Cotopaxi Express: Team Turns at 16,300’ on Illiniza Norte
Posted by: Mike Bennett, Sam Hoffman, Felipe Guarderas
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Elevation: 16,300'
Cotopaxi Express Daily Blog
The team woke up this morning in a packed climbers hut at the ripe hour of 4am to climb Illiniza. Snow and sleet covered the ground and word came from the top to go back to bed. After a brief breakfast The team set off at 7 am towards Illiniza Norte with a windy snow still coming down but daylight on our side. Teams split into smaller groups to tackle the snowy scramble up the knife edge ridge of the mountain. Conditions remained poor, and we turned around 16,300’ to head down to the familiarity of the climbers hut. Repacked and trekking down to the bus, snow turned to rain and the bus was a warm bumpy welcome down the cobblestone roads. Lunch at a VERY FAMOUS pizza dive. Now the team is relaxing in front of wood stove fires, gazing over pastures towards the cloudy abyss—looking to catch a glimpse of the pinnacle objective hidden in the mist.
RMI Climbers, Dan and Joe Hayden
Comments (3)
Congratulations all, well done! The view was spectacular, thanks for the pics. Blessings to all.
Posted by: Dadeo on
Wishing everyone a safe and fun, but not too comfortable, trip. Bonus points for hunting your own food.
Posted by: Kyle Warfield on
Good luck to everyone. Great work so far. Have fun at the top. Joe and Dan get hot.
Uncle B.
Posted by: Brian Hayden on