Huayna Potosi

Huayna Potosi sits at 6,088 m (19,974 ft.). I have never climbed a mountain in my life, but I figured that since I had been hanging out at 12,000 ft for a while in La Paz that there was no time like the present to attempt a summit. I booked a three day tour and with Huayno Potosi Tours and set out.

The Mountain
Huayna Potosi and I getting acquainted with one another.
The beautiful refugio I stayed at for the first night

The first day we went out and learned how to ice climb with crampons and axes. Here's my climbing partner a retiree of the French Foreign Legion (sadly due to the altitude he wasn't able to summit).
Me climbing the ice wall Me after the lession looking smug

The next day we hiked to the next refugio, basically just an aluminum tent. At 1 Am we woke up to finish climbing Huayna Potosi. Its important to start early before the sun comes out and begins to melt the snow increasing the likelihood of avalanches. We experienced a bunch of new snow fall the day before and on the day of the climb, which increased the difficulty of our climb, because its very difficult to get a good grip with your axe in the snow.
More pics of the view
The climb was one of the hardest things I have ever done, but the thought of stopping never crossed my mind, I was only thinking I have to keep moving no matter how hard it is. The last 1000 ft. is without a doubt the most difficult section (this is where the French guy dropped out). Its just an almost completely vertical wall of ice (in our case ice with about a foot of fresh powder on the top), and requires every once of strength to pull yourself up. But, when you reach the top there is no better feeling.

Here I am on top of The Mountain. The greatest view of my life

Some cool ice formations on the way down