Bolivia's Indigenous women climbers fear for their future as the Andean glaciers melt
Associated Press
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Suibel Gonzales, left, and her mother Lidia Huayllas, Aymara Indigenous women who make a living as mountain guides, walk on the Huayna Potosi glacier on the outskirts of El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. When they first started climbing the Andes peaks years ago, they could hear the ice crunching under their crampons. These days, its the sound of melted water running beneath their feet that they mostly listen to as they make their way up. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)Aymara climbing guide Suibel Gonzales walks on the Huayna Potosi glacier near El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. Under colorful skirts and their feet clad in crampons, the Aymara women known as the Cholita climbers, remember a time when practically every spot on the glaciers was covered in snow, but now there are parts with nothing but rocks. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)Cholita climbers Suibel Gonzales, left, and her mother Lidia Huayllas, descend with tourists from the Huayna Potosi glacier, near El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. In the last 30 years Bolivian glaciers have lost 40% of their ice thickness due to climate change, according to Edson Ramrez, a glaciologist from the Pierre and Marie Curie University in France. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)Aymara guide Lidia Huayllas rests on the Huayna Potosi mountain near El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. There used to be a white blanket and now there is only rock," said Huayllas, a Cholita climber. The thaw is very noticeable. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)Tourists hike on the snow-capped Huayna Potos mountain, a 6,000-meter (19,600-feet) peak near El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. With no ice left in the lower parts of the mountain range, the Cholita climbers need to go further up to find it. This, in turn, has reduced the amount of tourists willing to use their service as guides. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)Cholita climbers Suibel Gonzales, left, and her mother Lidia Huayllas descend the Huayna Potosi mountain, near El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. In 2015, Huayllas conquered the peak with the group of Cholitas climbers, Aymara women who started out as cooks and who for eight years have dedicated themselves to climbing mountains with their typical clothing of colorful skirts and blankets, as guides for tourists who want to cross off having climbed a glacier from their list of achievements. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)Aymara guide Suibel Gonzales, known as a Cholita climber, hikes up the Huayna Potosi mountain near El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. In 2022, during the September-December climbing season, the Cholitas did 30 tours. This year, through early November, they had barely done 16. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)Cholita climber Suibel Gonzales walks towards the Huayna Potosi mountain snow-capped peak, near El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. Dressed up on colorful, multilayered skirts, Gonzales is part of a group of 20 Indigenous Bolivian women who have been climbing the Andes peaks for the past eight years, working as guides for tourists. But as the glaciers in the South America country continue to retreat amid an increase in the average global temperature, they are worried about the future of their jobs. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
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Suibel Gonzales, left, and her mother Lidia Huayllas, Aymara Indigenous women who make a living as mountain guides, walk on the Huayna Potosi glacier on the outskirts of El Alto, Bolivia, Sunday, Nov. 5, 2023. When they first started climbing the Andes peaks years ago, they could hear the ice crunching under their crampons. These days, its the sound of melted water running beneath their feet that they mostly listen to as they make their way up. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
