Get Soooo High! (Glacier Trek to ~20,000 Feet)

OVERVIEW

“Bolivia’s Andean region is one of the world’s great trekking destinations.  Largely undiscovered by foreign hikers, it offers some of the most unspoilt and captivating routes in the Andes … Bolivia is a country blessed with stunning mountain scenery, remote wilderness areas, and a thriving indigenous culture.  It is often referred to as the ‘Tibet of the Americas’, due to its extensive high-altitude plateau (the Altiplano), sparse population and splendid isolation.”
— Lonely Planet

Let’s get reallllllllly high together, higher than we ever have — nearly 20,000 feet, that is! Join ODC co-founder Mateo (that’s me!) and super-awesome ODC Leader-Alum Elli Welch as we hike to higher and higher summits, culminating with glacier trekking up Huayna Potosi, at 19,974 feet. The views we’ll achieve on the days leading up will be spectacular, including that of a glacier calving new icebergs into a lake.

Glacier trekking is my favorite outdoor adventure; perhaps it’ll become yours. There are few countries in the world where one can do it on the relative cheap; Bolivia is one and with great opportunity to explore indigenous culture and natural beauty.

No glacier trekking, rock climbing, or high altitude experience required. This mountaineering trip is not “technical” in nature, meaning basically we’ll be walking up the mountains / volcanoes we explore, not doing technical rock or ice climbing – Huayna Potosi is one of the world’s few very-high-altitude summits one can ascend without technical experience. There likely will be rock scrambling at times; and on the glacier, crampons will help us up and harnesses and ropes will help safeguard us.

Prior to and in preparation for glacier-trekking up to nearly 20,000 feet, we’ll hike and sometimes backpack up some lower (but still high-up) summits in the region.

On this once-in-a-lifetime adventure, we expressly welcome diverse explorers with varying outdoors experience levels, nationalities, race/ethnic backgrounds, LGBTQ+ identity, and more.

Those of you who need to gain a parental unit’s blessing to attend, feel free to let them know I co-guided two club adventures to 19,000+ feet twice in the last few years, I’ve led somewhere between 500 and 1,000 outdoor adventures of widely varying types, my profession is wilderness medicine instructor-trainer and teaching wilderness first aid & responder courses, I’m a Wilderness EMT and Geo Medic, and this adventure’s high altitude acclimatization plan for everyone follows Wilderness Medical Society and CDC recommendations as closely as possible. Plus, for all of our treks we will have one or more professional local guides – more guides the higher we get. You can give your parents the following bio link about me, and I will be happy to talk directly to them if desired. But hey, you’re an adult so hopefully you’re freeeeeeeee to decide on your own. https://www.solowfa.com/matt-rosefsky.html

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Here’s our itinerary plan; details are subject to unexpected changes but the dates are set. Long
before our trip will be an introductory Zoom for the confirmed trip participants to start getting to know each other, and for Q&A.

2026:

Key to the below:
date: (#; #; #; BLD) day’s description.
= (Max altitude during day; sleeping altitude this night; cardio activity this day; if B L and/or D is written then this day Breakfast, Lunch and/or Dinner is included in the trip fee)

July 15: (~6,000?; ~6,000?; ?) Consideration for when you book your USA departure for this day (or earlier day if you’re going early): if it happens to work out on your flight trajectory, a bonus acclimatization step for your body can be to sleep this night at around half the elevation of La Paz. This is a suggestion not a requirement – hard to arrange.

July 16: (11,975; 11,975; none or chill city walk) Arrive La Paz (11,975 feet). The earlier you arrive this day, the better for your very important acclimatizing process. Some may choose to arrive one or a few days earlier, for increased time to explore the city including its amazing transportation network of aerial cable cars (“Teleférico”). We will inform who is arriving La Paz airport at around the same time so hopefully you can get into the city together with other trip participants. Explore La Paz on your own or preferably with others in the group. Mateo will NOT be present this day (will be already in Bolivia elsewhere). Lodging: we will try to reserve a youth hostel dorm room exclusively for our group. If you arrive La Paz day(s) early, an idea could be to stay at the same hostel.

July 17: (11,975; 11,975; chill city walk) Explore La Paz on your own or preferably with others in the group, perhaps a walk or excursion offered by the hostel. Mateo will NOT be present this day. Same hostel dorm room.

July 18: (11,975; 11,975; chill city walk) Explore La Paz on your own or preferably with others in the group, perhaps a walk or excursion offered by the hostel. Mateo arrives late afternoon. We’ll dinner together and I’ll run a trip orientation and safety chat and Q&A. Same hostel dorm room.

July 19: (12,900; 11,975; hike 7 miles; L) Day trip to Cañón de Palca. Hike 1 steep mile up to Paso Huni (12,900ft), then descend 6 miles through canyons with spires & mesas similar to in the Badlands of South Dakota. Same hostel dorm room.

July 20: (13,793; 13,793; casual town-walk then backpack uphill ~1 hour; D) Transport van to & casually explore the town of Sorata for 3 or 4 hours, then transport van to upper trailhead & backpack 45mins or an hour up to Laguna Chillata. Camp beside this lake.

July 21: (16,529; 13,793; hike 9 miles; BLD) Hike from campsite up 4.5 miles with ~2,900 feet elevation gain to Laguna Glacial – a lake at the bottom of a glacier.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Laguna_Glaciar_Bolivia.png
We’ll hear the cracking & splashing sounds and watch with amazement, huge chunks of the glacier break off (“calve”) and become icebergs in the lake. Then hike back down and camp at same campsite.

July 22: (~15,300; ~15,300; backpack ~45mins down then later 1.6 mile up; BD) Backpack down to transport van; drive to another trail head; backpack 1.6 miles with ~630 feet elevation gain to Chiar Khota lake. Individual choice to tent camp beside lake (free) or stay (cheap) in a lake-side refugio (beds not reservable; b.y.o. cash if you want bed instead of tent).
Pictures of this and next few days: https://www.torntackies.com/pico-austria-bolivia/

July 23: (Choose ~15,300 or ~16,600; ~15,300; rest or casual nearby exploration or hike 3.8 miles;
BLD) Rest day, or casually explore the lake & surroundings, or afternoon hike 1.9 mile uphill 1,310 feet to bottom of a glacier then 1.9 mile back downhill. Dinnertime Mateo orientation chat regarding what to expect on Huayna Potosi glacier trekking adventure coming up a few days later. Same campsite or refugio as last night.

July 24: (~17,480; ~12,000?; hike 5.5 miles + backpack 1.6 mile; BL) Hike 2.75 mile uphill 2,372 feet to Pico Austria summit; hike 2.75 mile back down to campsite/refugio; pack up; backpack 1.6 mile downhill 1,310 feet to trailhead, drive to a hostel (location t.b.d.) at much lower altitude and refresh.

July 25: (15,900; 15,580; zero or short backpacking, then hike 1 hour; LD) Morning drive to or to very near (in which case, short backpacking) a refugio at Huayna Potosi’s “base camp.” Afternoon ~1hour hike up ~300 feet to Glaciar Viejo. Practice glacier trekking techniques with crampons and ice axe. Optional ice climbing. Hike ~1 hour back to refugio for dinner & dorm-style sleep.
Roughly what to expect this and next few days: https://www.torntackies.com/huayna-potosi-climb/

July 26: (17.200; 17,200; backpack up 3-4 hours; BLD) Backpack (with sleeping bag but no pad or tent) 3 to 4 hours up ~1,600 feet to a refugio at “high camp.” Distance not known. Early dinner & dorm-style sleep just until ~11pm.

July 27: (19,974; 11,975 or 17,200; glacial hike summit bid or zero day; BL) ~Midnight departure for Huayna Potosi summit bid uphill ~2,774 feet (distance not known / varies). Hike & glacier-trek, 5 to 6 hours for strong hikers up to summit, then trek/hike ~2.5 hours back down to refugio at high camp for a meal, then backpack 1.5 hour down to transport van at/near base camp, then drive to same hostel in La Paz. If weather not suitable this day for summit bid, then zero day at high camp refugio (walk around if you want) and pre-dawn summit attempt next day.

July 28: (?, 11,975, ?) Back-up day for summit bid in case weather cancels prior day’s summit bid. Otherwise, rest and further explore La Paz on own or preferably with others. Fly home extremely late tonight, or next day. Same hostel.

July 29: Fly home.

NOTE: hiking distances and elevation gains listed above are approximate. Exact information is difficult to come by and different sources provide different info. Listed elevation gains may not account for dips & rises that are between the bottom and top.

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In the weeks and hopefully months leading up to the trip I’ll be hiking as much as I can to tune physical fitness, you’re of course super-welcome to join me.

During the Huayna Potosi summit bid and some of the earlier treks, everyone will have a walkie talkie on them as a further safety measure.

As our days in Bolivia progress, if you suffer altitude illness or just don’t want to carry on with the higher summits further in the trip, it’s all good, you won’t be required to join us for the subsequent hikes and you’ll be responsible for yourself from then on out, perhaps and hopefully still joining us in whatever upcoming accommodations we’ve already arranged. At any point on a hike if you’re suffering mild altitude illness, you must not carry on up higher. I will educate you on prevention, signs, symptoms and treatment of this.

Everyone should have Diamox (acetazolamide) prescribed to them. Strongly consider taking it to help prevent altitude illness, unless you’re surprisingly age 50+. Prevention dose is half dose; full
dose is used to treat altitude illness. As for vaccinations, I will inform participants of any CDC-recommended ones. If you’re accepted onto this trip please let me know if and when you already happen to have a visit scheduled with your regular check-up doc, so I can fill you in on what prescriptions to get, helping you avoid a separate visit to a travel medications clinic if you want.

Eligible participants are:
> physically fit;
> experienced (by trip start date) in hiking up mountain trails such as those here in Shenandoah, trails combined to ascend 4,000 feet in one day.
> experienced backpacking – ideally at least 3 times in your life prior to this adventure, so you have experience with what you personally need and what you don’t for lightweight backpacking.
> comfortable with the idea** of trekking on a glacier while wearing crampons and being rope-tied to other participants ahead of and behind you, as a crevasse safety measure;
> not known to suffer altitude illness**.

If you want to chat about any of the above or anything regarding this trip, please email me at mrmateo (at) riseup (dot) net and let me know your phone number and generally good times to call you, and we’ll arrange a call. Sorry this old-school homeboy is not a texter and is overwhelmed with emails.

**Prior glacier trekking experience is NOT required. Prior high-altitude exposure is NOT required. If you have been to high altitude before and you suffered mild (or worse) altitude illness, let’s chat so I can learn about your experience, what you suffered, how high you went, and what acclimatization happened beforehand — to determine if it’s safe for you and others to join in.

In late 2025 or very early 2026, an exact what-to-bring list will go out to all confirmed trip participants.

GETTING OFF WAIT LIST:
1) Once you’ve joined the wait list, we’ll stay in periodic touch to let you know if we’re able to welcome you aboard or if you’re on the wait list for some time longer.

2) Once we tell you we’re able to welcome you aboard, the $825 trip fee (see below) will be due by the First of December (12/1/2025) to secure your spot. If you need to be on a payment plan, please gather as big of a deposit as you can for 12/1 deadline and meanwhile reach out to Elli or me and we’ll do our best to accommodate and work with you. If you need to cancel your paid-up spot for any reason, it will be your responsibility to work with someone else we approve to attend this trip, to get the trip fee from them to reimburse you. We counted on your trip fee to secure group discounts for everyone.

TRIP FEE: $825 [includes professional local guides*, standard tips for them, lodgings July 19-29*, group transports, noted meals. Does not include plane ticket, fee for Bolivia tourist visa, airport transfers, any gear rentals you need in Bolivia guesstimate $0 to $50 depending on how much you need, totally-optional extra tip for your professional guide(s) if astounding service so inspires you, or any medications or vaccinations you get]. This trip fee of $825 should be more than sufficient* (TBD after final detail planning is complete) and if we don’t spend that much we’ll everyone refund the difference after the trip. Side note, borrowing gear from Outdoors at UVA is FREE.

*If we don’t summit Huayna Potosi the first date planned due to bad weather on the mountain, we’ll have to pay more to the professional guide service and refugio for the extra day. That likely will use up all of the contingency we’ve built into the trip fee and will require some additional amount per person to cover the rest. It is not possible to know for sure how this will all play out in part because part of the trip fee is to provide many communal meals and those meals’ ingredients are planned for purchase in Bolivia.

PAYMENT DEADLINE: December 1, 2025. Payment is what confirms a spot on this trip.

HELP REQUESTS LIST — let’s please collaborate in running this adventure; Mateo will provide guidance on all of the below as needed:
> “Guide Comms”: Communicate with our head local guide to finalize arrangements.
> “Participant Comms”: Coordinate messages / communications / questions among our ODC group of participants.
> “Itinerary Document”: Create an itinerary document with dates, lodgings, local guide service and other key contact info, suitable for sharing with parents/family/friends.
> “Treasurer & Bookkeeper”: receive trip fees (to a venmo account?), dole out and keep track of payments before and during trip, do final accounting and make any refunds to participants if cash was left over.
> “Flights Search”: advise our group of participants when deals are found
> “Flights Spreadsheet”: get everyone’s flight info put into a google spreadsheet for sharing
> “Co-Chefs”: Share the following tasks with another participant: Get each participant’s dietary restrictions; plan communal meals (mostly when we’re camping, likely 4 breakfasts, 4 not-cooked lunches, 4 hot dinners for 8 to 9 people); plan cooking gear needed to borrow from ODC; buy ingredients and fuel; cook meals and/or prep assembly line (e.g. lunches).
> “Gear Coordinator”: (1) Help everyone understand what gear is borrow-able from the ODC gear room (FREE!); (2) Coordinate who needs to borrow what ODC gear especially shared gear (who will tent-mate with whom; who will get and bring communal gear with them including cooking equipment); (3) Arrange a gear room opening day/time as there aren’t regular hours in summertime; (4) Ensure participants who won’t be in Cville this coming summer, know to get their gear before they leave Cville.
> Anything else you would you be interested in doing to help out?

Elli and I are excited to usher in 6 more kind and adventurous souls to my favorite type of outdoor adventure: glacier trekking, in a beautiful country which has a high indigenous population percentage. High adventures ahead! 🙂