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Expedition Skills Seminar - Ecuador: Experiencing the winds of Cayambe

Posted by: Adam Knoff, Casey Grom | January 08, 2013
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Ecuador
Elevation: 15,300'

Hello to all following the Ecuadorean skills seminar.  As Casey mentioned yesterday, the wind gods in this neck of the woods, or jungle, seem to be a tad upset with Cayambe the last few days.  Last night the gale rocked our hut, shaking windows and spraying dust onto our sleeping bags and equipment all through the bunk room.  As I woke my concern shifted quickly not to dirt in my eyes but to Jan who will get his merit badge as the only one to have spent a night in a tent.  I don’t think too many of us were complaining though because the tent this morning looked very close to flying away.  Unfortunately this same wind pattern continued throughout the morning making our projected second attempt at moving to high camp seem a bit detrimental to our actual summit attempt.  As much as I wanted to give our team the experience of moving upward and making a high camp, discussions with Casey and Jamie helped me realize the effort needed to move up, pitch tents and get substantial rest was not advantageous to our climb tonight.  What another day at the hut did allow us was more valuable training.  The opening section to our route directly out of the hut offers impressive rock out croppings ideal for fixed rope travel and rappelling.  After our outside time, that was certainly tested by the wind, we retreated back to the hut where we practiced rope coiling, knots and time killing activities.  We are now preparing for an early dinner and retirement to our sleeping bags.  We look forward to getting up early and gunning for the summit of the equator’s highest point. 

RMI Guide Adam Knoff

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