We left Sajama village this morning at 5:30am for our last shot at a 6,000m peak on this trip. Acotango (6,052m) was supposed to be our one day acclimatization climb before Sajama. A snowstorm blocked that and high winds eliminated any prospect of summiting Sajama, so we decided to focus on Acotango on our remaining day.

With no camps, Acotango is a day climb, which is possible because of the high base elevation and a mining road that sometimes allows you to drive up to 5,600m. The unusual snowstorm that had pinned us in the village had also rendered this road impassable above 5,000m.

Climbing more than a vertical kilometre from this elevation is tough at the best of times and especially when, afterwards, one has to descend the same distance rather than camp. The summit conditions were forecasted to be clear but with 45km/hr winds.

As we ascended to around 5,900m, we could see snow blowing off the ridges above us and it was clear that the winds above were well in excess of what had been forecast and, indeed, of our limits. Though only 150m below the summit, reaching it would require another three and a half hours over the terrain ahead, with higher winds, clouds and snow anticipated to begin later in the day. Three groups had already passed us going down, none having made it above 6,000m, and a third was above us on its descent. Its guide later told us they had given up at around 6,000m. There seemed little choice but to abandon our attempt so we descended the 900m of rock, scree and snow to the car.

Of course, we are disappointed that our two planned attempts on 6,000m peaks were not to succeed but our luck with the weather simply ran out. In the mountains, this is always a possibility. Our guide, Eduardo, tried to console us by reminding us that mountaineering is a game in which failures typically exceed successes; “Many attempts. Few summits.”