Chimborazo Summitted

We made the summit of Chimborazo early Thursday morning (Feb. 24, 2011). The snow conditions were quite challenging....soft and loose (e.g., taking a step up often resulted in the upward bound foot returning to its original position)....unrelentingly steep (e.g., 35%-45% grade the entire way up the ridge to the top)....and the ice axe was rarely helpful (e.g., constantly plunging deep into the snow up to the hilt) and because of this, the ice axe was a constant cause of loosing one's balance and tipping over). In other words, hard work at 18,000 -20,000 feet.

We awoke at 11:00 p.m. after a less than restful sleep in the Chimborazo Mountain Hut and began the climb around 12:00 Midnight when the sky was perfectly clear with an amazing number of visibly bright stars. Somewhere along the way, however, thunder and lightening developed off in the distance...which was enjoyable to watch, but scary because of the possibility it could move in our direction which would have ended our climb (i.e., the guides were pretty clear about the need to terminate summit attempts in the face of a threatening lightning storm). As the climb progressed, and the snow conditions continued to worsen, the weather on Chimborazo began to deteriorate. While the guides didn't say anything, it was clear they were concerned about the possibility of a lighting storm on the mountain and, as a result, picked up the pace as we neared the top. The combination of poor snow conditions for crampons, the onset of nasty weather, an increase in the climbing pace that was in the center of brutal, and all at 20,000 feet made the effort memorable.

The guides know the average time clients typically take to get to the top of the mountain. Also, for each mountain there is a "turn around time." We told the guides to set a pace for the average time, or a time good enough to beat the "turn around time." This request for moderation was primarily because every client had some version of a cold, except for me....I never came down with the dreaded disease for some reason. Despite this "go up slow" request, when we were recovering at the top, the guides told us we were an hour ahead of the average time. I understood the need for speed on this particular day, but going up slower would have been preferred. In the end, it was a massive day climb that was over by 9:30 in the morning....probably before any of my kids crawled out of bed.

Because of the poor conditions, I did not take a lot of pictures....but above are a few, including a rather ambiguous shot of me on top due to the poor visibility.

Roads in Ecuador

On every climb I have made, there is undoubtedly experiences that have nothing to do with climbing that become memorable.  In Ecuador, I was not prepared for the poor quality of the roads.  There seems to be well established main highways....but when one leaves the main roads, one encounters awkward cobblestone or dirt roads.   Now that the rainy season has begun, these dirt roads often turn to mud.  On our way to Cotopaxi National Park, we had to rescue a four wheel drive vehicle stuck in the mud.  We pulled it out, but could but could not get through ourselves...so we had to turn around on the typical narrow one car road, double back about an hour and find a different route.  Here are pictures from the muddy rescue:

 

Anyway...back to our unsuccessful attempt to summit Antisana.  Here are a few pictures from our scheduled summit day when, eventhough the weather was perfect, the avalanche conditions were too severe for our guides and they decided that it was too dangerous to take "couch potato" climbers onto the mountain:

Here is a picture of Antisana from the summit of Cotopaxi:

Antisana is a gorgeous mountain...they say it is one of the Grand Ladies of the Andes.  But, like all beautiful women...except for one, I was only able to look but could not touch. 

 

At the base of Antisana, we slept in tents because of the remote location of the seldomly climbed mountain.  In order to get to advance base camp we drove in four wheel drive vehicles across grassy/muddy wilderness hillsides...getting stuck in the mud once or twice.  As a reminder to all, just because I climb mountains does not mean I enjoy sleeping in tents.  In fact, as I repeatedly tell Sherrie, I prefer to do my camping in hotel rooms.  Here is a picture of the place we stayed right before leaving for Antisana and the place we stayed after climbing Cotopaxi.  The hot spring pools were right outside our room:

Cotopaxi...Successful Summit

Today, our entire climbing team summitted Cotopaxi (19,347 feet).  Here is a picture of me on top, along with some other pictures of the glacier we had to maneuver through:

It was a tough climb.  Up at 12:00 Midnight.  On the summit at 7:30 a.m.  Spectacular glaciers.  I'm pretty tired...as is everyone.  We are going to need the upcoming rest days to prepare for Chimborazo (20,702 feet). 

Going for Cotopaxi

Finally in a place with Internet access.  We are leaving to climb ou second mountain in about 45 minutes.  Moving up to the HUT, eating, getting some sleep....and then up at 12:00 Midnight and off we go.  Wish us luck.

For those of you with access to our itinary, you may have noticed that we are attempting Cotopaxi one day earlier than scheduled.  The reason is that we failed to summit our first mountain, Antisana.  The first mountain was hammered with a foot of wet snow the day before our summit attempt and the guides determined the avalanche danger was too severe to entertain a summit bid....so we never left our tents at Advanced Base Camp....disappointing.  But because we did not engage in a major climb, we did not need the scheduled rest day. 

 We are optimistic about the weather for the Cotopaxi climb tonight/early tomorrow morning.  I will try and post some pictures from Antisana and Cotopaxi when we return tomorrow.

Wish us luck.

P.S.  we have not had Internet Access or phone reception ever since we left for Antisana.  More later.

Second Acclimation Hike

Today was consumed by a second acclimation hike in an Ecuadorean nature preserve.  Some rain and lots of mud.

Last night and tonight, we stayed at the most famous Spa in Ecuador with hot mineral pools located just outside our rooms.  Like I also say, I like to do my camping in hotel rooms.

Tomorrow we will travel to base camp (13,500 ft.) for our ascent of Antisana (18,891 ft.) on Friday morning (12:00 midnight start). There will be no Internet access until at least Friday, Feb.18 late in the evening.  More then.  Wish us luck....if the weather doesn't get better, we'll need it.  It's been raining hard all evening.

Ecuador: Acclimation Hike

A very wet day.  Climbed the biggest mountain near Quito....Ruco Pichincha (15,413 feet).  It rained almost the entire time....a great test for my new Gortex.  I stayed remarkably dry despite the nasty weather.  Me at the top:

Lots of clouds and lots of mud and low visibility for most of the day.  After the climb, we all piled into large van and drove to an Ecuadorian Spa near the first big mountain we will be climbing.  Tomorrow
will be another acclimation hike.  I didn't take many pictures today because of the rain.

Quito, Ecaudor

Quito, Ecuador (elevation 9,350 feet):

Just finished finished a walking tour of Quito.  Lots of churches and pipe organs.  One of the churches:

About to begin the formal equipment check and the lecture on "Leave No Trace"...another way of saying that we will be carting our own excrrement off the mountains we wll be climbing.