Bolivias Cholita Climbers

[James holden]

just goes to show you what folks can do with the proper fitness and motvation … and how overblown all this fancy $$$$$ technical clothing is

But two years ago, she and 10 other Aymara indigenous women, ages 42 to 50, who also worked as porters and cooks for mountaineers, put on crampons – spikes fixed to a boot for climbing – under their wide traditional skirts and started to do their own climbing.

These women have now scaled five peaks – Acotango, Parinacota, Pomarapi and Huayna Potosi as well as Illimani, the highest of all – in Bolivia’s Cordillera Real range. All are higher than 19,500 feet (6,000 meters) above sea level.

The women climb in their traditional “cholita” garb, but trade in their bowler hats for helmets, and use modern equipment including ropes, harnesses, crampons and boots.

https://widerimage.reuters.com/story/bolivias-cholita-climbers

;)

[Paul Wagner]

That’s a lovely story.  Those ladies in their Andean hats are one of the real delights of visiting Bolivia or Peru.  Here’s a photo I took in Huaraz during a school holiday parade (we were just lucky–we were really there to hike the Cordillera Blanca)

And the parade itself.  Each village has its own traditional hats, so you can always identify the ladies…

 

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