![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/IMG_0570-1024x768.jpg\" "\\"Mary")
<\/a>Mary and Alex being lowered from the summit of Pequeno Alpamayo. Full photo album available on IMG's Facebook page (click photo above). Give us the 'thumbs up' if you approve. <\/p><\/div>\n
It has been a great trip to say the least, with two weeks of perfect weather and great climbing. \u00c2\u00a0We are now back in La Paz and we have all taken a well deserved shower. \u00c2\u00a0Our teammate, Alex, had to depart last night to get back to the United States and I know he was bummed, because he was ready to take on our next challenge, Illimani.<\/p>\n
Our climbing and training for Illimani has been perfect. \u00c2\u00a0The technical challenges of Pequeno Alpamayo had the team work with both altitude and skills that we will need for Illimani. \u00c2\u00a0After that test, I assured the team that Huayna Potosi would be technically simpler. \u00c2\u00a0As we all know though, a bit more elevation can be challenging as well. \u00c2\u00a06,088 meters is equal to just under 20,000 feet. \u00c2\u00a0Bottom line, the team did great! As we get to the summit ridge, after climbing for 5+ hours, if you are a climber, you have to look over the edge. \u00c2\u00a0The first thing you should notice is Lake Titicaca in the distance. \u00c2\u00a0As you get more comfortable with your surroundings or lack there of, you look over the lip, down the West Face of Potosi, 3,000 feet down. \u00c2\u00a0Probably our sweetest day of climbing so far.<\/p>\n
Back at Base Camp, we got a great dinner and good night sleep. \u00c2\u00a0Up early and on our way back to La Paz, the talk in the van circled around showers, a great dinner at a restaurant that Eduardo (one of our top notch Bolivian guides) wants to go to. \u00c2\u00a0The last topic of conversation on the way back to town was in front of us for the entire drive. \u00c2\u00a0“Greg, That is one huge mountain. (Illimani) \u00c2\u00a0How are we going to climb it? \u00c2\u00a0Where are we going to go?” \u00c2\u00a0Illimani is 6,438m (21,122 ft) and I am looking forward to showing this team another piece of Bolivia.<\/p>\n
A rest day tomorrow in La Paz, and we are ready to go!<\/p>\n
Greg Vernovage<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
August 19, 2011 It has been a great trip to say the least, with two weeks of perfect weather and great climbing. \u00c2\u00a0We are now back in La Paz and we have all taken a well deserved shower. \u00c2\u00a0Our teammate, Alex, had to depart last night to get back to the United States and I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bolivia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4391"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4399,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4391\/revisions\/4399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}