At play on Bolivia's mountains, lakes, and rocks

MOUNTAINEERING  |   ROCK CLIMBING  |   TREKKING  |  
MOUNTAIN BIKING  |   KAYAKING  |   SKIING

Mountaineering

Jerry Dodrill

The Condoriri group, about a two-hour drive northwest of La Paz, is a collection of 13 spectacular peaks around an emerald-green glacial lake. Any of the peaks can be climbed in a day; to warm up, hike to the summit of Cerro Austria (16,400 feet) for views of Lake Titicaca 60 miles to the west and the entire spine of the Cordillera Real to the northwest and southeast. Next, tackle one of the most beautiful routes in the group—and the country: the direct southeast face of Pequeño Alpamayo, a perfectly shaped 17,618-foot pyramid.

About an hour outside of La Paz, Huayna Potosí is a daunting ice ziggurat with a technical, but not terrifying, southeast ridge that sees the most climbers of any route in Bolivia. You can establish a high camp at 18,000 feet within one day of leaving the city. From there, the 19,974-foot summit is a four-hour climb along an exposed crest overlooking the Amazon basin. Advanced climbers can scale the 3,300-foot-high, 55- to 70-degree West Face, the longest and most sustained route in Bolivia.

Illimani, which looms over La Paz like a dictator's thug, is an impressive five-peak massif located four hours southeast of the capital. The south peak is the highest in the group, topping out at 21,125 feet. While the standard route isn't technically difficult, the climb up to this behemoth's summit ridge is long, arduous, and cold.

The best time to go is during the height of the dry season, June through August. La Paz is teeming with mountaineering and trekking agencies, most of them on Calle Sagárnaga. Andean Summits (011-591-2-422-106; www.andeansummits.com) will organize and lead trips to dozens of Bolivia's peaks on a moment's notice. Mountaineering trips to individual peaks with a Bolivian agency cost $100 to $500 per person, depending on the number in your group. Prices include transportation, food, porters, cooks, guides, and group equipment. Alpine Ascents (206-378-1927; www.alpineascents.com) runs an all-inclusive 22-day expedition to the Condoriri, Huayna Potosí, and Illimani for $3,700 per person departing June 9, 2001. Bolivia: A Climbing Guide by Yossi Brain (The Mountaineers, 1999) is the most up-to-date guidebook.

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Rock Climbing
In Aranjuez, a southern suburb of La Paz, you'll find dozens of sport-climbing routes ranging in difficulty from 5.5 to unrepeated projects. City bus 11 takes you to the crag, about a half-hour from downtown (50 cents); a cab ride costs about $3. Andean Summits (see above) runs guided trips there for $139 for two people for two days, including transportation, equipment, and meals. Bolivian Journeys charges $10 per person per day (minimum two people), including gear and transportation (bring your own food); call 011-591-2-357-848; bolivian-journeys.webjump.com.

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Trekking
Even if you aren't up for throwing axes in a 70-degree headwall, a visit to Condoriri is well worth the time. In addition to numerous day hikes around the lake, Laguna Chiar Khota, you can set out on a three-day, 20-mile trek over two jaw-dropping 16,000-foot passes as you head east to the Zongo Valley at the base of Huayna Potosí. If you're feeling strong and acclimatized, circumnavigate the Illimani massif: This weeklong hike begins in Pinaya, a small village about four hours south of La Paz, and ends about 40 miles later in Lambate, an equally small village on the northern edge of the massif. Following trails used to herd animals, you'll skirt the mountain's five peaks and spot dozens of llamas, alpacas, and condors. More ambitious trekkers can attempt a 20-day, 100-mile traverse along the entire Cordillera Real, from Sorata in the north to Cohoni in the south.

Sorata is the staging area for dozens of hikes, such as the gruesome, eight-day Mapiri trail to the Yungas. One of the most beautiful treks is the three-day hike to Laguna Glaciar, a glacier lake at 16,529 feet that straddles a valley between 20,892-foot Cerro Illampu and 21,086-foot Cerro Ancohuma. Getting to the first night's campsite at Laguna Chillata involves a 5,000-foot elevation gain, but the payoff is passage from the cloudforest environs of Sorata to the desolate, awe-inspiring terrain of the high cordillera.

Andean Summits (see above) and Azimut (011-591-2-329464; www.azimut.com.bo) are both local agencies that will arrange transportation, porters, cooks, and guides. For the Laguna Glaciar trek, Marco Soria at Bolivian Journeys (see above) will send you to his excellent Sorata-based guides. Outfitted treks typically cost about $20 to $30 per person per day. The best guidebook is Trekking in Bolivia (The Mountaineers, 1997) by Andrew North, Isobel Stoddart, and Yossi Brain.

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Mountain Biking
The road from the pass at La Cumbre, two hours northeast of La Paz, to the Yungas town of Coroico involves an elevation loss of 11,800 feet and is considered one of the most dangerous roads in the world for the number of vehicles that plunge off its 3,000-foot cliffs. Stay away, right? In fact, La Cumbre–Coroico is one of the most popular mountain-biking routes in Bolivia because, as Alistair Matthew, founder of Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking, says, "It's a lot safer riding a narrow bicycle down those roads than being trapped inside a big bus."

Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking offers a dozen one-day trips out of La Paz, including a 5,800-foot drop from the ski area at Chacaltaya to La Paz, a cycle along the shores of Lake Titicaca, and a truly awesome descent from the foot of Huayna Potosí 25 miles down the Zongo Valley to the Amazon—an elevation loss of 12,000 feet. Highly recommended as well is the 12-day tour, a combination plate of the best one- and two-day adventures in the Andes, the cloudforest, and the Yungas. While the downhilling can be pretty technical, there's not a lot of climbing. "The air's pretty thin here," says Matthew, "so we avoid uphills whenever we can."

One-day trips cost $49 to $70; the 12-day tour costs $3,800 per person or $1,250 per person for groups of five or more. The bikes are 1999 and 2000 Trek 7000s; a limited number of full-suspension bikes are also available. Call 011-591-2-374-204; www.gravitybolivia.com.

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Sea Kayaking
Bolivia may be a landlocked country, but there's great "sea" kayaking on the blue waters of 3,200-square-mile Lake Titicaca—at 12,500 feet, the highest navigable lake in the world. On Explore Bolivia's five-day trip, you start paddling from a village on the peninsula near Copacabana and encircle the lake's sacred central island, Isla del Sol, camping each night on its white, sandy beaches. While cold at night, it's usually sunny and clear from May through August. Mild conditions and the five-hour-per-day paddling schedule make this trip accessible to beginners and allow time for exploring the area's extensive Incan ruins.

Trips cost between $505 and $990 per person depending on the size of the group, and include transportation to and from La Paz, meals, camping equipment (excluding sleeping bags and pads), and kayaks (Perception Sea Lions with rudders and double Folbots). Call 877-708-8810; www.explorebolivia.com.

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Skiing
At over 17,785 feet, Chacaltaya, a glaciated mountain an hour or so north of La Paz, has the distinction of being the world's highest and possibly most masochistic ski area. While the slope itself is relatively gentle, the degree of difficulty increases tremendously due to thin air, a perpetually icy surface, 30-year-old equipment, and one of the most baffling rope tows on the planet—you have to hook a clamp onto the rope to get yourself uphill. After a few terrifying runs on the edgeless skis, you'll be glad you did it, but you won't buy a pass for the January-to-March season. Do go soon: Chacaltaya is disappearing. For the past several years, high temperatures and low precipitation have diminished the glacier, and some experts predict that it will be gone in eight years.

Club Andino Boliviano operates the lodge ($10 per person per night) and lift on the mountain and offers round-trip transportation from La Paz, skis, poles, boots, and lift ticket for $27 per person on Saturdays and Sundays during the season, snow conditions permitting. Call 011-591-2-312-875.  —K.B. and Tim Neville