Entries By ben liken
Over the past few days our team has been very busy down here on the equator. On Saturday, we departed the comforts of civilization and made our way to the
Cayambe Hut at a little over 15,000'. The road to this mountain lodge is riddled with boulders, pot holes, mud pits, and the occasional farm animal, making it mandatory to use a 4x4 vehicle.
Once we were settled in and spent a night in the thin air we moved further uphill to do some basic training on the toe of the glacier. The team remembered mostly everything from their previous experience and were ready for a summit attempt. So we packed our gear, ate some dinner, and went to bed for a few hours.
At about 11 pm we awoke to clear skies and were able to start uphill by midnight. With perfect climbing conditions and a strong team we found ourselves on top of Cayambe for a 6:30 am sunrise over the equator. After descending the upper steep slopes we cruised back to the hut and packed up. A quick 4x4 ride brought us to our hacienda were we will start to recover from the climb.
Everyone is doing well and excited with the success we had!
RMI Guide Ben Liken
January 23, 2017
Posted by: Ben Liken, Adam Knoff
Categories:
Elevation: 18,997'
RMI Guides Ben Liken and Adam Knoff along with their team of climbers reached the
summit of Cayambe (18,997') today. The team will descend to Hacienda Guachala where they will spend the night. Tomorrow they will set out toward Chimborazo and their next objective.
Congratulations to the team!
On The Map
Hola From Otavalo, Ecuador,
This morning our team of intrepid climbers met our one man team and intrepid driver, Orgel, and headed into the not so subtle Quito morning rush hour. Climbers heading off to a big mountain are always ready to leave the grips of the city in search for greater adventures but today Quito had a way of making sure we didn't rush off and lose sight of where we were. Wall to wall cars made the first five miles take as long as the final 50 but rain was falling so we didn't feel rushed either way.
Our destination today was a volcano called Fuya Fuya, which rises to 14,700 feet, higher than Mt. Rainier, but in
Ecuador is relatively low in comparison to others. We come here in January because it is supposed to be the "dry" season, but today this high, tropical landscaped proved otherwise. Light rain fell in the morning leaving Quito, but north of the city and higher up the clouds thickened and the rain turned real. In Seattle there are over a hundred ways to describe rain. I'm pretty sure today we only needed one. Let's just call it, solid. With a "solid" rain falling, we solved riddles in the trailhead shelter, ran quick sprints along the lake shore before sprinting back and did pull ups on the beams to pretend we were getting our heart rate up. All-in-all the acclimating process was short lived and we were headed down having never walked a foot uphill.
The rain continued to pour as we ate lunch in town and killed time before arriving at the hacienda for the evening. La Casa Sol sits high on a steep hill overlooking town and it was here that we had the day's most exciting event. With a we cobble stone street, our driver gunned it up the hill trying to get momentum before spinning out on the wet surface. It took two more goes to pull the van into the tiny parking spot and unload the bags. Ben and I had to put rocks behind the van's tires at one point to keep him from sliding backwards into the ditch.
As we say before a day of ice climbing in Bozeman, the adventure starts the second you get in the car. Tomorrow's road promises to be even more thrilling! The road to the mountain....
Wish us luck on our way to
Cayambe.
Saludos,
RMI Guides Adam Knoff, Ben Liken and Team
January 19, 2017
Posted by: Ben Liken, Adam Knoff
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Elevation: 15,700'
Hola,
Today, after a lot of travel and food the team finally got out into the mountains. We set off for a gondola ride on the outskirts of town that takes us all the way up to well over 13,000 feet. We were pleased to find fair skies and moderate temps with sweeping views of the city at the top.
From there it took us 2.5 hours to reach the summit at 15,700 feet with the whole team! This is a great team and everyone did excellent. After some time on top breathing thin air, we descended back to
Quito grabbing some tasty carne empanadas on the way.
After an afternoon nap we all got some pizzas and ice cream to soothe the soul before bed. Tomorrow we will venture further outside Quito for another highland hike.
Stay tuned,
RMI Guide Ben Liken
January 18, 2017
Posted by: Ben Liken, Adam Knoff
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Elevation: 9,000'
Howdy folks,
We have just kicked off our next
Ecuador Volcanoes program here in Quito. With most of our team arriving late last night, we spent day one casually around town. After a large buffet breakfast we went on a four-hour city tour where we visited the equator along with some key landmarks throughout the old city of Quito. Even though this wasn't quite as relaxing as laying by a pool all day, it is important that we keep some blood flowing for acclimatization. Just by being in this city we are starting this process because it sits at 9000'.
Once we returned to our hotel and did a gear check the team was ready for a little fun, so we checked out one of Quito's new micro breweries. The pale ale was on par and the chili cheese fries were among the best I ever had.
Finally we will go to dinner tonight so we can pack on a few more calories before we start burning them tomorrow on our first acclimatization hike up Rucu Pichincha. A small 15,700-foot hill right outside town.
Stay tuned to follow the rest of our journey through the Andean high country!
RMI Guide Ben Liken
September 26, 2016
Posted by: Ben Liken
Categories: Expedition Dispatches North Cascades
Elevation: 9,127'
The final
Mount Shuksan climb of the year ushered in the autumn season with some winter weather last week. The occasional storm brought us fresh snow and great training conditions. The whole team was able to learn a ton of mountaineering skills and summit the classic peak via the Southeast Ridge. Great team. Great trip.
RMI Guide Ben Liken
September 4, 2016
Posted by: Casey Grom, Chase Nelson, Ben Liken
Categories:
Elevation: 14,410'
The
Mt. Rainier Summit Climb teams reached the top at 8:00 a.m. With clear skies, calm winds, and a bit on the chilly side, the team began their descent at 9:30. High fives and cheers will commence at Rainier Basecamp this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's teams!
August 30, 2016
Posted by: Leon Davis, Ben Liken
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
RMI Guides Leon Davis & Ben Liken led their
Four Day Summit Climb Teams for August 27 - 30, 2016 to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. The teams experienced cloudy and windy conditions on their ascent. Both teams reached the crater rim around 8 am PT and were able to spend some time on top before starting their descent.
We look forward to seeing them at Rainier BaseCamp later today.
Congratulations to today's climbers!
August 24, 2016
Posted by: Billy Nugent, Ben Liken
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 14,410'
RMI Guides Billy Nugent and Ben Like led their
Four Day Summit Climb teams to the summit of Mt. Rainier this morning. Billy radioed at 7:30 am as the teams were approaching the crater rim. The report was clear skies and winds 15 mph from the North.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams!
August 18, 2016
Posted by: Jake Beren, Ben Liken
Categories:
Elevation: 14,410'
The Four Day Summit Climb August 15 - 18, 2016 enjoyed an alpine start from Camp Muir under a beautiful full moon. RMI Guides Jake Beren and Ben Liken reported great climbing with warm temperatures and calm winds. After spending time on the summit both teams left the crater rim on their descent just before 7:30 am PT. We look forward to meeting the groups back at Rainier BaseCamp this afternoon.
Congratulations to today's Summit Climb teams!
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Yay for the team! Good work guys! Now on to the bigger beast!
Posted by: Susan Brashear on 1/24/2017 at 9:02 am
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