30.8.8 Risin' high

As demanding as climbing 5,000m+ peaks could be, Chacaltire must rank among the most embarrassingly simple. It’s a couple of hours’ drive from La Paz and then a steepish walk up the last few hundred yards. The problem is not the ascent so much as the challenge of getting enough oxygen in the bloodstream to power the limbs and brain. Fortunately, as we had all been living at more than 3,600 metres for some months now, we were relatively acclimatised and suffered no more than our retirement-age guide.

At the bottom of the walk is a wooden house perched on and over the mountain edge, it’s across the car park from the Alpine-inspired lodge. This used to be the base of the world’s highest ski run and the chalet’s bar walls are covered with natty old pics of Bolivians in 1980s ski wear.

The old drag lift is still there but global warming has put pay to the snow. The sad remnants of the glacier remain but it is going the way of all the glaciers around La Paz. Within 20 years, it is predicted they will all be gone. As the main supplier of water to the city, the effect of losing them will be catastrophic.

This was a dry run for next week’s expedition up Huayna Potosi. A proper Toblerone bar of a mountain; it’s only a further 600 meters up but without even dodgy road access, it will be real exercise to get there.