Whew! It’s been a tiring couple of days… On Sunday, we went out to Huayna Potosi base camp, where (in keeping with the Lazy Canadian theme) we met with our porters. Check out the pic… yes, those are PRINGLES folks… we went all out this time!! Anyhow, after about 2 hours of slogging pretty much straight uphill, we arrived at Refugio Alto. Of course our porters did it in about half that time, even loaded up with all our gear! They are amazingly strong, fit human beings. We went to bed at around 7pm, got up at 2am, and headed up the mountain in blackness. Cheryle has not been adjusting to the altitude very well, and at 5850m she got sick and had to come down. Brad was able to summit, and Todd came within 50 meters – he was slowed somewhat by waiting for Cheryle, and the final slope was fully in the sun when he got to it. It was no longer safe to ascend the final steep ridge. So it was a slight bit of a disappointment for Todd and Cheryle, however the surroundings were beautiful and no matter what, a bad day out playing in the mountains is ALWAYS better than a good day at work!!! We stayed one more night at the 5130m Alto Refugio, met tons of cool people, then came down and returned to La Paz this afternoon. The next adventure is slated to begin on Thursday – Todd and Brad are heading to Illimani, and Cheryle will be sightseeing around the La Paz area.
P.S.
As you can all probably by the gramarr and sppelling that mos of the possts R bye Cheryle, but I wanted to ad to this post. First kudos to Cheryle she did great, it was cold that morning and she was not the only one to turn back. Second congrats to to Brad for topping out. Last thanks to the local guide "Super" Mario. When I was helping Cher back down he offered to and then helped her back down to the hut so I could try to catch up to Brad. I rushed to catch Brad, but rushing at 6000 meters does not work. By the time I got to the final 45 to 50 dgree slope I was exhausted and it was fully in the sun and I made the decision to wait for Brad and go down. Oh, well it will be there next time.
Cheers,
Todd
6 comments:
Good to get your post guys. Sorry to hear of your altitude sickness, Cheryle. Have a great jouney up the Illimani Todd & Brad.
How long will that take you?
OMG I am so frigging proud of you Cheryle, just being there is such a life achievement!!!! Yes folks that is my sister up there!!!! Continue staying and playing safe you three. HF
oh hey your new jacket looks fancy fancy, I am glad to see you wearing it in this picture, but MAN it looks so cold there. I love Arizona heat..HAHAHA Love you guys!! HF
Brad, congrats on the summit buddy. I wish I was there with you. Todd your judgement shows your experience. It's not easy to get that close and put safety first. Cheryle don't feel bad because you're trying to match steps with world class climbers. Not an easy thing to do. Spend as much time as you can at altitude and it'll get easier. Even if you're just chillin. Jeff. Ps its snowing hard right now. 4 inches and counting.
oh yeah, in case you dont know its Ottawa and Anaheim
Great Job to the entire team. Good Judgement once always makes for better climbing later. There are many summit's but only one of each of us.
Congrats Brad and looking forward to seeing the smiling faces on the top of Illimani.
Cheers,
Alan
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