Ascents in the Condoriri (29.06.2003)
| Characteristic | Alpine trip |
|---|---|
| Duration | 144h 00min |
The Condoriri group is a beautiful cluster of alpine-like mountains in the Cordillera Real mountains of Bolivia. Because they are on average, between about 5100-5600m, they were smaller than the two main objectives of our 3-week trip to Bolivia, which were Huayna Potosi and Illimani, both of which are more than 6000m in height. So, the Condoriri peaks were perfect to kick off our acclimatisation and we travelled here after some days relaxing and trekking around Copacabana and the Isla del Sol. To get to the Condoriri though, we had a jeep drive to Tuni at 4300m with our cook team, Domingo and his assistant Mario. Although the journey from Copacabana was approximately 4 hours long, the time seemed to pass very quickly, because we were so preoccupied with the amazing mountain scenery appearing around us. At Tuni we spent an unexpectedly cold night camping amongst strange noises from the mules and llamas which were living close by. It was definitely an amusing experience to watch our rather temperamental llamas being loaded up with kit bags, but once that mission was accomplished we began our trek in to the Condoriri base camp, at 4650m, beside the shores of Laguna Chiar Khota. As quoted by the guidebook, the peaks were indeed "truly fairylike" and we were fortunate enough to be camping here with only a few other climbers. The campsite was reportedly very busy at times, with up to 100 tents!
During our week here, we climbed a number of peaks:
1. Point Austria which was about 5200m (estimated using an altimeter) and a straightforward walk over rock and scree with fantastic views from its summit
2. Pequeño Alpamayo an ascent which I personally can't describe due to being ill when the rest of the team climbed it
3. Mirador; another rocky peak involving some easy but tiring scrambling
4. Piramide Blanca a pyramidal snow and rock peak accessed by a glacier with sections of hard icy snow up to a col and a short scramble in crampons close to the summit.
And if you are in the mood for a bit of ice climbing on hard water ice, there's an ice-covered crag beside the glacier where you can climb at Scottish Grade IV.
User comments
Wow
Written by Þróndeimr 20.02.2014 21:11Suddenly i'd love to go to Bolivia! :O
Amazing
Written by mortenh 15.12.2012 21:49Amazing scenery and great photos again. Stumbled across the article by accident. You should register the peaks in the DB so that you can have the ascents on your book :)
Re: Amazing
Written by hmsv1 16.12.2012 21:14Glad you like them, it was hard to take bad photos here! Have often thought about a second visit but not found the time yet....but can highly recommend it! Good idea to add the peaks to the DB, I will do a bit of searching for the data :-)