Transcription
High in the Andes Mountains of Bolivia, a group of women are breaking barriers, one climb at a time, and they're doing it in skirts. The Climbing Cholitas are on a mission... Woo! Julia! Julia! ...to redefine what it means to be an Indigenous woman in a conservative society.
Scaling death-defying heights all the while wearing their traditional clothing as an act of resistance. How have they maintained their courage against the odds? I've traveled here to find out. You're so strong. Amazing. I'll join them on a multi-day, high-altitude trek across glaciers hoping to learn enough of their secrets to climb a 50-foot ice wall, Cholita-style. That's a big wall. Will I make it to the top? Where is the [bleep] ice?! God! Or fall short? Ahh! [bleep] I'm Eva zu Beck, and this is Superskilled.
My adventure in Bolivia starts in the capital, La Paz. It's almost hard to believe that a city of this size, home to more than 750,000 people, has been built into sheer rock at 12,000 feet in elevation. And before I head into the mountains to meet the Climbing Cholitas, I have a quick but very intense appointment with some local Cholitas here in the city.
Benita and Maria are part of the Cholitas Luchadoras. The Fighting Cholitas, as they're known in English, were founded in the early 2000s by a group of Indigenous Aymara women as a form of social resistance. What! Benita promised to tell me more about their backstory, but first she wanted to assess my skill on some of their basic moves. Ah! [thud] Ta-da! Okay, that could use some work.
The technique was harder to pick up than I expected. What may seem rehearsed on the surface was born from a genuine struggle. "Chola" and "Cholita" were derogatory terms used to describe the poor, Indigenous women in Bolivia. They were discriminated against and lived as second-class citizens. Through grass-roots movements in recent years, they've made headway in changing how many previously viewed them. The Cholitas Luchadoras were created as a way to display the strength and power they had reclaimed.
Woo! Almost fell out of the ring there. Later that evening, we sat down to watch the Cholitas Luchadoras in action. Their show was so thrilling. Ahh! Oh, my god! There was drama, some serious stunt work, acrobatics, and moves that had me wondering, how are they doing this? Amazing! The Fighting Cholitas and the Climbing Cholitas that I'll be visiting tomorrow are inextricably linked by a common ethos: fighting for a better future for Indigenous women through bold, public displays of strength. It's a fascinating way to tackle inequality... Oh, no! ...and it makes me wonder what the Climbing Cholitas have in store for me. Woo!
Good morning. This is the day. We're about to set off for the mountains on our multi-day hike. I'm almost done packing. I am a little bit worried, because I do have a bit of a fear of heights, so I'm really hoping that this goes smoothly. Um, but yeah, I, honestly, I'm so excited. So I'll finish this up and then we'll get going.
I needed to make sure that I had all my mountain gear ready, because where we were headed to next is extremely remote and unforgiving. The Cordillera Real is a mountain range in the Bolivian Andes with its highest peak at over 21,000 feet. We were first meeting my team, the Cholitas Escaladoras. Julia, Elena, Pacesa, and Danisca will be teaching me how to cross glaciers and ice climb at extremely high altitudes. They also know a thing or two about living outside of what society deems acceptable and reclaiming their power as women. In my own small way, I can relate. I live in a tent on my land in the mountains with my animals as companions. I don't aspire to get married or have kids, which many would consider outside of the norm. I want to know how the Cholitas find their courage both at home and in the mountains.
They use some of the same gear you'll see climbers typically use, like ice axes, crampons, harnesses, and helmets. But you may have already noticed something different about their wardrobe. Ahh. Ooh! So nice! The Cholitas wear traditional pleated skirts called polleras in their everyday lives. But also, notably, while they climb.
As the rest of the team got busy with some last-minute prep, Elena invited me to see her impressive collection of polleras. Elena was so proud of her assortment of polleras and she wanted to give me a taste of what it's like to wear one. It's, they're so beautiful, if you just look at the detail. Amazing. And that's just the petticoat; five layers of petticoat to give it the shape and volume. So Elena claims that it takes just about a minute to put on a pollera, which honestly I feel like is, ah, pretty, pretty ambitious. But I guess we're about to find out.
Got my three layers on. Two more to go. A couple more layers of petticoat later, and finally, the pollera, in just under two minutes. Not bad! It's a little heavy, honestly! I couldn't help but feel so inspired by Elena's pride in her culture. And I'd need that inspiration because it was time to start our journey.
Over the coming few days, we will be dwelling here underneath the imposing peaks of the Andes. This is the longest continental mountain range in the world with 50 peaks towering at 20,000 feet or more. Just to put that into perspective, the tallest mountain in the contiguous United States, Mount Whitney, stands at a mere 14,500 feet. And up here, the altitude is no laughing matter. Where we're standing right now... Wow! ...we're already up 15,000. From here, we continued the path on foot. And in the coming days, we will be heading much higher. But for now, after a long day, we've made it here, to Condoriri Base Camp.
Okay! Well, we've just made it to base camp, which is amazing news. I am so ready for a hot meal and just to get inside my sleeping bag. I'm so excited. Alright, let's go. Let's get inside. The team unpacked the basics for a quick snack and then everyone settled down for the night. This has been a pretty long day, and since we arrived here at the hut so late, we're pretty much just off to bed right now, and tomorrow is our first big training day, which is really, really exciting. I just want to show you guys how we're sleeping out here. So the whole team is just sleeping together in a little row, very nice and cozy and warm-ish. Anyway, we'll all get some rest and see you guys tomorrow. Bye. ♪ ♪
At dawn, I went to check out the sunrise and get ready for our first big day. That's amazing. And I was greeted with one of the most beautiful morning landscapes I'd ever seen. Look at all those glaciers all around us. One, two, three. Three glaciers! It was one thing to admire the glaciers from afar, but soon we would be crossing one of them, crevasses and all.
That sounded like something I could handle on my first day of training. Being out here in this hostile environment, I wondered how the Cholitas got their start in mountaineering. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
It took us a good hour and a half to reach the entrance of the Condoriri glacier. Now a quick pit stop to put on our crampons and our helmets, and I couldn't help but wonder where the Cholitas wore their harnesses, given the six-layered polleras. Okay, so you have to put it through the bottom and then it comes out here. Safety first.
We were going to practice some basic ice-walking skills on the glacier. But first we had to get out of a trench in the snow. Honestly, um, this is a bit of a shock, because I was kind of expecting just a little gentle warmup today, like a walk along the glacier, but we're actually climbing our first ice wall right about now. I don't know if I'm ready for this. The wall was about 15 feet high, so nowhere near the 50-foot wall I would be scaling at my challenge in a couple of days. And Julia is so fast. It took her like eight seconds to get up that wall. Julia has just secured me. I don't know if I am ready, but here we are.
I've done ice climbing once before, a decade ago. Oh, my god, what am I doing here? But today, none of what I'd learned back then was coming to me. So I just did as Julia had done before me and rammed the ice axe into the ice. Almost there. Woo! Ah! Okay, here we are. High five. Okay, that wasn't exactly the most impressive feat of ice climbing, but it did give me a tiny feel for my upcoming challenge.
We walked along the ice to practice using the crampons and get more acclimated to the altitude. At this elevation, the oxygen level in the air is nearly half of that at sea level. This makes us all much more susceptible to altitude sickness and eventually more severe conditions, like swelling in the brain. After about an hour, we reached a spot where we had lunch before heading back to base camp. As we chatted, Elena explained that this glacier has changed drastically in recent years. The effects of climate change are reshaping the landscape... ...and in turn, the Cholitas' way of life. Elena and the girls remain positive. But seeing the melting ice made our return journey bittersweet. About 30 years ago the glacier actually stretched out all the way to here. That's about a mile away. So if you picture what it would have looked like 30 years ago, this entire valley would have been covered with ice. Look how far it is today.
After our glacier trek, I was ready to recharge for the next stage of my training. If I thought today was tough, tomorrow was going to push me to my limit. ♪ ♪
The next morning, we had a three-hour uphill hike ahead of us to reach the Ventanani glacier at 16,600 feet. ♪ ♪ At this altitude, it becomes hard to take a full breath. You tire out very quickly. And forget about running. A slow and steady slog is the only cardio you can do up here. And yet somehow I was about to learn how to ice climb up a vertical wall. Tomorrow I'll be attempting to scale this beast of a wall, but today we start at the beginning with two little practice walls. Woo, these walls are honestly a little bit higher than what I expected. I mean, look at it. It's like this like 15 meters, about 50 feet from the bottom to the top. That's pretty impressive, really, really serious. I'm not great with heights, to be completely honest with you, so I'm already feeling a little bit queasy, I'll admit. We're here to get it done as ever, and that's what we're gonna do. [chuckles] Thankfully, we're starting off with something a little smaller.
While we geared up for the first climb, I couldn't help but notice some concerning signs. I'm looking at that ice wall and there's a lot of water coming down. A lot of the ice is melting. Is it safe? ♪ ♪
So Julia is about to climb this wall all alone. And this is like a pretty big wall. It's about five meters tall, and it looks pretty vertical to me. Oh, she's so good. On her way up, Julia will be placing screws into the hard ice. I think our first ice screw is going in right now. These will be used to secure ropes that should catch us in case we lose our grip and fall. There's like no one securing her from the top, you know. She's really free-soloing this. It's kind of amazing to just watch Julia stand there on pretty much a vertical ice wall with just her crampons holding her up and nothing else. ♪ ♪ Oh, my god, oh, my god, that looks pretty, pretty serious right there. ♪ ♪
There was one really scary moment there where her, Julia actually stepped on her skirt with her crampon. So I can see now how the pollera would make ice climbing a little bit more difficult and a little bit more impractical for these women, which honestly in a way makes it all the more impressive that they actually climb in the pollera. The Cholitas don't mind the difficulty; they prefer it. The pollera isn't just a skirt, but a symbol of defiance and strength. For many decades, the pollera was imposed on Indigenous women and became a marker of poverty and exclusion. However, today many women in Bolivia have reclaimed it as a political statement and a way to honor their cultural identity.
Well, I guess it's my turn. As inspiring as the women were in their resolve, I couldn't contain my terror. Holy [bleep]. Oh, my god. Okay. Let's do this. I knew I was safe with Julia securing me with a top rope. But on a very visceral level, my gut started screaming at me. Ah. What am I doing here? Trying to convince me this was not a good idea. This is terrifying. All this ice is just falling apart. The ice was crumbling all the way around me. I couldn't get my crampons or my ice axe in deep enough to feel really supported. Rule number one, do not look down. Oh, and obviously, I looked down. [exhales] Okay. [grunts] Woo hoo! Yes! Making it to the top felt incredible. Woo! yes!
But once I got down, it was time to step it up, literally, to the next level: a 35-foot wall just around the corner. And this was a double whammy of additional height and a steeper angle. That looks really intimidating from here. Again, the ladies would go first so I could watch their technique. Julia! Julia! They were such fast climbers that it was my turn sooner than I expected. Woo. Okay, let's do this. Much bigger wall, much bigger challenge. I'd like to say that the second wall was easier to approach, but my nerves kicked in just the same. Researchers believe that confronting your fears gradually in a safe and controlled environment can help you overcome them. Holy [bleep]! What am I doing here?! They call it exposure therapy. While this isn't exactly that, I'm getting a pretty big dose of exposure to my fear of heights right now. This is harder than the other wall. ♪ ♪ [gasps] ♪ ♪ Why do I sign up to do these things? [grunts] Ah! [bleep] One more meter. Two more meters. Who the hell knows? Ha! I made it! [Cholitas] Eva! You guys are so far away! How did I get here?! ♪ ♪
Woo. Who knew that climbing two little ice walls could be so exhausting? I swear I was using muscles that I never ever used before in my entire life. You guys are so strong. You're so strong, you're so fast. Amazing, well done. I felt like I was slowly getting the hang of it all. but the wall I'll be climbing tomorrow for my challenge is a whole other beast compared to what we've done in our training.
Back at base camp, I was exhausted. Before I go to bed, there's one more thing that we need to check, which is my blood oxygen levels, just to make sure that I am well and good at this really high altitude. So Dan, our producer, who's right here, he's got a little, little thingamajig. [Dan] Pulse ox. [Eva] A pulse ox. [Dan] Alright, let's get your finger in there. [Eva] So you put your finger in there and it kind of measures your... [Dan] Oxygen levels. Already got a 92. Pretty decent. [Eva] Okay, so this is it. So you think I'm good? [Dan] I think you're good tonight. [Eva] Alright, well, now that's done, I guess I'm all clear to go to bed and get some rest before the big challenge tomorrow, which, honestly, I feel like I'm going to have nightmares about, because I do not do very well with heights, and that is a very, very big ice wall. Anyway, I'm just going to try not to think about it. I'll see you guys tomorrow.
Finally, the day of my challenge was upon us. Aside from being the producer, I'm also the medical and safety officer, and this shoot probably has me more scared than any of the rest of the ones we've done. We're at 16,500 feet. Anything that Eva tries to do right now is going to be three times harder. There's a ton of stuff going on here that we have to really watch out for to keep her safe. We don't have medical evac out of here via helicopter; it doesn't exist here. So our only options are basically to carry her down the hill if something goes wrong.
The mountain was buzzing leading up to my challenge. The rest of the team was in great spirits. I was internalizing my dread. Ooh. A little advice was in order. Is there anything that you think I can improve for today, given that we're about to climb a much bigger wall for my challenge? Hopefully, I can remember that this time around. Woo.
This wall is 50 feet tall and goes straight up at a 90-degree angle. That's a big wall. Then at the top, an overhang makes this climb even more challenging. The Cholitas would go ahead and complete the route first. After that, it will be my turn to scale this 50-foot ice wall. Oh, shoot. Using only my crampons and ice axes. But for now my job is to watch and learn. Woo!
So Julia is currently trying to navigate this bit of the wall that's kind of like overhanging. Honestly, I've no idea how I'm going to deal with that 'cause that just looks so difficult. The overhang there, it's well over 90 degrees. I've never done anything like it, so, uh, it's 50/50 whether I can actually do it. I mean, that [bleep] requires not only endurance and strength, but also really good technique. Julia made it all the way to the top. Next up was Pacesa. ♪ ♪ She seemed to get hung up in one spot, and then... [Pacesa] Ooh-hoo! [Eva] She tried again but was too tired to continue. Elena gave it a go, but had the same fate. The intense movements used while climbing quickly deplete the energy stored in your muscles, so it's no wonder they tired out so quickly. If Elena and Pacesa didn't manage to make it up the ice wall, what hope did I have of scaling it? I have none of their experience or technique. My chances of completing this challenge were suddenly looking very slim.
Well, we're here, and my challenge is about to begin. This wall behind me looks absolutely ginormous, and, honestly, everything looks so crumbly. The ice is really wet. There's a lot of water coming off the ice, which does not make the climb any easier. Yeah, I feel like my strategy will be just try not to get stuck on that middle bit, which seems to be the toughest, because that's where everybody seems to be kind of losing their energy and their power. I don't know if I'll make it, honestly. Like genuinely I don't know if I can make it to the top, but I guess this wouldn't be Superskilled if we didn't at least try. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪
Oh, my god. [bleep] I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this. [grunting] [breathing heavily] [grunts] ♪ ♪ Where is the [bleep] ice? ♪ ♪ [grunting] This is the spot that the others couldn't pass. Nope. That's not gonna work. [bleep] Easy. Easy. It felt like my ice axes just didn't have a good hold on the ice. It's so [bleep] high. And the wall was crumbling all around me. [breathing heavily] Ah! [Dan] Right now, the way she's using those arms, she's going to fatigue out. She's got to bust through that section. [Eva] Dan was right. My arms were already feeling incredibly sore from the effort of getting through this middle section. And I was only halfway up the wall. Easy. Oh, my god. [grunts] I was just about to reach the overhang. [grunts] [Eva] Come on, get up. Oh, my god, my arms are so [bleep] sore! Agh! I don't know if I can make it. Ah! Ugh! Get up. The overhang was looming above me, and I just couldn't muster up the strength... I'm so exhausted. ...to lift myself and power through it. Agh, [bleep]! ♪ ♪
But then I remembered the resilience of the Cholitas, on and off the ice. How they've made so much progress in the fight against their marginalization and redefined what has been historically used against them into a source of strength. Just a little bit more. [breathlessly] Just a little bit more. And I found my own strength again. So close. God! [bleep] [yells] Frankly, I also got angry. [yells] Angry at this wall, angry at my arms for feeling weak, Angry at myself for making it all the way out here with the Cholitas and not giving it 1,000%. So, blind rage spurring me on... Agh! [bleep] ...I went for it. This wave of anger gave me a massive rush of energy. [yells] The only thing that mattered was getting to the top of that wall. [bleep] I [bleep] I made it! I [bleep] made it! I made it! Holy [bleep], I'm here. Oh, so high. I'm so high. [bleep] Don't look down. Don't look down. Ah. Yeah, sorry about that. It was quite the rush! This is probably the scariest thing I've done in a long time. Ahh. It was a small taste of how I imagine the Cholitas must feel summitting these Andean peaks with their polleras fluttering in the wind. Woo!
After the climb, we presented an offering of sacred coca leaves to Pachamama, or Mother Earth. I want to say a big thank you to Mother Nature for these beautiful mountains and this awe-inspiring glacier, for granting us a safe passage and giving us a beautiful adventure, and allowing us to be here together and learn from each other and inspire each other. Thank you.
These women are some of the strongest and bravest I've ever met, and their abilities out here on the ice are already an impressive skill. But perhaps their real superskill is their resistance to social convention, their passion for their culture, and their connection to their history. Climbing and wrestling are just ways to express those things externally.
Throughout this season of Superskilled, I've met some incredible people across three different continents. And whether they're fighting for a better life, for their culture and traditions, or for a more just society, they all have one thing in common, and that is their infallible resilience. I'm so excited about all the other superskills we've yet to explore. There's so much out there to inspire us to live healthier, happier, wilder lives. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪