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Written by Mike Pond

This summer, an Alpenglow team of four led by guides Gaspar Navarrete, Mike Pond, and Isaac Laredo climbed Pequeño Alpamayo, Huayna Potosi and Illimani in Bolivia. These are Mike Pond’s 7 reasons you should climb in Bolivia.

Bolivia is a terrific intermediate expedition. A good first expedition would be something like
Ecuador Climbing School, where you stay in hotels instead of tents, and the climbing

stints in the mountains are brief. And an advanced expedition would be something in the Himalaya,

YESTERDAY WAS A BIG DAY FOR OUR BOLIVIA EXPEDITION- THE TEAM SUMMITED ILLIMANI AT 7:30AM.

We love starting off a post with “CUMBRE!!!” The team has achieved the third successful summit of their trip!

Two days ago the team moved from base camp at elevation 4,230m up to the “Condor’s Nest” (high camp) at 5,550m. Yesterday morning, long before sunrise, the team departed high camp for their big push to the summit. They traveled across broad snow slopes, navigated crevasse fields, and traversed across the final, classic, knife-edged summit ridge to stand at 6,438m- the highest mountain in the…

Pico Austria & Glacier School

With the team so deep in the mountains, we get satellite text updates every day. Unfortunately for us here at home we don’t get to see many pictures yet. Those will come once they return from the mountains and we’ll be sure to post them to our blog and social channels.

On Friday, August 3 the team climbed Pico Austria. Standing at 17,438′ / 5315m this “little” peak is nothing to shake a stick at. It’s higher than any peaks here in the contiguous U.S. by nearly 3,000′ / 1000m! Our team however uses it…

Alpenglow Expeditions is back in Bolivia for our annual expedition to climb three different peaks. Every year we head down to the landlocked country to explore it’s incredibly deep culture and of course to climb peaks that hold almost surreal beauty and adventure within them. Out of our South American expeditions, Bolivia is still one of the more wild places we explore filled with a unique culture and history all it’s own.

On their way to the mountains…

Early Sunday morning (July 29) the team led by Topo Mena left La Paz in their rear view mirror headed towards the mountains.…

Pictured climbing is lead guide, Gaspar Navarrete, before the team summited Pequeño Alpamayo (17,482′ / 5329m). Like its famous taller neighbors in Peru, Pequeño’s face is technical yet reasonable. The team is safely off the mountain and prepping to climb two more peaks.
The expedition team is acclimatized and getting ready for the next peak, Huayna Potosi (19,975′ 6088m). Pictured below is the team climbing Tarija. This glacier sits just below Pequeño Alpamayo. The team visited it for a full day of skills training, including crampon practice, ice axe use, self arrest techniques, ropes travel, and crevasse rescue. More updates soon!

For…

From Lake Titicaca, the team will attempt their first peak, Pequeño Alpamayo (17,482′ / 5329m). Like its famous taller neighbor in Peru, Pequeño’s face is beautiful and the climb is technical yet reasonable. It is the ideal place to increase mountaineering skills. The team will be practicing glacier and climbing skills, acclimatizing, climbing sub-peaks, before finally making their first summit bid.

Day 3: Our Bolivia expedition team had a great acclimatization hike on Isla del Sol which is on Lake Titicaca (12,400′ / 3780m)  They were able to see the Royal Mountains Range while hiking. They then visited the town of Copacabana, also on…

Photo: Van Wombwell (Alpamayo)

Weather is a huge factor when planning logistics for international expeditions. Fortunately our recent Alpamayo (19,512′ / 5,947m) expedition had the most ideal conditions for their climb! The team reached the summit in full sun and had the mountain to themselves with perfect weather. Join us next summer, the dates for the Alpamayo & Quitaraju expedition are July 1-15, 2018!

In July we also had two private personal trips in Peru for Alpenglow guides/owners, Adrian Ballinger and Logan Talbott. Logan had a great time in Peru and climbed Alpamayo and Artesonraju with his climbing partner, Eric. In…

Words and images from guide Esteban “Topo” Mena

“Yeah!” Is the best word to describe all the fun we had last week!

Our adventure started with the summit of Pico Austria (5350m), from there we enjoyed awesome views of the rest of the cordillera and started visualizing the next days. On the following day, after an early alpine start we climbed the highlight of this part of the trip: Pequeño Alpamayo, a beautiful 5450m peak that offers a little bit of everything: stunning glaciers, knife-edge ridges and breath taking views of the cordillera. Although the mountain’s conditions were drier than…

Bolivia is wild. Our expedition to the adventurous and beautiful country is off to a great start with the team spending a little time in the high elevation city of La Paz before heading on to lake Titicaca. Here’s a first hand report from lead guide Topo Mena.

“Enjoying blue bird skies we left La Paz and headed to the Titicaca Lake. La Paz and its surroundings is at 4000m

(13,000′) so we want to take the first days easy. On the way to Copacabana, a beautiful lakeside town on Titicaca, we visited the ruins of Tiwanaku: the remains of an ancient culture that celebrated…