Huayna Potosi - day 2 - summit push!!!

Estaba bastante nervioso. Para muchas personas no alcanza llegar a la cumbre. Todos me dijeron que era la cosa más duro de su vida. El día empezaba a las 12 de la noche. Armámos las mochilas y desayunamos un poco. Mi meta era llegar al campo argentino. Esta 5600m. Casi la mitad.
Empezábamos con 10 minutos cruzando piedras. Depsues pusimos los crampones, el harness y el picahielo. En el oscuro manejabamos el glaciar con muchos grietas. Llegábamos al campamento argentino. Estaba sin energía, con dolor de la cabeza y náuseas. Este punto era la primera vez cuando queria rñregresar. Bueno, tomaba una pastilla para la altura, un snickers y agua. Después de 15 minutos de pausa continuamos. Directamente después teníamos que cruzar el parte más inclinado con 50° de elevación. El sendero tenía un ancho de 30 centímetros y teníamos que cruzar una puente de nieve. Me daba bastante respeto y adrenalina. Por la adrenalina no tenía nada de dolor o náuseas en este momento. Después continuamos subiendo en terreno no tan difícil. Pero venia un dolor de cabeza y náuseas. Hicimos otra pausa. Descansaba 10 minutos, tomaba otra pastilla y comía un snack. Tenía mucho frío. Otra vez pensaba en regresar. Hablaba con mi guía y me preguntaba si el dolor es muy fuerte. Dije una 3 de 10. Entonces el me dijo que vamos a avanzar el terreno no esta difícil en el próximo parte. A las 5 y media llegábamos al último nivel antes de la cumbre. Pero nos quedaba más de una hora y media y otra vez un parte muy inclinado, muy angosto y bastante impresionante. Pero encontraba David cual también estaba haciendo cumbre con la mismo empresa y ya estaba su segundo intento. Formabamos el equipo de las tortugas. Los guías nos daban un aceite de menta para mejorar la aspiración. Entonces continuamos. Era muy intenso este parte. Unas veces había partes de terreno mixto con piedra y hielo. Pero con toda la fuerza llegaba a la cumbre. Justo con el amanecer. Era una vista espectacular. Podíamos ver el lago titicaca el amazonas, La Paz y todas las montanas. Habia muchos emociones. Disfrutábamos la cumbre para unos 20 minutos y emezaba la bajada. Durante el día la Montana es muy difícil porque la nieve es mucho más suave. Hicimos varias pausas disfrutando el paisaje y cruzabamos los partes difícil muy concentrado. En el high camp tomábamos una sopa a las 9 de la manana y armamos las mochilas y bajamos al base camp. De verdad una cosa increíble y los más duro de mi vida.

In the beginning I was quite nervous. A lot of people don't make it to the summit. But everyone told it's the hardest thing they did in their life. So I tried breaking it down. Forst goal is the camp argentino. Which is almost halfway but not that difficult to get to. We started at midnight after 3 hours of sleep. We packed the backpacks and had a small breakfast. For the first 10 minutos we crossed some bigger rocks. Then we put on crampons, the harness and unpacked the ice axe. It's getting real. In the dark we started crossing the glaciar with quite a lot of crevasses. But we made it to campo argentino. I had a headache and was a bit dizzy. I felt very weak. This first time I thought about giving up. I took a pill for rhe altitude, had a chocolate and some water. I thought okay let's take it easy and we can always turn around. Well that was wrong. Me and my guide went in front of the other groups and directly afterwards came a very technical part where we a had to climb up a snow wall. It had an inclination of 50° and the path had maybe 30to 40cm. And on top of that there was a snow bridge to cross another crevasse. The good thing is it gave me so much adrenaline that I didn't feel bad at all. After this sketchy part the terrain got a bit easier and we continued. But I was not feeling good. We had another break. I took another pill, chocolate and water but was feeling very weak. My guide asked me if I'm okay and how bad the headache is. I told him a 3. I felt so bad and thought another time about giving up. But my guide said we continue because the terrain is not that bad. Around 5.30 we made it to the last flat area before th summit. We saw the summit for the first time. And there was still one and a half hours left and it didn't look easy at all. But I knew that the sunrise would start in 45minutes and this will give energy. We met up with David from the same company. This was his second attempt. And we continued another time. It was super steep, very narrow and sometimes we had to climb over some rocks in our paths. But the sky was brightening up, it gave us energy and we heated the first people screaming from the summit. That gave us enough motivation for the last part. Around 6.30 we made it to the summit. Five and half hours for 800 vertical meters. It was an incredible feeling to stand at 6000m. The sunrise was incredible and we could see from the titicaca lake to the Amazon rainforest. After 20 minutes on the summit we started to go down. You cannot stay to long because the sun softens the snow. But we took some breaks to enjoy the views. Around 9 we were back the high camp and had a soup. We packed the backpacks a last time and started our way down to the Basecamp. What an incredible experience. And it really was the hardest thing I have done so far.Read more