I'm thinking of heading to Bolivia in July but a bit concerned about how La Niña might effect the usually stable weather patterns. After a search online I'm as confused as ever. There are reports of La Niña causing heavy rainfall on the altiplano but also of El Niño doing this, and I thought the effects of La Niña were largely the opposite of El Niño...

Anyway, if anyone has any ideas please let me know - I wouldn't want to spend several weeks storm-bound in a tent when I should be enjoying some of the most stable weather patterns of any mountains in the world!

You are not going to spend several weeks in a tent in Bolivia that time of year. The weather is very stable. If you see rain it will be for a half a day an then be gone. They get the weather this time of year. The reason we climb there in May - July is because you are not likely to see any rain.

As far as La Nina goes the effects should be pretty much gone after mid may.

Here I wrote this a couple of weeks ago. Notice how many clouds there are in the sky in these photos. Not a La Nina year, but it will give you an idea of how dry it is.

http://alasdairturner.blogspot.com/2010 ... livia.html

Also pick up the current copy of Trek and Mountain Magazine. It has an article I wrote on Bolivia in it.

Alasdair wrote:As far as La Nina goes the effects should be pretty much gone after mid may.

No. The issue with La Nina is not any bad weather in the regular season May-Sept.

The problem with La Nina - as you would have read in your UKC thread, Joe - is if the summer (Nov-Feb) is not very wet and so not much snow falls. Then going into the regular season there is little snow cover, then continuing into the season it is even clearer and drier than normal - or just normal - the mountains are too dry. The snow routes get real icy (like John Biggar mentioned in the UKC thread) and some routes melt away completely, causing more rock and ice fall. 1998 was a terrible year for this, the Payachatas were almost all bare scree. However I climbed there the next year, mid-June to start-August, and things were back to normal, due to an OK '98-'99 summer season (ie. wet & snowy). In mid-June Condoriri was already a bit bare, mid-July Illampu normal route was about to get too melted out, but end of July Parinacota and Sajama were still OK (the latter developing significant penitentes though).

There is currently major flooding in both Brazil and Australia, wholly blamed on one of the strongest La Ninas ever recorded. To check what this will mean for the Peru - Bolivia climbing season, I would follow weather reports from cities in both places over the next two months. If there is no rain and snow, that is a problem.

Generally, El Nino forms in the Pacific, off the coast of Ecuador, and causes lots of rain / snow / bad weather in Peru, often during the May - Aug climbing season. But El Nino effects are not often felt here in Australia until months later, and the effects are hot, dry weather, often causing severe drought. So the current strong La Nina may have already had it's impact on Peru-Bolivia and in any case, it is forecast to end, at least here in Australia, around March-April.

Thanks guys, some great advice there. Looks like it should be okay, and according to the weather forecast it keeps raining in La Paz so I'm optimistic!

Yeh, they've had more flooding around Machu Pichu / Cusco too apparently, just this month. I guess that's a 'good' sign in terms of seasons (bad if you own a business near MP!). I guess what would be best would be if someone in-country could tell us whether it's been falling as snow up high?

Saludos Damien, I think it was you helping me out with a gear thread last year about synthetics vs wool. The wool base layers stay wet, don't transfer. You said it, bad idea.

Joe, I live in Bolivia (Cochabamba Valley) and 2010 was a very dry year for the Cordillera Real. Sad to say Condoriri summit is rotten rock, Pequeno Alpamayo's normal route as of October had several large crevasses and rotten rock at top. Illimani normal had brittle ice, didn't even try it. Sajama North East wasn't even accessible to summit (all in October). Nevertheless, it has been snowing in La Paz and there have been several prolonged heavy storms so far. We are looking forward to much better conditions this season. I wouldn't recommend climbing towards the very end of the season when things get sketchy such as September - October. Stable weather, well established normal routes, good snow can be found June - July to mid August. The rains effectively stop by mid April. The snow is deep in May. I'm planning the east face of Huayna Potosi (French route), Illimani/Sajama normal routes during the upcoming season with Bolivia's UAIGM guide instructor Gonzalo Jaimes for anyone interested in joining please send e-mail. I am also fluent in Spanish.

I am planing to climb Huayna Potosi around the first week in September. Considering the feed back above, would you say this is too late in the season? I guess less people and no big crowds though...

Hi Andre,

My guess is that HP would still be OK, but not the nicest climb. I think the lower glacier would be very dry and you could see any crevasses, and the upper mountain would have bad penitentes up to the summit. It was already getting bad when I did it in June 1999, after the dry 1998, so if 2010 was dry ....

The summit section is actually surprisingly steep, with a very narrow ridge to descend too, but most of the lower section is just a walk.

I'm not sure why HP is so popular. The normal route is not an attractive line, and as for its reputation as the 'world's easiest 6000m peak' I think that's ridiculously wrong. Even there in Bolivia I think Parinacota is easier (and higher) and of course in Argentina and Tibet there are many 6000m peaks that are much easier than HP. I suppose it's so close to LaPaz that it's easy for companies to guide people up it, and they do guide some real beginners up it! It's a much nicer looking mountain from the west.

Hi Damien. Thanks for your advice. Yes, Parinacota looks very inviting too. I'll check it up! Cheers

Hi Andre,

andre hangaard wrote:I am planing to climb Huayna Potosi around the first week in September. Considering the feed back above, would you say this is too late in the season? I guess less people and no big crowds though...

In 2009, I went to Bolivia late August and was all over the place until late September. The weather was great! One day there was a few minutes of drizzle - apart from that, it was dry for 5 weeks. Compare that with Ecuador! Of course, there may have fallen a little bit of snow high up in the mountains when I wasn't looking, but in general, when it's dry season in Bolivia, it's really dry.

Only once was I forced to abandon a climb. That was in HC on Sajama, and the reason was high winds. Not uncommon in that region, but usually these adverse conditions don't last very long, so I was told. Usually. If we had planned for a spare day, we would have waited at HC and tried for the summit the next day, but we hadn't, we had run out of time. One of the reasons for that was that we climbed Parinacota first, only then went to Sajama. We should have done that the other way around.
Talking about Parinacota, there was no glacier up there anymore in September, just penitentes on scree - lots of scree. After asking around about what we would need, we went up light, that is, without rope, crampons and ax. I imagine that earlier in the season there would be more snow and ice left over from the wet season, and crampons would be necessary then.

In the Cordillera Real, every climb succeeded! What I learned is that, basically, as long as the wet season hasn't started yet - usually somewhere in October - the weather is not likely to stop you from summiting. What can matter there, is route finding. I climbed with a local guide who knew the mountains intimately. We went up in the dark, and only on the way down could I see what a maze of crevasses he guided me through on some mountains. Without a good guide or a trail to follow, I imagine that it can easily take a long, long time to find a suitable way, assuming you don't get lost in the dark altogether. Literally.

As for Huayna Potosi, you can expect quite a few guided groups in September, and a trail to follow. Other peaks are a different matter. On Illimani and on Illampu there were others, which is not unusual for Illimani, but uncommon on Illampu. On Pequeño Alpamayo and Ancohuma we were alone.

I've posted lots of pictures, a few albums, and a TR on Illimani. If I manage to find the notes I made about Illampu, I'll write a TR about that too.

Decisions, decisions ...
Pequeño Alpamayo: my first alpine climb in South America
Climbing Illimani in the late season
Sajama National Park

Adiós, Rob