Bolivia’s Indigenous Women Climbers Fear for Their Future as the Andean Glaciers Melt

Cholita climbers Suibel Gonzales, left, and her mother Lidia Huayllas descend the Huayna Potosi mountain, near El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. (AP)
Cholita climbers Suibel Gonzales, left, and her mother Lidia Huayllas descend the Huayna Potosi mountain, near El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. (AP)
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Bolivia’s Indigenous Women Climbers Fear for Their Future as the Andean Glaciers Melt

Cholita climbers Suibel Gonzales, left, and her mother Lidia Huayllas descend the Huayna Potosi mountain, near El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. (AP)
Cholita climbers Suibel Gonzales, left, and her mother Lidia Huayllas descend the Huayna Potosi mountain, near El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. (AP)

When they first started climbing the Andes peaks, they could hear the ice crunching under their crampons. These days, it’s the sound of melted water running beneath their feet that they mostly listen to as they make their ascents.

Dressed in colorful, multilayered skirts, a group of 20 Indigenous Bolivian women — known as the Cholita climbers — have been climbing the mountain range for the past eight years, working as tourist guides. But as the glaciers in the South American country retreat as a result of climate change, they worry about the future of their jobs.

The Aymara women remember a time when practically every spot on the glaciers was covered in snow, but now there are parts with nothing but rocks.

"There used to be a white blanket and now there is only rock," said Lidia Huayllas, one of the climbers. "The thaw is very noticeable."

Huayllas said she has seen the snow-capped Huayna Potosí mountain, a 6,000-meter (19,600-feet) peak near the Bolivian city of El Alto, shrink little by little in the past two decades.

"We used to walk normally; now, there are rocks and water overflowing," said the 57-year-old woman as she jumped from stone to stone to avoid getting her skirt and feet wet.

Edson Ramírez, a glaciologist from the Pierre and Marie Curie University in France, estimates that in the last 30 years, Bolivian glaciers have lost 40% of their thickness due to climate change. In the lower parts of the mountain, he says, the ice has basically vanished.

"We already lost Chacaltaya," said Ramírez, referring to a 5,400-meter (17,700-feet) mountain that used to be a popular ski resort and now has no ice left.

With no ice left in the lower parts of the mountain range, the Cholita climbers need to go further up to find it. This has reduced the number of tourists seeking their services as guides.

Huayllas would not say how much she makes as a tour guide, but she said a Cholita climber currently makes about $30 per tour. That is less than the $50 per tour they used to make.

In 2022, during the September-December climbing season, the Cholitas did 30 tours, Huayllas said. This year, through early November, they had barely done 16.

The situation has gotten so critical, the 20 women have looked for other jobs to make ends meet. Some of the Cholitas have started making and selling blankets and coats with alpaca wool from the Andes, Huayllas said.

"If this continues, we're going to have to work in commerce or do something else for a living," said Huayllas, although she quickly dismissed her own pessimistic thought, somehow hoping for a change: "No. This is our source of work."



Prince William and Kate Mark Wedding Anniversary in Scotland

William and Catherine met while studying at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and married at London's Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011. (Reuters)
William and Catherine met while studying at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and married at London's Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011. (Reuters)
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Prince William and Kate Mark Wedding Anniversary in Scotland

William and Catherine met while studying at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and married at London's Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011. (Reuters)
William and Catherine met while studying at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and married at London's Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011. (Reuters)

Prince William and wife Catherine will celebrate their 14th wedding anniversary on the Scottish island of Mull on Tuesday, the latest step on the princess's road to recovery from cancer.

Catherine, Princess of Wales, revealed in January she was "in remission", having announced last March she had been diagnosed with an unspecified form of the disease and was undergoing chemotherapy.

She has since returned to frontline public duties, but with a slimmed-down schedule and shorter engagements.

The couple will spend two days touring the western Scottish islands of Mull and Iona, where they will "celebrate and connect with rural island communities", according to their Kensington Palace office.

They will celebrate their anniversary on Mull, the fourth-largest island in Scotland, which has a population of around 3,000 people and is known for its fishing and farming communities.

William and Catherine met while studying at the University of St Andrews in Scotland and married at London's Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011, in a ceremony watched by tens of millions around the world.

Since then, the royal family has undergone a tumultuous decade in which Queen Elizabeth II died after a record-breaking 70-year reign and William's father, King Charles III, ascended to the throne.

Charles revealed last year he had been diagnosed with cancer, and is still receiving weekly treatment.

William's brother Harry also dropped a bombshell when he announced in 2020 that he was quitting the family. He now lives in the United States with wife Meghan.

All of which drama should be a long way from the tranquility of rural Scotland, where the royal couple will arrive on Tuesday for a two-day trip.

William and Catherine will spend time with members of the local communities "reflecting on the power of social connection and the importance of protecting and championing the natural environment" -- two subjects close to both their hearts, said Kensington Palace.

On arrival, they will visit an artisan market in the Mull town of Tobermory, meeting some of the island's makers and creators before heading to a local croft to learn about sustainable farming and hospitality.

On the second day, the couple will visit an ancient woodland and join a local school group for an outdoor lesson.

They will round the trip off by taking a public ferry to Mull's tiny neighbor Iona, which has a population of around 170 people but receives around 130,000 visitors a year.