Illimani

We spent Thursday to Sunday working our way up Illimani, Bolivia´s second highest mountain.

Here is Jan on Thursday, in front of the massive ridge to get from  base camp to Niedo de Condores, the high camp,  1,000m up at the very top of that rock ridge. The summit is another 1,000m higher.

Base camp at about 4,500m had us living above the clouds. 

Our awesome North Face Summit Series tent at high camp - aptly named Condors´ Nest. 

2 am - I love Jan´s camera for its night photography options! - just as Jan got up to  embark on her attempt at summitting 1,000m higher. The night sky was clear and the clouds just seemed to move in  - 20 minutes later, the entire route was in clouds and it turned out, the 2 groups that summitted saw exactly nothing on the way to the top, at the top and on the way back down. But they did feel that amazing sense of accomplishment of a hard effort. 

2:30 am: Jan and Eduardo are ready to  get on to the glacier. I have already decided this is not my time and I am taking pictures instead ;)

Jan contemplates - at basecamp. After 3 hours of hard effort, exhaustion meant  no summit today. She did reach about 5,800m - a significant high point, if you have ever been there you´ll know. Proud.

The whole of Illimani - the main summit is the peak straigth up from that single tree. The rock ridge is easy to identify.

More than merely achieving summits, we love being in - really in - the mountains. The culture, the people we meet, the experiences of this raw mountain power appeals. It is simple. We walk among giants.