My Birthday - Cabeza del Condor 5.700 m

Last year in Nepal when I was sitting with injured knee in a coffee shop in Kathmandu, I got talking to Steffan, a Swiss alpinist, who had dedicated his life to the mountains. Every season he was in Nepal, climbing unclimbed mountains and setting new routes. The rest of the year, he was taking clients to different parts of the world. When I told him that I would be going to Bolivia, he wrote on a piece of paper different places I should go trekking and climbing. As it happens, the piece of paper got lost and the only name that stuck to my mind was Condoriri.

12 months later, I am in Bolivia, having already climbed Huayana Potosi, I wanted to do something special for my 33th Birthday, something memorable. It had to be Condoriri with its main summit La Cabeza del Condor (The Head of the Condor). It is named after the sacred bird of the Andes: the Condor. The main peak resembles the head and the adjacent peaks are called Las Alas (the wings).

It was very late in the climbing season, which finishes the end of September, and it was difficult to find agency willing to take me to this summit for a reasonable price, let alone finding other people wanting to climb it. Failing to find a group, I booked a personal guide (compared to Europe it is a real bargain).
On the 2nd October, we set out from La Paz. It took us 3 hours from La Paz to the small village of Tuni, where Julio hired mules to take our equipment to the Base Camp of Condoriri.

At around 3pm, we arrived at the Base Camp, which is right at the foot of the Cabeza del Condor. The summit seen from there was awe-inspiring. Looked like a black giant bird looming over us. As we were pitching the tents, I couldn’t take my eyes of the pyramid of the Cabeza.At 6pm Julio prepared dinner and we sat in the kitchen tent. The conversation invariably hovered around climbing Condoriri and the surrounding mountains. La Cabeza del Condor was the most technical of all. On to top it, I could sense that my guide was quite skeptical about my chances of getting to the top. Six hours left until my 33th birthday and seven hours until we set out for one of the biggest challenge of my life. I couldn’t help but feeling quite scared.
At 1am, we got up, had the obligatory mate de coca and set out under the full moon, which was illuminating our path and the peak. It was so bright that there was no need to use our headlights. The peak looked even more majestic under the moonlight. All across the Andes the Condor is revered as a sacred bird. For the Maputches the condor is the ruler of the sky, reincarnation of the most noble spirits. For the Incas the condor was the "Messanger of the Gods", who flew to the higher level of the religeuos world (el Hanan Pacha) and took their requests to the Gods . I was praying and hoping it will be benevolent and would allow me to celebrate my birthday in his realms.

After 5 hours of walk on scree and glacier, we reached a huge crevasse. Julio said that unless we find a way to cross it, it would be the end of my Condoriri dream. As the crevasse was so long and there was no way to go around it, Julio found a spot where we could cross it by going down into the crevasse and then climbing up. We were advancing really slow, as Julio was making sure that there were no hollow parts under our feet. Eventually when we got down, all I could see around me were tones and tones of snow. I didn’t even want to think about it.

Out of the crevasse was the next challenge was awaiting for us: climbing through a chimney with 75 degree of inclination. Once out of it, we were on the ridge of the Cabeza. So close and so far away! Earlier in the season there would be ice and snow, so you could climb with axes, but at this time of year it was only rock, loose at times, because of the constant erosion of melting ice.I was lucky that Julio was very secure and confident climber. On both sides of the ridge there were precipices of hundreds of meters. No room for wrong steps…..We reached the summit at around 9.30pm. The Condor, the keeper of the Andean sky, had allowed me to be there. I couldn’t get a better present.

In Thin Air - Huayna Potosi 6088m

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.