Andean mountain biking with the Bestard Trek Alpine FF
Andean mountain biking with the Bestard Trek Alpine FF: dream projects
Texts and photos by Juanjo Alonso «Kapi»
When I was a kid I collected the comics of Captain Thunder, the Wild Boar, the Mask Warrior and the rest of the paper “super heroes” of that time, they were my idols, with them I travelled through unknown seas to lost kingdoms and lived adventures that only I could imagine in dreams, I was bewitched by those invincible characters, although they were loaded with connotations of the time such as sexism, gender violence and the marginalization of women that would now be unthinkable to fit into today’s culture, but then I was ten or twelve years old and all that was out of place in my childhood universe, I devoured those half-folio comics over and over again, especially the comics of Captain Thunder and his fellow adventurers Goliath, Crispin and the beautiful Sigrid.
Every time I go on a trip or start an expedition through new mountain ranges, unknown deserts or territories that I visit for the first time, I feel like those childhood idols, I try to imagine worlds and adventures where there is still room for escape, discovery and challenges bordering the physical and mental limits of each one, because without changing paths we always arrive at the same place. In adventure travel it is essential to leave the trail and with all possible common sense try to go a little further and a little higher, it is the best way to fill every moment of life with intensity. And that is why the mountains have completely seduced me; there is always the possibility of setting new challenges to live exciting moments and unique experiences.
Leaving aside the romanticism of a dreamy boy who has spent several decades chasing his childhood heroes through the mountain ranges of the planet, I never stop looking for new challenges. The new project that I have just started is to make the 14 highest main summits of the Bolivian Andes, the 14 Andean roofs that exceed six thousand meters of altitude in the country of volcanoes, salt flats and highlands. And between summit and summit, ride a mountain bike through the landscapes of a unique territory through communities that maintain traces of ancestral cultures, clean and sustainable mountaineering through a country that is perfect for mountain biking, combining the best mountain bike tourism with fabulous ascents on mountain peaks six thousand meters through all types of terrain, glacial ice, penitents, slopes of volcanic sand, slopes of 60 and 70 degrees and crests of eternal snow on the beautiful landscapes of the Andean horizons.
Material
An important challenge in this expedition has been the choice of equipment, always looking for the ideal balance between weight/volume and efficiency because I carry all the material from the first pedal stroke, including high mountain equipment, altitude clothing, crampons, the ice axe and the poles. And of course the footwear, I had to wear light and comfortable boots for the bike stages and sufficiently rigid, semi-automatic crampons compatible and insulating to keep my feet warm on the summits. And I chose the Bestard Trek Alpine FF. On the bike I placed a platform pedal for enduro without cleats with metal pins that facilitate the adjustment of the sole of the boot to the pedal, favouring round and efficient pedalling without losing control.
The adventure
The mountain biking adventure began in Arica, in the north of Chile, and the plan was to cycle through the deserts and Andean routes of the Chilean foothills for a few days, acclimatizing to the Bolivian border, at an altitude of 4,800 meters, near the beautiful Lake Chungará. Later, I continued to the community of Sajama and there I would plan the ascents of the six thousand meter peaks that I had planned within the project of the 14 roofs of Bolivia. And it all worked out pretty well. Arica is on the Pacific shore and about 400 kilometres and more than seven thousand positive meters of ascent left up to Sajama. On the way up I left the uncomfortable direct route that crosses the Andes from Arica to the city of La Paz and chose secondary roads along the Ruta de las Misiones and the Ruta del Desierto, which surround a lot but also converge on the Bolivian border following more solitary itineraries by Aymara towns dedicated mainly to the care of herds of llamas and alpacas. There were days of very intense cycling, with bivouacs at four thousand meters complicated by the night cold that could drop to 15/20 below zero, everything froze at dawn and picking up the camp and starting to pedal was the hardest moment of each day, when carrying good equipment is essential. The Bestard Trek Alpine FF was great, in those days I just wore a copper wire cycling sock and my feet were always warm. It is a boot model from the Fast Forward line, adapted to the Fast & Light model of current mountaineering, and it is very pleasant to feel so much protection on the feet with a fairly light weight. Partly also because the cuff’s Close Fit System barely compresses the ankle during activity.
And so, getting my cells used to working with scarce and cold oxygen, I crossed the Chungará-Tambo Quemado border, complying with the corresponding COVID requirements. Attention travellers, in Chile they are quite demanding with the protocol and it is convenient to carry the paperwork well filled out. In Bolivia, the updated vaccination certificate is sufficient. And finally Sajama, I passed the control of the national park and arrived at the village at sunset with a tremendous gale. There the wind always blows in the same direction, sometimes I glided over the plateau at forty kilometres per hour without pedalling and other times I walked faster. It was the same, I was surrounded by the great Bolivian volcanoes, the white pyramids that I was tired of seeing in photos and videos and I was next to them, at the foot of the great Sajama (6,542 m), the highest peak in Bolivia, causing emotion, doubts, fears, restlessness…
I immediately found a group of four mountaineers who were climbing the Acotango (6,052 m) the following day and they accepted me as an improvised stowaway. It was time to try the Bestard Trek Alpine FF on another terrain, in the environment for which they had been designed. The Acotango is one of the peaks of Sajama that is used to acclimatize, the normal route has no technical difficulty and due to the height it enters the catalogue of the Bolivian six-thousanders without the need to reach high altitude. In the Andes, every positive hundred meters above six thousand meters is very demanding, especially in Sajama due to the inhuman thermal sensation caused by the wind. I liked the ascent a lot, the acclimatization by bicycle through the Chilean foothills had worked and I was able to fully enjoy every moment. And my feet are always warm, the boots also respond at altitude, I thought that by sacrificing insulation in favour of lightness I could lose comfort and protection, but in one-day ascents in high mountains they were perfect. On the peaks of Sajama I wore a thin first layer merino sock and high mountain merino wool with Seaqual fibber and it was enough. The Bestard Trek Alpine FF are semi-rigid, for semi-automatic crampons and have the quick-lock lacing system, completing a series of features that make you fall in love when they fulfil their function.
The group of Acotango mountaineers was not well acclimatized, two turned around on the way and another reached the top with just enough strength, spending a real penance on the descent. They planned to do the Parinacota (6,320 m) later, but in view of the hardships they experienced, they decided to change their plans and go trekking in the area to make the most of the time. Parinacota is one of the great peaks of Sajama and one of the most exposed to the wind. And it was also on my list, I spent a couple of days recovering and preparing the climb with a local guide in one day. The wind forecasts announced gusts of 60/70 kilometres per hour at the summit, the limit that the guides have there to advise against climbing. And since it was the limit we decided to try it, it was seven hours of fascinating ascent fighting an unbearable wind that tried to break our will at every moment, especially when the wall of volcanic ash ends and the ascent through the ice penitents that form the great white meringue begins of the summit, five hundred unforgettable positive meters through a wall of ice that seemed endless to the top of the huge crater that forms the summit. This time I was wearing the same set of socks but I put neoprene boot covers on the Trek Alpine just in case, it was much colder than in the Acotango, and my feet were neither cold nor hot, they were at the limit.
Conclusions
In short, I am very happy with the boots, they were useful, effective and safe at all times. And I will use them again on other mountain biking expeditions and big peaks. In the bike stages I was practically sure that they would go well, there is nothing more than seeing them, touching them and reading the specifications, but in the high mountains I had doubts because the temperatures at this time can be around 20/25 below zero on the Sajama summits. My opinion is that they have responded well because they have been one-day climbs without incident. I am not a person who spends a lot of time standing and I have always been able to keep my feet warm with activity. The comments and analysis that I make of this model in the story that I have just told must be well interpreted. In this case I had a clear and determined idea of doing the summits due to my mountain biking style of travel and the time of year, winter has just entered there, the climate is cold and dry, with little rainfall and very low temperatures. You have to stand as short as possible because the wind is devouring. I doubt that this model is the most recommended of Bestard in expeditions that require several days at altitude, sleeping in high altitude camps, where you have to take off your shoes to sleep and it would be better to wear a model with inner booties or thicker boots.
Everything I tell is a personal and subjective experience that must be interpreted objectively, valuing what each one can find useful and practical according to their style of mountaineering. The mountain always has the last word and any decision or preconceived idea is useless without the permission of the summits, they are the only teachers in their free and wild kingdom.
Juanjo Alonso “Kapi”
