud of all their hard work leading up to today's big summit day accomplishment.

Tim and Greg will continue on to the final 5 day Illimani expedition which will depart with Richard on Wednesday.

Summit Day Huyana Potosi!

Follow the climbers here: AAI Bolivia Expedition

Thursday, August 27, 2015

2015 Bolivia Part II - August 27th, Dispatch #7

Guides:
Richard Riquelme

Climbers:

Greg Castle
Tim Watson
John Salisbury

This morning Tim and Bolivian guide Vinito planned to head to Pequeno Alpamayo, while John, Greg, and Richard set off to Pyramide Blanca. Not long after leaving camp, John and Greg could feel the effects for the altitude and made the decision to turn around and head back to basecamp. Richard got them settled back in at camp to rest with the porters and camp manager then joined up with Tim and Vinito. Together the trio successfully summited Pequeno Alpamayo.

Tim, Richard, and Vinito on summit of Pequeno Alpamayo

Friday they will take an easy day to trek around the basecamp area one last time. After lunch they will begin their hike down to El Alto where they will re-supply, switch out fresh llamas and stay in a refuggio for the night.

Saturday will begin the last objective for this section of the expedition. The team will then move south past a series of colorful altiplano lakes to set up basecamp at the very foot of Huayna Potosi... the final goal.

Follow the climbers here: AAI Bolivia Expedition

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

2015 Bolivia Part II - August 26th, Dispatch #6

Guides: Richard Riquelme

Climbers:

Greg Castle

Tim Watson

John Salisbury

Richard called in to let us know everyone successfully made it up El Tarija today. They had another awesome day of weather and are really enjoying the delicious meals being prepared by the porter team. The weather forecasts is continuing to look stable for the coming days.

Thursday the plan will be to split into two teams. John and Greg will attempt Pyramide Blanca or El Dente and Tim will try to bag Pequeno Alpamayo.

Follow the climbers here: AAI Bolivia Expedition

Family and Friends of climbers are welcome to leave a comment below and we'll pass it along when Richard calls in.

2015 Bolivia Part II - August 25th, Dispatch #5

Guides:

Richard Riquelme

Climbers:

Greg Castle
Tim Watson
John Salisbury

Follow the climbers here: AAI Bolivia Expedition

On Tuesday the team climbed their first peak of Part 2 of the expedition. Everybody made it up to the summit and are continuing to feel strong.

Today they are heading to Pequeno Alpamayo or El Tarija. Guide Richard says the team is moving faster and faster each day as they build up their strength, endurance, and further acclimatize.

2015 Bolivia La Paz Trek - August 24th, Dispatch #4

Guides:

Richard Riquelme

Climbers:

Greg Castle

Tim Watson

John Salisbury

Hello from Bolivia!

Climbers had today off as I was shopping to prepare for the climb. On Saturday, we all went on an archeological site tour in Tiouanaku, a pre-Incan civilization in the Andes near Lake Titicaca

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c1/Zonnepoort_tiwanaku.jpg/1024px-Zonnepoort_tiwanaku.jpg

http://i.livescience.com/images/i/000/036/298/i02/shutterstock_84212011.jpg?1359748995

Then in the evening, we headed to the refugio and reached Condoriri Base Camo last night. We're in camp now practicing all of the mountaineering techniques necessary to climb, and our first objective is to climb Pico Austria. It is a great 5000 m peak (5315 m to be specific) and is a perfect way to acclimatize. You have beautiful views of Laguna Chiar Kota, a serene lagoon almost 1,000 m below inside the valley of the Condoriri.

The days are getting shorter and shorter, and colder and colder. The mornings are sunny, but in the evenings it starts to get snowy. Then overnight it warms up again. It's a little different than what we're used to back home.

Everyone is doing well. Food is amazing and the views are outstanding. We're all excited because we're finally going to really start the climbing section of the trip. The forecast is supposed to get better for the climbing for the next 4 days before we start to move down towards Huayna Potosi.

It's night already here, so we are getting ready for bed. We'll be up early and have breakfast at 4 so we can get going.

Talk to you soon!

Richard

Follow the trekkers here: AAI Bolivia Expedition

Friday, August 21, 2015

2015 Bolivia La Paz Trek - August 21th, Trek Album #2

Guides:

Richard Riquelme

Climbers:

Greg Castle
Tim Watson
John Salisbury

More photos from Part 1 - Bolivia Trek - La Paz and Cordillera Real

2015 Bolivia La Paz Trek - August 21th, Dispatch #3 with Photos

Guides:

Richard Riquelme

Climbers:

Greg Castle
Tim Watson
John Salisbury

Email from Richard, received Thursday evening August 20th

"Well we're back from the field and here is a very small sample of what we witness and experience on our first week of trekking Bolivia.

Tomorrow is a day off for the climbers, but for me it's a full day of working shopping around with the boys to prepare for the next 10 days.

Everyone was tired but very glad and please to be back to the hotel. The climbers who were suffering from AMS do feel much better today and recover very well.

Let's hope that trend continues.

Anyways that's all for tonight. Tomorrow I have an early start again."

Cheers,

Richard H Riquelme Z

Follow the trekkers here: AAI Bolivia Expedition

Trek Photo album #1

Thursday, August 20, 2015

2015 Bolivia La Paz Trek - August 20th, Dispatch #2

Guides:

Richard Riquelme

Climbers:

Greg Castle
Tim Watson
John Salisbury

Lead Guide Richard Riquelme called in yesterday afternoon (Aug 19th) for the second dispatch.

Tuesday they headed out and hiked past the beautiful alpine Wuichi Cota Lake nestled in at about 15,889' and then continue on to our next camp. They made a little detour due to the wind and snow but were still able to get to the next hut with plenty of time to relax and continue to acclimatize. On Thursday they will hike out and return to Lap Paz.

Richard says everyone is feeling like they are getting over the earlier effects of the altitude and are starting to settle into life in the Andes.

Follow the trekkers here: AAI Bolivia Expedition

Note: Photos from the pre-trek tour of La Paz have been added to the dispatch blog as well. Be sure to check those out!

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

2015 Bolivia La Paz Trek - August 18th, Dispatch #1

Guides:

Richard Riquelme

Climbers:

Greg Castle
Tim Watson
John Salisbury

Lead Guide Richard Riquelme called in yesterday evening (Aug 17th) for the first dispatch.

"We are currently camped at 4,665m (15,305ft). Not a bad start to our trek. It took us about four and a half hours to get here. Everyone is doing great and has really, really high spirits. They are definitely tired, which is very normal for he first day of this trek. Adjusting to altitude and the unusually warm temperatures.

They are all taking a nap right now and are waiting for dinner to finish. We are in a very cool hut. It is warm and dry and has a great floor and is very comfortable.

We'll be here two nights. The weather has been fantastic which is uplifting as we had an entire week of rain before the trek began.

The open skies here are incredible. I am looking out at the Korean Rail in the distance and looking at several other peaks and it is just, wow, amazing.

We will move again after tomorrow to let people rest and get settled and hopefully the weather stays perfect. Thats all for now."