2010 highlight reel, Moto Scree

I would have to say some of the most fun I had on two wheels this year was roosting around the barren scree fields of La Cumbre on an old XR. 

Leaving La Paz there's a route that goes up some near vertical streets of the upper neighborhoods before popping out through a side canyon to a plateau that slopes up to the Cordillera. A swooping two track climbs up, at times right on the top of a knife-ridge until you arrive to the reservoir that serves La Paz with its water supply. This is now getting into the zone above the last grassy vegetation, the barren summits that dish out a full serving of velvety scree.

Mauricio Jordan, chief of Moto Epix, demonstrates roosting

 

up...

down...

...and sideways.

On this day we continued down the death road to Yolosa, continuing on to Mauricio's property between Coroico and Caranavi. He has a sweet zipline strung up there. After checking in on the place, we rallyed back to Coroico. The annual music festival was happening, so finding accomodations was tough. Fortunately we were able to crash on the floor in the ping pong room of a hostal. The plaza was packed with Paceños, blasting the musica from their cars, dancing and boozing it up. A sizable contingent of policias looked on from the station steps. Apparently there are no open container or public drunkeness restrictions down here. 

The next morning our plans of an early start were thwarted in the parking garage by a couple of cars with passed out owners inside, blocking the exit. It was 10:30 by the time they were  revived and we were able to get the bikes out onto the street.  We continued on our mission, to cross over from the Nor Yungas to the Sur Yungas via the 'ruta de la coca' to Chulumani, then continue to Plazuela and the 2 track jeep road that climbs up to the pass between Illimani and Mururata, and down to La Paz. 

First we came to Coripata, a funky village where the bike of choice is WWII era Jawas. I counted 14 parked around the plaza.  The cocaleros weld up a big rack for the back to carry massive sacks of coca leaf. 

We continued along the seldom traveled road, though coca plantations and semi-arid ridges before dropping down to the green river and the Sur Yungas road that traverses its course before climbing up to Chulumani. After a quick lunch we were on our way to the tranquil town of Irupana, in the tropics at the base of the Illimani massif.

From here the road descends to the canyon floor of the Rio La Paz.  We took a turnoff and began to climb, from 1300 m elevation up to the 4,600 m pass, as fast as we could because the day was waning. 

Up and up we went, passing the ancient tiwanaku terraces of the Pasto Grande site.  As we ascended we reached the cloud level, the vegetation changed from desert scrub to a lush bonzai forest, dripping with lichens, the snowy heights of Illimani rising above the clouds. After about 4 hours of pinning it up the two track we crested the pass, between snowy peaks and gold mines, and began the descent into the Palca Canyon, through the narrows and back to La Paz. 

Ride and River

Starting from 4,800 m up on the shoulder of Illampu, we descend on the bikes 120 kms over two days down a two track mining road to the tropical riverside village of Mapiri at 700 m.  From there the ride becomes the river, 3 days down in a motorized dugout canoe to Rurrenabaque, on the banks of the mighty Beni. We do lots of side hikes and camp out on the beach in the jungle.  


The trip is always an adventure, you never know what you're going to get as far as the weather. The road between Conzata and Mapiri is constantly changing due to cooperativas strip mining for gold in the canyons. The river is contantly fluctuating, it gets pretty low towards the end of the dry season in September. The group as well is always different. We get pretty lucky by only running trips from April to December, and by attracting the type of traveler that likes the sound of a 4,000 m downhill and camping in the jungle.   We also limit group size to 12.


It has been a bit of a process over the years getting the logistics dialed in, and we are still trying to polish off some of the rough edges. It's still not too well known that the route even exists, which is good in a way.

Taking it from the top, at over 4,800 m, and straight into the steepest, loosest section,

 and from there to the rockiest part.

Smooth road from there though, and the jeep is always there for support.

Group's feeling good, still a ways to go to hotel in Conzata,

 behind the last ridge from the left. 

Arriving to the bottom of the downhill. From here there are 15 kms of cross-country riding down the canyon to the hotel, at 1,100 m.

Day two starts with a jeep ride up to a high point(1,700 m) where we start the ride. 

A particularly soupy crossing of the runoff from a gold mine. This is the main road of the Larecaja province. 

Not far to go to the hotel in Mapiri (770 m), on the rise above the river.

Day three and we're off down the river.

Arriving to the first river camp. 

Nice overlook above the camp.

A family of owls made their home up at the overlook this year. They didn't seem to mind our weekly visits. 

On day four we do a couple hikes in the jungle. 

Arriving to the final night´s camp.

On our last day we do a pretty long hike in Madidi. Last year this nocturnal esmerald boa was seen sleeping the day away on several trips in a row. We then got startled when we were looking for it in its usual haunt, and came across instead a big curled up rattler, buzzing and irate.  Gotta keep your eyes open in the jungle.

From there a mellow cruise takes us down the Rio Beni to the steamy river town of Rurrenabaque.

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3 bowls

 The three bowls ride is the finest example of Sorata-style cross-country riding, It's a fun day out, climbing mountains, dropping scree chutes and railing fast and flowing trail. Starting from the Paso Chuchu launching pad (4,750 mts), this route requires you to traverse across 3 upper bowls that face down the backside of the pass. Ancient glaciers scooped them out, they now have a warm, windless microclimate making for t-shirt weather on most days.  The rider climbs up to the top of the peak at the back of the first bowl, then drops the scree down into basin number two. The second bowl has a nice upper traverse with airs into a chute. Then it's a hard climb up to the 3rd bowl. This one you can pedal across, then you have the final push up to the crest of the main spine of the northern Cordillera Real. Here it's nice to have a cup of tea and contemplate the web of scree chutes that initiates the 2,200 mtr. descent down into Sorata.  

Climbing out of bowl #1. Chuchu launching pad above rear wheel.

Dropping into bowl number two.

Across the third bowl, then up the final push.

Now comes the twisted descent to Sorata.

Through the chutes,

and down into the rolling ridges, where you can carve big turns and boost to your heart's content. 

The lead llama keeps watch over Laguna Illampu.

A braided trail connects the laguna with the village of Lakatya. From there down to Sorata we ride 

the ancient trail that connected Sorata with the gold fields of the Rio Tipuani, the Camino del Oro. 

One part is wide, smooth, but with several hundred meter drop off the side. 

The rest is fast and flowing, and is a fine finish to a ride that is freeride gold.   

Cumbre Scree Sessions

Here's a fun line we rode the other day up at the cumbre. We climbed up to a high point (4,800mts) from the pass on the road from La Paz to the Yungas, aka the death road, and proceeded to play around on a fun route down.  Heading back up there soon to clean up the entrance and build some lips. 

On this day we continued down the paved yungas road to the ancient Silluntincara trail.

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A short hike up through the cloud forest brings you to the ridge, where we crossed paths with a campesino who was spending his day collecting a type of bamboo used to make the larger, deeper wind instruments.  We then began the descent of the pre-columbian path that zig zags down through a bonzai forest for about 2500 mts and then connects with the main Inca road, the Choro, at the japanese gardens of Sandiñani. From here a fast forty-five minutes of flying down the ancient imperial road brings you to village of Chairo (1300 mts), where Andy's jeep was waiting next to the store with the cold ones. 

This trails passes through an interesting form of north-facing cloudforest, dripping with lichens and abundant bromeliads that provide a meal for the andean bears that habitate the zone.  This time of year the bird-life is particularly abundant as well.   Sorry to say though that the upper trail was not nearly as clear as a few years back when I last rode it.  It was a treacherous 4 hour ride down the slippery stone path. Vine lassos and punji traps lined the overgrown jungle trail that had me on the lookout for vipers. So for next time we will be focussing on buffing out the upper altitude scree lines and doing shuttle runs above the vegetation.