Desiree’s trek to two Bolivian summits
Most locals will know Desiree Winkel by now. The personal fitness- and medical-coach has been featured in our newspaper and on various social media channels. Originally from Holland, Desiree has lived in the Caribbean for over 30 years. She won the overall bodybuilding and figure contest for St. Maarten a couple of years ago, and just returned from climbing her fourth and fifth summit in Bolivia as part of her “seven summits” project.
Here’s Desiree’s inspiring story in her own words:
After a relaxing flight to Lima and some sightseeing; in the middle of the night, I caught my flight to Bolivia el Alto – 4000 metres above sea level. We arrived in Bolivia at 6:00am and I immediately felt the altitude change. I was happy I stayed in La Paz a few extra days for my acclimatization.
The first day and a half, I felt miserable. My head hurt, my stomach was upset and I spent most of my time in bed.
When I started feeling better, I spent my days going to the gym, looking for vegetarian food options, and taking the Teleférico – a ski lift that takes you to El Alto to get used to the altitude. On my last day in the city, I visited the big cathedral, San Francisco, to ask for protection for myself and my loved ones and to pray to my dad to give me the climbing skills I needed to conquer these mountains and to come back home in one piece.
I felt so much better after getting used to the altitude, so it was time to leave the craziness of the city and go into the land of NO Wi-Fi, NO showers, NO television, NO electricity or heaters. Our first base camp was a good two-hour walk from where we left the car. We took up our gear and food on the mule and started our track on foot from there.
Arriving in base camp was better than I remembered from when I climbed the Pequeno Alpamayo a year ago. The cook, my guide Pedro and I shared a little hut where we slept, cooked and ate. Two sunk-in mattresses on a dusty floor functioned as my bed – I just added my sleeping pad and sleeping bag on top. It was all very primitive, but somehow I liked it and found it much better than staying in a tent.
The next day after breakfast, we decided to climb Austria peak at 5350m for acclimatization. This peak is pretty easy – a good three hours up and two hours down – but I really do not like to walk on rocks and boulders too much. I prefer snow!
After coming back to base camp, we rested a bit and prepared our bags for the bigger climb Tarija Peak, which is as high as Austria Peak but way more challenging and includes some technical climbing. At this point, it was 1:00am and a beautiful starry night! I have seldom seen so many stars at once.
As we had to walk to Crampon Point, I tried to take as little weight with me as possible, because we go higher and higher the closer we get to Crampon Point, and the altitude makes walking difficult. After three steps, I was out of breath because at this point, it was about -6 degrees Celsius, and it’s harder to breathe when it’s that cold.
At Crampon Point, we quickly put on our high altitude climbing boots, climbing harness and crampons. We started on the icy glacier and the sound reminded me of ice breaking underneath my skates while ice skating as a child.
It was so slippery and the dark night made it harder to climb; but it was freezing, so we had to keep moving! The ice slowly turned into snow, which made it easier to move around. Step by step, I found a way to make it easier – three slow steps followed by a deep breath. After hours and hours, I finally saw the red light from the sunrise coming from behind the mountains. That meant the morning was underway. That feeling is hard to describe. It was like a warm feeling of happiness taking over my cold body. It meant that we were close to the summit.
As we made our way to the summit, I looked down and saw the immense depths next to me. It made me realise that one wrong move could be a huge issue. Then it was time for my last step! With tears rolling over my face, as they always do once I conquer a summit; I experienced a sense of total relief and gratitude towards my sponsors who made it possible for me to raise their flag and the St. Maarten flag on this summit.
After hours and hours, we reached the base camp and decided to walk back to the car to drive to the next mountain – Huayna Potosi.
This over-6000m mountain is so incredibly beautiful I just had to climb her. We stayed in the base camp for a good day and a half to rest, as we knew the next climb to the high camp would be hard and challenging. I really do not like to climb on big boulders, but I had to get to high camp, so I packed light and Pedro took an extra porter to make sure I would not use all of my energy too quickly. Tired but excited, we arrived in high camp and waited for night to fall. After a nap, we took off around 1:00am.
I could hardly sleep as the altitude of 5160m made it hard to breathe. When it was time to go, I slowly opened my sleeping bag – man it was cold. I put on my down jacket, my shell pence and my harness, ate some fruits, drank cocoa tea and made sure my headlight was fixed to my helmet.
It was a dark, cold and starry night and it seemed so much harder to breathe! We had to climb with a fixed rope to the crampon point – luckily, my gloves were warm enough. Silence … and rocks under my feet, I could not see where I was. Once we reached crampon point, I had to change into warmer shoes.
We went up the glacier. I focused on every step – we passed crevasses, sometimes having to jump over them. Again in the back of my mind was that it only takes one wrong move for all hell too break loose. In the distance, I could see the sun coming up. That meant three more hours before daylight! Daylight would bring warmth – and I could not wait! I drank a lot of electrolytes but was not hungry. I again took three steps and had to catch my breath. After at least 10 breaths, I could take the next three steps.
When we reached 5800m, I could feel it as I saw the summit; but my guide Pedro told me it was still a good two hours to the top. At this point, we had been climbing for some eight hours straight – and still at least two hours to go?!!! I stopped as I was exhausted. A tear rolled down my cheek then I got mad at myself. “Des, there is NO place for self-pity here. Stop this nonsense and just climb! Go! Go!” I told myself.
Once we reached the summit, I fell on my knees and started crying. I heard my dad’s voice softly in my ear: “You did it, Kiddo. You did it!” I stood up and hugged Pedro, who had been so helpful and supporting. I looked at the sky, smiled, cried and raised my ice axe. “Daddy, I did it! My first over 6,000 metres (19.973ft) mountain. I am a very happy and lucky person!”
Desiree thanks the people of St. Maarten for their endless support of her seven summits project: five down two more to go. She is forever grateful for the support of family, friends and sponsors, and hopes to get more sponsors for the last two summits in the Himalayas next year. Follow her next adventures on Instagram (@fitness_ desiree_winkel).
