Bolivia 2019: Poor Weather in Bolivia, But Got a Summit!
As we left Copacabanna for the trailhead for our attempt of Pequeño Alpamayo, or Little Alpamayo Condoriri Group in La Coordillera Blanca, I was a bit apprehensive. I had felt good on our acclimatization hikes but we were now going over 17,000 feet and then on to almost 20 and then over 21,000. The drive […]
Bolivia 2019: Acclimatizing in Bolivia
We are well into our Bolivian climbs and I want to announce a change for the Alzheimer’s fundraising. Thus far I’m very impressed with the mountains of Bolivia. Our Mountain Madness team of eight with two guides spent the first week in Bolivia touring the city of La Paz before moving to the lakeside city of […]
Bolivia 2019: Fun in La Paz
Our climbing of three peaks in Bolivia is underway. I arrived early, as in 1:30 am Thursday morning, to El Alto at the world’s highest commercial airport at 13,175’/4061m and was promptly met by the Mountain Madness team and liaison. We made our way to our great hotel in La Paz where I’ve been adjusting […]
Bolivia 2019: Climbing Bolivian Peaks for Alzheimer’s
I’m very excited to announce my plans to climb in Bolivia in July 2019 and an Alzheimer’s fund raising event opportunity. I’ve climbed in South America six times: three on Argentina’s Aconcagua at 22,834-feet/6,960 meters and once on Peru’s Alpamayo at 19,511-feet/5,947 meters. In January of this year, 2019, I went to Ecuador for Cayambe […]
Ecuador Volcanoes 2019: Acclimatization and Rare Bird Sightings!
Ecuador keeps getting better and better. Today was a real acclimatization hike on a super trail above Quito We had another fabulous breakfast at Hacienda Rumiloma and hopped in Ossy’s FourRunner for the 10 minute drive to the telefèric or cable car to the Start of the trail to the summit of Pichincha Volcano which is […]
Ecuador 2019: I’m Off to Climb the Volcanoes
I’m very excited to announce my plans to climb in Ecuador in January 2019 with my good friend Robert LeClair. We leave the US in mid January. Before I get to the climbs, I need to share this story. I was doing a talk on my mountain climbs to a group of 8 to 14 […]
Everest 2017: Mountain Madness, the Quiet Comeback
If you say “Mountain Madness”, what comes to mind? Many people will say Scott Fisher and others may bring up Everest 1996. And while not wrong, they might be missing one of the quietest comeback stories in expedition guiding. Now under the leadership of Mark Gunlogson, MM is preparing a return to Everest in 2017 […]