I have always wondered why mountains attract people. In Nepal for first time i had a taste of this demoniac thirst for high altitude.
I remember my mother, sitting in our flat in Sofia and dreaming about far- flung mountains. And I have seen so many great climbers, dreaming with those mountains, with their triumphs and tragedies.
I do not have this intrinsic vocation, this tragic draw to them. For me climbing Huayna Potosi was more of an attempt to understand it.
Huayana Potosi is 6088m and it is situated about two hours drive from La Paz, Bolivia.
About 9am myself and a Swiss guy, who was also going to climb the mountain left La Paz. Once out of the pollution and the traffic of the city, we drove on a dusty road through dry and barren lands. The only thing i could seen through the car window were the llamas and the countless graveyards of miners, killed by the government in 1953 over control of the local mines.
At around 11.30 am, we arrived at Campo Base. The fist day was dedicated to practice walking with crampons on the glacier and using axes. At night the cholita (that´s how the local women are called) gave us very educational talk on the sacred leaves of coca and its uses. The Antiplano people consider them a wonder drug, the panacea for headache, stomachache, overweight, altitude sickness and any ache one can think of. Every time I moaned to my guide about some ache, the inevitable answer was: “chew some coca”. Day 2 myself, the guide and the ported walked to Campo Alto, which is at 5100m. The walk took us only 2 hours and that meant that we had the rest of the day for rest before the night climb. We had lunch, went for sleep, had dinner and went for a nap again. We were supposed to leave for the Summit at 1am and arrive there at sunrise, as later the snow becomes too heavy, its dangerous to walk and there is a greater risk of avalanches. I was so exited, nervous, apprehensive that i could not sleep at all. All I could hear was the increasing wind, which eventually brought the snow storm. At 1am Elisio came to tell me that we cannot leave in such a weather and that we had to wait for the storm to settle. All this waiting made me even more nervous.
Eventually at 2am, the weather settled and we were ready to leave. It still looked pretty horrible to me, but we put he crampons, tied the rope and headed for the Summit. All I could see with my headlight were the footprints left by Elisio. My mind kept on wandering: it was going back to Nepal, to Thailand, people I have met on the way, it was getting happy, upset…..In a way, it was good because time was passing by, but I knew it was dangerous. I couldnt afford to let my mind wander. Just as in Buddhist meditation, my mind had to be here, in the present, fully aware of the surroundings.
I tried to use some techniques I learnt in the Tibetan monastery in Nepal and later in Thailand. Instead of focusing on the breath, I was trying to concentrate on every step I took. And many, many steps followed…..it was never ending road…. . From time to time i was turning to see the people behind me. There was a line of slowly advancing headlights. Some of the bright dots were stopping at some point and then heading back to the valley. I could feel it was getting harder and harder to breathe. I was starting to feel tired, my legs were hurting, but i could still walk, I had plenty of strength and if there was anything to stop me form reaching the top, it was my mind.
Many long hours of walking in the dark followed. My mind slipped into some kind of delirium and i knew that i could walk and walk for many more hours. The Tibetan monks I have seen in the monasteries in high mountains of Nepal could keep their minds in full concentration for very long periods of time, some for days and weeks.
At 6am the sun started to come up and with it I got a second wind of strength. At this point we arrived under a huge rock, which we had to climb and the summit was there. Knowing that the Summit was so close gave me the believe that i could do it. I couldn't give up at thais point.
After 45 min of rock climbing we were at the top. OMG, I screamed at the top of my lungs. I made it. I was overwhelmed by the feeling of utter peace and bliss. Climbing for Nothingness! All the little thoughts that were bothering me were gone, evaporated with the darkness of the night. And it was the dazzling whiteness of the snow, the light of the arising sun, and me, there, in this very moment. Salvation.
On the way back to La Paz, I was sitting at the back of the car, listening to the conversations in the car, in the background there was Andean music coming from the stereo. I was looking at the llamas, running at the noise of the engine, and I couldn't stop smiling to myself.
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