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Posts from 12/2010

Mexico: Team at Altzimoni Hut

Posted by: | December 05, 2010
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mexico

Hola from the south! Today we left La Malinche and drove to the town of Amecameca where we picked up the last of our supplies for our attempt on Ixta. Leaving Amecameca we wound our way thousands of feet above the town, past Christmas tree farms and corn stalks with an eye on our mountain for the next few days. We rallied our bus up the road of fine moondust to the Altzimoni Hut, our launch pad for tomorrow. We spent the afternoon packing and topped it off with a big dinner. Now its off to bed to get some rest before our move to high camp.

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Mexico: Team Checks in from La Malintzi

Posted by: | December 04, 2010
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Mexico
Elevation: 13,800'

Greetings from La Malintzi, the former Mexican Olympic Team training grounds and our first chance to taste a little altitude. Today we left Mexico City and arrived here, quickly getting ready for our hike up to 13,800 feet. We walked through dry forests before leaving the trees behind and gaining the ridge of La Malinche where we were able to see our future objectives, Ixta and Pico de Orizaba.

Tonight we will get some rest and start our journey to Ixta.

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Team Summits Fuya Fuya in Preparation for Cayambe

Posted by: | December 03, 2010
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Ecuador
Elevation: 10,000 ft.

Today was another great day for the crew down here in Ecuador. After an early rise and quick breakfast we loaded up our van and headed out on the road from Quito into the countryside. The valleys and mountainsides around Quito are a gorgeous emerald green and the high peaks were all covered in fresh snow. We caught glimpses of our first mountaineering objective Cayambe, as clouds moved in and out. Needless to say the group was excited as we continued past Cayambe to a large volcanic caldera called Fuya Fuya. We spent the late morning and early afternoon summiting one of the twin peaks of Fuya Fuya at around 4,200 m. The views from the summit were spectacular. We looked down on a huge lake filling the crater and were surrounded by many beautiful peaks. After a quick descent the team headed to the Hacienda San Luis for dinner some R&R. Everybody is enjoying the beautiful grounds and rustic rooms (complete with fireplace) here. Tomorow’s plans call for a trip to the open air market in Otovalo and then a move up to the climber refugio high on Cayambe!

I’ll check in again as soon as I can, we hope everyone at home is doing well too!

Ciao from the Equator!

Thanks to Dawn Kim for the photos in this post!

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Team Completes Frist Day of Acclimatization Hikes in Ecuador

Posted by: | December 02, 2010
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Ecuador
Elevation: 10,000 ft.

Hi everybody, it’s Billy checking in with another dispatch from Quito, Ecuador. Today’s events brought us some of the first exertion of the trip. After a pleasant breakfast the crew geared up and headed out in taxis to the teleferico where we rode a gondola up to 13,600’. From there we began our first acclimitzation hike up on the volcano, Rucu Pichincha. We hiked up through bright green hillsides and skirted some large volcanic cliffs, moving in and out of the clouds, all the while with the sprawl of Quito far below. It was a pretty cool place to get things started with some amazing views when the clouds parted. After stretching our legs and working our lungs a bit we headed back down to Quito in the late afternoon. The day finished with a thorough gear check for the mountaineering to come and a team dinner on our last night here in Quito.

Tomorrow, an early rise and escape from Babylon will take us out to Cerra Fuya Fuya (13,986’) for our next training hike. We’ll check back as soon as we can!

Thanks to Dawn Kim for the photos in this post!

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Team Arrives in Quito, Equador

Posted by: | December 01, 2010
Categories: *Expedition Dispatches *Ecuador
Elevation: 10,000 ft.

The team arrived late last night and met formally for the first time over breakfast this morning. We enjoyed a great buffet for breakfast at our hotel and set out for an all day tour of Quito which included a visit to the physical equator. The team enjoyed visiting many old churches, government buildings, and private homes some of which dated back to the 1500’s! The Spaniards founded the colonial city in 1538, so lots of the architecture is original and impressive. So much so that the entire old town neighborhood in Quito is a UNESCO world heritage site. We visited one church in particular with huge vaulted ceilings that were completely covered in baroque woodworking and gold leaf. Apparently over 52 kg of pure gold were used to decorate the church and show the power and glory of Rome. It’s kind of crazy to think about how young many of the cities in the United States really are compared to other places in the world.

After the city tour we enjoyed a fritada lunch. It was a traditional Ecuadorian meal consisting of maize, fried pork, avocado, tomatoes, plantains, and potato soup. Delicious!

Later in the afternoon we took a trip to the physical equator where we enjoyed some fun experiments. There is no coriolis effect directly on the equator so water will drain from a basin straight down when on the equator, spin counter-clockwise four feet north, and clockwise four feet south! I didn’t believe it until I saw it. It was also possible to balance fresh eggs vertically on a nail. Cool stuff. And all the while we were beginning our acclimitization because Quito sits at nearly 10,000 ft. Tomorrow we will head out to the teleferique and the volcano Pichincha for our first acclimatization hike, hopefully the weather cooperates!

Thanks to Dawn Kim for the photos in this post!

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