If I am ever to achieve my goal of climbing Everest then I need to start somewhere and the 6088m Peak of Huyana Potosi seemed like the best place to start.

We booked our trip with Huayna Potosi Climbing School and managed to wangle an extra day at the refugio to acclimatise before starting. After being kitted out in all our gear (apart from boots for me as I have massive feet apparently!) we met with our guide Felix who spoke very little english but was a jolly chap with a determined attitude to get us both to the top. We jumped in the ancient Land Cruiser and set off to the refugio at approx 4750m.

Upon arrival we met a group that had both attempted and succsefully summited the previous night. Out of a group of 5, 3 had made it to the top with two of them sucumbing to altitude sickness on the way up. The whole group looked like husks of their former selves and admitted that the climb was one of the hardest things they had ever done. At that point both Katie and myself began to think that we may have bitten of more than we could chew. After a hearty lunch we took a walk up to the glacier and just generally relaxed and took advantage of our free day acclimatizing.

Our second day arrived and it was a cold one! We put nearly all our clothes on that we had brought with us and sat in the refugio wrapped in our sleeping bags trying not to move to save precious energy and warmth! Around lunchtime the Land Cruiser turned up with four more eager climbers to join us along with our guides. There were two Irish sisters, Katrina and Eleanor, and an Australian couple, Rodney and Anna. Once we had our hearty lunch (the same as yesterdays lunch and dinner!) it was time for us all to kit up and head up to the glacier to get accustomed to our gear and learn the vital points of ice climbing. The first thing we noticed is that unlike the climbing myself and Katie had done in Scotland we were only given one traditional long straight handled axe to climb with rather than the two short technical axes we had used before. This meant that any vertical or near vertical climbing was very taxing on the legs and soon became tiring. After a couple of hours of training it was deemed that we had enough experience to tackle the mountain the next day so back to the refugio we went to have some more dinner and an early night to set us up for the next day.

Around midday on the third day we packed all our gear into our backpacks and set off to walk to second base camp at 5130m. As the walk up to the refugio was through the boulder field and no snow or ice would be encountered all our warm weather gear, heavy climbing boots, crampons, ice axes etc were in our backpacks which made them ridiculously heavy and the walk in the midday sun took its toll on us. We eventually arrived at the refugio around 4pm after an arduous rock climb toward the end which our guide led us on. It was very picturesque especially the bit where we climbed through the natural toilet area! We were very careful about our placement of hands and feet at this point!

After a huge carb loaded dinner of mushroom soup followed by noodles and sausages we bedded down around 5pm to try and sleep until midnight when we would wake to climb up to the summit! What followed can only be described as the worst night sleep in history. I should clarify that this refugio was more like a tin shed. Lacking in both warmth and ventilation. Both Katie and myself laid awake all night listening to the guides snore and fart. To add to this symphony of nice noises we had one of the Irish sisters decide that sleeping at altitude was not agreable as she threw up repeatedly into her rented fleece!

At around midnight (we think as my watch had stopped due to the altitude and cold) we were told to get up and prepare for the seven hour climb to the top. This in theory should get us there just before sun rise. We put on our gear, strapped in to our crampons and got roped firstly to our guide Felix and also to each other in a chain of three.

The one remaining irish sister took off at great pace with her guide and our team followed by Rodney and his guide took a more "slowly slowly" pace. This was too our advantage because no less than an hour later we passed Kat suffering from altitude sickness on her way down. It was at this point that Rodney's guide decided to step up their pace and trudged on past us.

Around 5500m we face our first real climb up a 70 degree 30m ice wall. With our one ice axe each we kicked in the toes of our crampons and began to climb. When we reached the top of the climb I was about ready to give up but Felix dragged us on further up the mountain. Both mine and Katie's pace were getting slower and our gait was decidedly shorter but we kept going as the incline got greater. After another steady hour of trudging I started to feel a bit better. It was around this time that Katie started to feel worse. She was in the first stages of altitude sickness but Felix was determined to get us up and kept using the phase "una poco mas" (a little more) and it worked. We managed another 20m or so until Katie started being sick. Another 20m eventually and her rational thinking was gone. I wanted to call it a day at this point but she was determined to go on. The next thing to go was Katies ability to walk in a straight line and she could barely manage more than 5 steps without stumbling but Felix still thought he could get us both to the summit. After about half an hour of coaxing and not much more of an altitude gain it was time for Katie to call it a day. By now I dont think she knew what was going on as her eyes had glazed over and her lips had turned black. Katie had reached the magical 6000m mark and sadly within the sight of the summit she sat down in the cold to see the sun rise waiting to go back down. Luckily Rodney had summited already and was on his way down. So we clipped Katie onto their ropes so she could be guided back to the refugio and I pressed on to the summit with Felix.

I had approximately a 100m 80 degree ice climb ahead of me and I think even if I was to be dragged up there Felix was determined to get me there! I knew I had to make it not only for me but because Katie was so upset having not made it for herself I had to do it for her. After using all my energy during the 30 minute climb I arrived at the 6088m summit of Huyana Potosi and I am not ashamed to say I burst into tears! This is obviously something that happens a lot as Felix simply patted me on the back...

After 20 minutes on the summit for photos and well earned chocolate peanuts it was time to abseil back down the 100m climb and start the 3 hour walk back off the mountain to the refugio. I arrived back to pick up my gear and meet Katie around 10am. I was absolutely knackered with two huge blisters on both of my big toes but I was relieved to see that Katie had made a 100% recovery from when I said goodbye to her at 6000m. All that remained was a slow steady walk back to the refugio at 4850m and a Land Cruiser trip back to La Paz for a well earned and needed sleep.

This was the hardest thing that I have ever done in my life. But also the most rewarding. If you really want to test yourself then have a go at mountaineering.

Next stop... Everest... Well Everest Base Camp at least!