RMI Expeditions BlogRSS

Ecuador’s Volcanoes: Team Ascends Rucu Pichincha

Posted by: Maile Wade | July 25, 2011
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Ecuador
Elevation: 15,406'

Hey Everybody -

This is the Ecuador group checking in. We had a great day today and everybody is doing well. We had another delicious breakfast at the hotel and took off early to ride the teleferique (gondola) up to Rucu Pichincha. Pichincha is a volcano just outside of Quito and we hiked the older (Rucu, in the indigenous language of Quechua) extinct side of it.

We rode the gondola up the mountain to 13,500’ into the grasslands above Quito. We began our acclimatization hike up to the top of the volcano from there. Our Ecuadorian guide Freddy joined us today and set the pace for everybody to follow. As we ascended, we moved from the grasslands into a rocky scramble that led to the summit. It took us 3 hours to ascend to the top at 15,406’, which was a new altitude record for some members of the group.

The descent was welcomed as we headed back to the comfortable altitude of Quito. We did a little shopping then headed out for an early dinner on a rooftop in old-town. We had spectacular views of the Basilica, the San Francisco de Quito, and the Virgin as we ate traditional Ecuadorian cuisine.

Everyone seems to be having a great time and we will check in tomorrow.

RMI Guides Casey Grom, Maile Wade & the team

453 views

Comments