Tuesday, May 19, 2026 - 5:49 pm PT

We left La Paz in the wee hours of the morning, navigating the maze of city streets to the highway leading to Huayna Potosi. As we neared the base of Huayna we could see headlamps high on the summit ridge, an exciting preview of what's to come. The sun was just beginning to rise as we turned north on a road that seemed improbable at best in a passenger van, but our driver navigated with ease and precision while we took in breathtaking early morning views of the west face of Huayna. After creating a 16000+' pass the "road" dropped down towards the Condoriri valley, and we hopped out of the van to stretch our legs for the final few miles to the Rinconada trailhead. We set up camp in the meadow surrounded by grazing llamas and alpacas. After lunch the rest of the afternoon was spent napping and organizing gear into loads for the mules that will help us move up to Condoriri base camp tomorrow. It's great to be out of the hustle and bustle of the city and under the spectacular Milky Way sky.

RMI Guide Henry Coppolillo