Training day – The Climb to Mid-camp Volcan Aguas Calientes

Originally Drafted 16 November 2008

Image: The team on the ascent up the volcano.

Today, we train. We will be making our ascent to 16,500ft. This will be the highest I've been to date!

Image: Our ascent leader, Macario. Credit: Cristian Tambley.

The ascent team will be led by Macario, a 62 year old Bolivian, who has worked with Nathalie for almost a decade now. Macario is definately one of my heros. When we made the ascent to 16,500 ft as part of our training, I realized Macario has made the ascent to the top of the volcano four times this week! I hope that if I reach 62, I can still be able to climb 19ers!

Today, I felt strong and I realized that I would be fine making this climb to mid-camp. However, my cough has not gone away. As I was climbing, I had to use a bandana to cover my mouth so I could breath in warmer air. The rational was that the air would be a bit warmer and would not be such a shock to my lungs. Well, I reckon it kind of worked.

All and all, I climbed strong and I felt good. I have done many endurance races in the past, and I realize all I have to do is get myself in race mode and I will be fine. In 2007, I completed the Mount Taylor Quadrathlon when I was near hypothermic during the downhill ski portion of the race.

So, while I realize climbing above 16,500ft will be challenging, I am confident that I will summit in a couple of days.

Image: Standing at 16,500ft on the slope of Volcan Aguas Calientes (also known by the Quechuan people as Simbad).

Laguna Aguas Calientes

Originally Drafted 13 November 2008

Image: We arrived on the altiplano right after the nandu breeding season. We observed countless nandus with chicks. This is one of those precious shots. Credit: Ingrid Peate.

Today, we went to Laguna Aguas Calientes. For all the lower elevation work, I'm the multi-parameter water chemistry guy. I walk around with this incredibly slick and expensive instrument. I see how dirty i can get it and I continue to push it's functional capabilities to the limits. The second day in the field the pH meter on this unit failed. So, I'm now calling into question the accuracy of the other sensors. Fortunately, we are collected water samples and water chemistry analysis will be repeated in the lab. So, if there are problems with the data collected, we have a back up.

I don't have a lot to report here, but I do have some great images of the area.

Image: Eric Fleming background and Eric Pinto foreground. We're setting up to start data collection at numerous spring-fed pools along the outer edge of Laguna Aguas Calientes.

Image: While it may look like I'm getting ready to take a nap. I'm actually collecting data on this pools water chemistry.

Image: A view of the freshwater ponds adjacent Laguna Aguas Calientes. In the not too distant geological past, these small ponds were likely part of the Laguna; as the Laguna receded, these spring-fed pools have become isolated.

It makes me wonder what interesting arthropod communities are waiting to be studied right here where we sit? How may new species are beneath my feet?

The Howling High Winds

Originally Drafted 12 November 2008

Image: Team members on Laguna Lejia. Credit: Eric Fleming.

It was another cold night at Chillyfornia. Fortunately, my -15° sleeping bag kept me nice and cozy. I actually broke a sweat this morning, and I had to shed a layer to continue my slumber.

We returned to Laguna Lejia again today. I had quite a treat as we were making our approach into the Laguna basin, we spooked a herd of vacunas, and they took off across the plain. They kicked up quite a bit of dust in the process, and I just sat and watched in awe. This is a desolate, yet truly amazing place.

As is per usual up here, the winds were howling on the Altiplano. So, it's going to make for another fun day up here.

My objectives were to collect water habitat information (using our multi-parameter instrument) related to the Laguna proper and assist Nathalie and Eric Pinto in collecting water samples. Eric Pinto is a graduate student at UCN-Antofagasta. He is collecting water samples of all the small ponds, as well as the lake. These samples will be studied in the lab.

I arrived early with the first group of researchers. So, before I started my work, I volunteered to assist Kevin Rose and Jeremy Mack in collecting a UV profile of the lake. These researchers are studying the copepods that occur in the lake and the smaller ponds. They are investigating the relationships between UV and their life cycle. So, we trudged about 30 meters into the laguna and through the sinking mud to operate this instrument.

Image: Jeremy and Kevin heading into Laguna Lejia with the UV meter. Image: Eric Fleming.

As we were wrapping up this data collect, Nathalie, Eric Pinto and the others arrived. So, I went off to work with Nathalie and Eric. Nathalie has been ill the past couple of days, and she decided to return to camp to rest.

So, Eric Pinto and I collected water samples and I continued to collect water chemistry data. Nothing overly exciting and in the eyes of the common observer, it was rather mundane data collection. However, we were doing it at 14,000ft on the Chilean Altiplano!

Once the data was collected, we were done for the day. Everyone remaining on the Laguna was now ready to head back to base camp.

Our resident geologist was still working along the southern shore of the lake. I decided to remain with her so she could complete her work there. Once done, we were done for the day. We packed it up and headed back to Chillyfornia!

Image: Back at Base Camp. Featured in the office/ medical tent from left to right Eric Pinto, Claudia and me. Image: Cristian Tambley.

Rejoining the High Lakes Expedition Team

Originally drafted on 11 November 2008

Image: Chillyfornia base camp. Located at 14,000ft in the Chilean Altiplano.

Unfortunately, due to research permit problems in Bolivia, and Nathalie made the call to pull the plug. The entire time returned to Chile on 09 November. I arrived at “Chillyfornia” on the night of 10 November. Chillyfornia is an abandoned military barracks that provides us with four walls to partially shield us from the high Altiplanic winds.

Apparently, I brought the cold air with me. I was told tonight was the coldest night to date. It was around 20 below zero last night! Good thing I had my brand new Mountain Hardware -15 bag. This isn’t a shameless plug here; the -15 degree Lyell is bomber! I was snug as a bug in a rug!

Image: This is Lazcar. This active volcano actually erupted while the 2007 High Lakes Team was reaching the summit of Simbad. Lazcar is just a few miles away.

Today was my first day of fieldwork on the High Lakes Project. I still have a hacking cough, but after lying in the bed for the past several days, and watching more American television than I normally do at home, I was eager to get into the field.

I was working with Nathalie and Eric Fleming. Eric is a postdoc and microbiologist with NASA Ames; he is investigating the diatom communities living in the small pools along Laguna Lejia.

This large lake is situated at 14,000 ft, and laid within a valley. It was absolutely astounding. Lazcar, the only active volcano in the region, blew steam the entire time we were in the field. A dormant sister volcano, Simbad (or Aguas Caliente) rises slightly above Lazcar to the south and west. Flamingos fed on copepods along the shoreline. It is an absolutely amazing place.

Image: This morning as we drove across the Altiplano we encountered nandus (Rhea pennata). These large flightless birds belong to the ostrich family but are much smaller, and have been commonly observed out here.

Our objective for the day is to use the multi-parameter tool, which is essentially a water chemistry lab in a box, to collect data along an inner tidal pool that is partially fed by Laguna Lejia. While Nathalie and I did this, Eric was collect microbial mat samples at each sample location.

It is also possible this tidal pool is spring fed; however, we have yet to confirm this. It may be somewhat of a misnomer to refer to these features as tide pools. They are pools which were likely part of the lake and when it receded, these pools have become isolated from the lake.

Nathalie and I were operating our new multiparameter instrument, which collected several parameters related to the aqueous habitat. These parameters include temperature, pH, conductivity, resistivity, ORP, salinity, and total dissolved solids.

Image: The view looking out the door of our four walls at Chillyfornia. Credit: Cristian Tambley.

The day before Obama Day and I'm sick as a dog

03- 05 November 2008

Image: This is one of two Andean fox (Lycalopex culpaeus) or culpeos that lived on either side of the Aduanas (immigration) building on the Bolivian side of the Chile-Bolivia border. These animals have been habituated and are always looking for a hand out. This little guy approached me and was about five meters away when I took this shot.

After spending two days acclimatizing in San Pedro (at 8000ft), it was time to go even higher. On 03 November, we left for Laguna Verde National Park in southern Bolivia. This reserve is situated on the Altiplano and is at 14,000ft.

Image: We stopped briefly for a photo opp about 30 miles from the Bolivian border. This is the sacred mountain, Lincanbur, in the background. This is one of the 19,000ft volcanoes we will be climbing during this expedition.

Well, I don’t know exactly what happened to me, but I got really sick. It may have been the poorly washed raw carrots that I ate en route to Laguna Verde National Park, or it may have been something else. Whatever it was it resulted in projectile vomiting and diarrhea at 0200hr in the morning. Admittedly, I have a bad time with food poisoning. It turns me into a winy five year old boy with a tummy ache. I’ve been beaten up by caves, I’ve competed in tortuous endurance races, but food poisoning has always been a weakness for me. This is something that I need to work on, but I’m not looking to get sick just so I can “man up” when it comes to throwing up.

Image: A small mixed flock of Andean (Phoenicopterus andinus) and Chilean (Phoenicopterus chilensis) flamingos feeding on Laguna Blanca, Bolivia. Andean and Chilean flamingos have black and dark pink tail feathers, respectively. Andean flamingos are listed as "Vulnerable" on the The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

On 04 November, we were scheduled to go to Uynie. The closest town in the Altiplano. This involves an eight hour drive across rugged dirt roads. The expedition doc decided that I was to remain at the reserve. I was glad because I felt horrible. However, because the purpose of this little outing was to obtain our tourist visas, so we could remain in country, they took my passport, and this is where it gets interesting…

Well, I slowly recovered from my bout with food poisoning. I’m not a 14,000ft elevation and the body tends to recover much more slowly from an illness when at high elevation and low oxygen. As I was getting over the food poisoning, a gnarly cough set in. Due to the high elevation, my cough was dramatically exacerbated.

Image: Employee bunk house, Laguna Verde National Park.

As it turns out, the team is delayed by a day in Uynie, and I remain at the reserve. My cough gets progressively worse. When I move around too much, I cough so much I can hardly breath. Two of our Bolivian teammates were observing me, and told me that I had altitude illness. I didn’t think that I did. After all, I live at 7000ft elevation, and compete in races at well over 10,000ft. However, I figured the Bolivians were very familiar with altitude issues and if they said I had altitude problems, then maybe they were right.

So, I called Global Rescue, and they wanted to evac me back to San Pedro. They indicated they often err on the side of caution, and given what I told them, I needed to get to a lower elevation. Only one problem…I have to cross the Bolivian border and enter Chile, but I don’t have a passport. So, I was stuck.

Image: Another view with flamingos foraging, Laguna Verde National Park, Bolivia.

Global Rescue suggested that I find someone to sleep in the same room as me to watch over me and make sure I didn’t get worse. There was a touring cyclist from Poland named Peter. He agreed to sleep in the same room as me and make sure I was okay. I slept through the night, and made it to the morning.

The next evening, the team arrived back from Uynie and the expedition doc sent me back to San Pedro – with passport in hand. I spent the next five days in San Pedro, and I stayed in bed mostly because I was trying to heal myself as quickly as possible.

Image: The view looking out the guest house, Laguna Verde National Park.

Gearing up for the 2008 NASA/ SETI High Lakes Expedition

29 October - 01 November 2008

Blogger's Note: I have been incredibly slack in getting all my blogs posted over the past two months. My apologies to my one fan, my Mom, who keeps up with my blogs. Sorry Mom!

The team loading up the bus and truck. We're getting ready for our departure to San Pedro de Atacama.

Gosh, it seems I never left here. It's been a little over two months since I was here. The first couple of days back in Chile was uneventful. As is tradition with the High Lakes project, we fly into Antofagasta. Our first day is a down day; this is a much needed day. It allows us to recover from the long flight. Day two involves going to the grocery store and purchasing comfort foods – nothing glamorous, but food is an essential part of any expedition. Then, we pack, boxed up all the food and the remaining gear and prepare ourselves for departure to San Pedro.

Image: Waiting to depart for San Pedro. Credit: Cristian Tambley.

San Pedro is our home for the cave detection work. So, I know this town well. It is always nice to return to SP.

The San Pedro stop is rather important for most of the expedition team members. Two days at 8000ft starts the acclimatization process, and prepares us for the higher elevation work that we will ultimately do. Living in Flagstaff, and training at altitude, I should be able to adapt to high elevation working and living. We shall see.

Image: Group photo at the Tropic of Capricorn.

En route to San Pedro, we made a couple of stops that I was unfamiliar with. We stopped at an old mining town along the highway. This mining town was likely a boom town during the turn of the century. They were mining nitrates in the area, and the town suffered the same boon to bust fate that most old towns in the American Southwest have suffered. Today, all that remains are numerous adobe structures and all the artifacts one may expect to find in association with an old mining town.

Image: A crypt that was broken into. Unfortunately, the remains have been heavily disturbed. In many cases, the skulls were stolen.

The cemetery leaves some tell-tail signs of this town’s demise as well. We encountered numerous headstones with the dates 1933-1935. There may have been some sort of epidemic that went through the town. Perhaps this epidemic ushered in the demise of this once bustling mining town. Along the back wall of the cemetery, there were numerous mausoleums that had been disturbed and looted by grave robbers. There were numerous burials completely exposed. Most disheartening was that many of the skulls had been removed. We saw many of the flower arrangements that were interred with these departed souls. We even saw their clothes that they were wearing. In most cases, we could actually see the bodies in various stages of mummification. I took a few pictures of this, but chose to do it tastefully. These are the remains of someone’s loved ones and should be respected; however, now mother nature is continuing her work to return these individuals to dust and dirt.

Image: We also saw this lone and rather desert-worn vicuña (Vicugna vicugna) was observed about 30 miles from San Pedro.

For more information about this expedition, you may go to the NASA/SETI High Lakes 2008 website.

A New Yorker and Cave Bugs

Originally drafted 12 October 2008

Today, we pulled traps at Zuni and Abyss Cave. Yesterday, we had planned to pull traps at Zuni Cave, but given the weather conditions, we were unable to do this. So, we had to pull traps at two caves today.

Inspecting an inverted Chrysler New Yorker.

En route to these caves, we came across an old 1970s New Yorker. It was upside down and appeared to have been largely stripped. We walked around it a bit and took some photos. It was rather interesting to encounter this abandoned vehicle in the middle of the monument.

One of many Rhadine beetles found in Zuni Cave. Credit: Kyle Voyles/ NPS.

This work went incredibly well today. We found numerous crickets and Rhadine beetles in Zuni Cave. We also found several spiders and Psocopterans.

Once done, at Zuni we hiked across the Malpais and arrived at Abyss Cave. This cave is a much colder cave than Zuni. When we were there deploying traps a few days prior, I didn’t think we were going to encounter many arthropods here.

A mummified bat, possibly a Townsend's big-eared bat, found in Zuni Cave.

We did see extensive bat activity throughout this cave. There was a light deposition of guano almost throughout the cave. Also, numerous moth wings and beetle parts littered the cave floor. We also encountered one Townshend’s Big Eared Bat that was apparently in a torpor.

As I expected, we didn’t find many invertebrates within this cave. We encountered mostly crickets and Rhadine beetles.

We then packed up all of our gear, and gravid with an additional 20 temperature/humidity sensors and ~60 traps, we headed back across the Malpais and back to the truck.

Mummified bat pups in Abyss Cave.

We had the luxury of arriving back to camp at a reasonable hour, where we uploaded the data from our data loggers and digital cameras, organized the collected specimens and data sheets, and made preparations for tomorrow.

Popcorn speleothems in Abyss Cave. Credit: Kyle Voyles/NPS.