testmeat photoblog

this here mountain is called huayna potosi, it's located about 30km out of la paz, stands at 6088m high and yesterday i climbed to the top. and i managed that with a broken crampon and laryngitis. well, that's the party line. in truth the crampon only broke twice and the laryngitis could at best be described as acute and was diagnosed by a first year med-student. furthermore, while 6088m is an accurate calculation, the mountain has also been described as one of the easiest 6k summits to reach. this is because you start at about 4700m - so the hike up and acclimatisation isn't as intense. meh - speaking very much as an non-mountaineer - "easy" is the last word i'd use. it was a long, cold, difficult, tiring hike to the summit which started at 1:45am and finished 5 hours later just before sunrise. it involved walking on snow, rocks and even a bit of ice climbing - all at an altitude where moving and breathing weren't the best of friends. still, the view and sensation of getting to the top literally took my breath away.

here's the original