Bolivia 2013 mountaineering expedition

Vacations approved. Travel plans well underway.

We will be going to Bolivia for 5 weeks this fall! 5 weeks means the odds of achieving our ambitious mountaineering goals are quite good - as long as we both stay healthy. We will have 18 days for the acclimatization process and then 16 days of mountaineering, climbing glaciated mountains over 5,000 m and getting ready for up to 3 mountains over 6,000 m. Yes, that's over 20,000 feet.

That means our acclimatization process starts most likely at about 3,000 m with a series of higher day hikes. This will be followed by moving to La Paz where we will sleep at about 3,700 m and we have access to the Altiplano which sites at 4,000 m and the Cordillera Real with some relatively close to the city objectives over 5,000 m. By the time we get to the mountaineering expedition, we hope to have spent time at least twice over 5,000 m.

We'll spend the first week of the mountaineering part between 4,500 and 5,500 m before attempting two 6,000ers (Chachacomani and Chearoco mountains) in a seldom visited part of the Cordillera Real. If all goes well, we will follow this up with an ascent of the 6,438 m (21,122 feet) high Illimani, one of Bolivia's most iconic mountains standing just south of La Paz and the highest mountain in the Cordillera Real.

In 2010, we traversed a large part  of this mountain range which culminated in summitting Huayna Potosi (6,088m). The area we plan to explore this fall is further west in this impressive range.

We'll post training updates, itineraries and of course progress reports as this expedition unfolds.