I leave for Bolivia Sept 7th. I am flying from Atlanta to Miami, and then onto La Paz, Bolivia. I will be based out of the Hotel Saganarga, and from there I will meet up with Jeff Sandifort and Ian Grant. Operations and planning will go on at Jeff’s office in the city. We are slated to leave for the field Sept 10th or 11th. Plans call for us to hop on a bus, and take it literally, to the roads end.

The Apolobamaba recieves very little attention. Of the attention received, even less is seen on the western edge, which borders the Atacama Desert. We should be free and clear on weather, as most of it gets caught up on the eastern side of the moutains in the jungles of the Madidi National Park. Very little weather activity presents itself on the western side of the Apolobamba. As you can imagine, deserts are always dry and arrid. The Atacama is one of the driest palces on earth. Being able to remove the aspect of poor weather greatly improves our chances of success. It’s not fun being marooned in a tent waiting for a storm to pass while you are at 17,000ft. Clouds can move in and wash out the day. This is a great advantage and will allow us to concetrate on finding unclimbed peaks and new routes.

In any event, so far this is it. I’m in the process of getting together supplies and packing up.

More updates to follow.