Bob Villarreal

Bob Villarreal acquired a passion to climb at high altitude later in life, at 44. From that moment, until his last climb in November, 2009, at 65, he made thirty forays into the Highest Andes. The majority of those climbs were solo ones. His driver, Giancarlo Fiocco or Patricio Rios, drove him to the mountain, dropped him off at base camp, and then returned for him in another two weeks. Most of his climbs took place in one of the remotest parts of the Andes, along the lengthy border between Chile and Argentina. The nearest mine or Customs Station was 35 to 90 miles away. Should calamity strike, the only recourse available to him was to walk out to safety. His stories appear in his book, "Clawing for the Stars, a Solo Climber in the Highest Andes", a travel/adventure/Andes/memoir.

Please visit his website to view content that supports each chapter of the book: http://bobvillarreal.com/. To view a video about the book, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8S9S4fHHpY . Blog: https://www.blogger.com/home. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxaDd4ADY0LGfN58xAknPuQAndes

Bob is a retired telephone company executive. He lives in Livermore, California, with his wife of 41 years. Their daughters, one from Cuzco, Peru, and the other from Pasto, Colombia, also reside in the same town. He sees his children and three grandchildren several times a week. He plans one day to take his grandson, Alex, on a trip to visit the mountains of his dreams.