Entries from Expedition Dispatches
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Today we spent the day in the capital city of Ecuador, Quito. Everyone is still recovering from a long day of travel to get here. We spent the day going on a city tour with a local guide. On the tour we visited the colonial parts of town, historic churches, plazas, and the presidential palace, and we learned about the country's history from pre-Incan times through to the present. We then travelled north of Quito to visit Ecuador's namesake, the Equator. Here we took an interpretive, cultural tour, got to stand on the true equator, and sample some authentic empanadas, meat and cheese filled turnovers.
A light afternoon rain gave most of us an excuse for a quick siesta before dinner at the Magic Bean restaurant. The rain let up in the evening, and allowed us to wander the streets of the popular and lively Mariscal district of Quito, which was hopping was nightlife.
Tomorrow we head to Pasachoa, a protected cloud forest and very old volcano, for an acclimatization hike.
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Buenas tardes from Ecuador.
Our team is all safely back in Quito now, enjoying hot showers and rest before our final team dinner/celebration tonight. Yesterday we spent the morning in Otavalo, enjoying the expansive indigenous market. Then we headed up to the climbers' hut on Cayambe. After dinner we hit the sack early, in preparation for our alpine start and summit attempt. We awoke to perfect weather...no wind, clear skies (you could see both the Southern Cross and the Big Dipper from the same place!). After a midnight breakfast of oatmeal, bread and jam, and coffee and tea, we ventured out for the climb. The snow conditions were perfect, and it was most likely the most beautiful morning of our trip. The climbing went well, and we neared the nearly 19,000' summit when our climb was thwarted by a huge, impassable crevasse that guarded the summit. The snow bridge that had been used to cross the crevasse had recently collapsed, and we searched back and forth for another option. But in the end, we had to turn around ~250' shy of the true summit. The objective hazards were just too high to press on with any of our other possibilities.
Such is life in the mountains; the team did great, and we enjoyed a spectacular day of climbing. But we were kept ~250 feet away from topping out on the true summit. We dubbed our high point 'cumbre (summit) de los gringos.' Everyone was content with our climbing experiences today, and the great experiences of the entire trip to Ecuador.
Thanks for keeping track of us. Our team members will be on their way home soon. Check back on the 6/20, as RMI's 2nd Ecuador's Volcanoes trip of the summer begins. I'll be back in touch then!
PS...on the descent we scoped a new route, which I'm confident will enable us to get to the summit next week...if the weather cooperates. Stay tuned!
Bueno dias from Ecuador. Yesterday our team reached the summit of (the nearly 20,000') Cotopaxi! When we awoke at midnight, it was snowing lightly. By the time we had breakfast and were ready to start climbing, the snow had let up; some clouds lingered, but stars were visible. The weather for our climb remained excellent: mostly clear skies, calm wind, and relatively mild temperatures. Our team stood on the summit at 7:15 a.m., and was treated to excellent views of the 20,700' Chimborazo, the Ilinizas, and the active volcanos, the Pinchinchas, which rise above Quito. After descending, we traveled out of Cotopaxi National Park to our current location of the hacienda La Cienega. This beautiful hacienda was built in the late 16th century, and has a rich and interesting history, including having housed the first volcanological study of Cotopaxi, and a European geographical expedition to measure the meridians.
We all enjoyed hot showers and a great dinner, before getting some much needed rest. Today we will travel north to our next hacienda, Guachala. We'll rest our legs today before starting our next climb, Cayambe. Tomorrow morning before heading to the climbers' hut on Cayambe, we'll visit the world famous market at Otovalo.
We'll keep you up-to-date with our whereabouts.
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Buenos dias from Ecuador.
Yesterday we traveled into Cotopaxi National Park; en route to the climbers' hut we were lucky enough to see six Andean Condors! They were very close to the road and were defintely an impressive sight, with wingspans of more than 6 feet.
Upon arrival at the end of the road, we shouldered our packs and hike 45 minutes to the climbers' hut on Cotopaxi. The rest of the day was spent resting, eating, drinking, playing cards, and telling stories ...the time spent here, at nearly 16,000' will help us get used to the (even)thinner air that awaits above.
This morning we are getting ready to head out to the glacier, in order to stretch our legs and review ice axe and crampon skills. The weather is very nice and we're looking forward to our summit attempt tonight. We will likely leave the hut around 1:00 am, and hopfully we'll be on top at 6 ot 7. We'll be in touch, and I'll send pictures when we have access to the internet in a couple of days.
Hasta luego
Saludos from the beautiful hacienda, Chilcabamba, at 11,500' on the flanks of Cotopaxi. The weather is great, and we have amazing views of our climbing destination, Cotopaxi from our bedroom windows.
We left the city behind today, and ventured south down the 'Avenue of Volcanos'. After an hour and a half of driving, we began our 2nd acclimitization hike. This time we climbed to around 15,400', to the climbers' hut at the saddle between the Ilinizas. This hike travels above treeline, through the rolling hill grassland known as the paramo. Good weather afforded us views of the expansive valleys below, but clouds kept the Ilinizas obscured from view. Everybody did great on this foray into thinner air. It looks like we've got a very strong team for our summit attempt, and the weather looks promising. But, you take it day by day in the mountains...
Tomorrow we'll head to the cliimbers' hut on Cotopaxi, at 16,000'. But right now, our minds are on dinner, the beautiful setting of our hacienda, and comfort and warmth of the woodburning stoves in our bedrooms. Life is good.
Thanks for following our trip, I'll keep you posted with updates.
We had a great acclimatization hike today at the Ecological Reserve Pasachoa, an ancient volcano which now hosts a cloud forest ecosystem. We hiked up to 12,300', and everyone did great. The weather was nice today, and it was great to stretch our legs and work our lungs a little bit. The altitude of this hike will serve us well, as tomorrow we're off to the climbing refugio at the Ilinizas, where we'll hopefully gain an altitude of over 15,000'. Then we're off to a Hacienda on the flanks of our first climbing destination, Cotopaxi.
This evening we enjoyed fine Ecuadorian cuisine on before leaving Quito; adventurous palates even tried the Ecuadorian delicacy of fried guinea pig (cuy) and the locally fermented corn drink called chicha. We're all enjoying the culture of Ecuador and the conveniences of Quito. But we're also very anxious to head for the mountains and leave the city behind. Tomorrow we'll do just that.
We'll keep you up to date on our adventures.
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Everyone's planes have arrived, and we had our first official team meeting at breakfast this morning. We discussed logistics for the trip and got to meet everyone, as well as enjoyed our breakfast buffet spread of fresh, local fruits, juices, and pastries. We spent the rest of the day touring the capital city of Quito with our very knowledgeable local guide, Jorge. We visited the colonial parts of Quito, and learned the city's cultural and political history, and then traveled to the "Mitad del Mundo", or the middle of the world. Here we got to stand on the equator and see examples of Ecuador's different cultural groups in the interpretative museum.
Right now we're relaxing for a couple of hours before meeting for dinner. I'll be in touch tomorrow after we return from our first acclimatization hike to the Biological Reserve, Pasachoa.
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Everest
What a difference a day or two can make. The team walked out of Namche and down through the farms and fields of Phak Ding the other morning. In short order, we'd gone from snow, ice and rock to wheat, barley and happy little kids in school uniforms crowding the trails. Erica Dohring and I took the standard six hours to cover the walk from Namche to Lukla under mostly cloudy skies. Compared to the Lhotse Face or the Khumbu Icefall, the stroll to Lukla is not terribly difficult...but sure enough, it ends with uphill just when most tired Everest enthusiasts would prefer for it to be downhill. Through good luck, we didn't get a downpour until we were in the Lukla suburbs and heading for the inn. Our gang was assembled in a spacious and warm dining room, already shuffling cards and drinking tea and settling in for the "airstrip hang" that begins and ends so many of the climbs we frequent. That is the point at which you've done all that you can do with your legs and it is now up to weather and pilots to figure out the rest. I believe our team was ready for the hang to take days since the post-cyclone pattern seemed a lot like pre-monsoon already (translation: clouds giving way to clouds) Pilots in these mountainous regions are known to favor visibility and smart passengers don't quibble with that preference.
We wiled away the afternoon, looking out on the rainy strip of tarmac without much angst over schedules...it being our belief that the team duffels were still buried in basecamp snowbanks anyway and that onward travel without some change in that status was going to be limited. Lam Babu burst the duffel-induced-lassitude around dinner when he announced that he'd received word from Tendi that all of the loads had actually left basecamp as of that very afternoon. We went to sleep in Lukla once more believing that it was possible to get a little lucky on weather. And sure enough, yesterday morning came around sparkly and clear...so much so that during breakfast we watched four planes buzz in and out on the tilted strip. Lukla airport is something similar to a sinking aircraft carrier. There is just room enough for a short-takeoff-and-landing plane to touch down at the lowest end at full speed, flying upward...reverse prop pitch in a rush of air and noise... Jam down the speed to nothing and then quickly taxi into a little corner at the top of the apron so as to get the heck out of the way of the next plane. The aircraft tend to land and takeoff in waves of three and four at a time, every two hours or so (allowing a Katmandu roundtrip) and our scheduled flight was to be part of the second round. Clouds showed up and gathered on the peaks and began to fill the valleys...but not enough to spoil our day. Our flight went off without a hitch or a hiccup and by 11 AM we were checking into hotels in big and dusty Katmandu.
Haircuts, shaves, neck massages, showers, internet, taxi-rides, telephones, televisions...it all came flooding back, just like that. At least a version of it all came back...Katmandu amenities are not exactly the modern comforts that we are spoiled with at home, but they are very welcome, none-the-less. We won't actually head for the international airports without the aforementioned duffels and those -we hope- are on animal backs approaching the Lukla outskirts right now...but then they are subject to the same delays as people (cargo planes don't do any better in mountain-filled clouds) In any case, we expect to be on bigger (less weather-dependent) airplanes in a few days time, winging it over the Pacific. The climb is over. The team still has a few fun get-togethers, including a big dinner with the Sherpa staff this evening, but for the most part now, we go back to being on our own.
There is souvenir shopping and tourism (yesterday happened to be the 56th anniversary of Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary's summit...there were festivities and observances), but then there is also just plain easy hotel lounging. We've all got tons of catching up to do on current events and email. Personally I don't mind the slow pace of waiting for duffels...it isn't simply that the past 10 weeks of Everest climbing were hectic and charged with danger and the fear of failure, it is usually the 10 weeks before that as well, when Everest hangs in the future and must be constantly and vigorously prepared for. By contrast, this after-Everest-and-before-home-limbo-period is quiet and slow-paced. The monkey is off the back for a little while...the rat has been fed, etc. etc.
It may be time to go back and read up on the Everest experiences of the teams that surrounded us for the past season...or to peruse even our own accounts (now that it all can be put in some perspective). Such study and reflection may give us closure...-or possibly aggravation- one never knows...but it will be time to wrap up our thoughts on Everest 2009 in any case. We've all got other mountains -of one sort or another- to climb in the near future.
My hope is that in sharing our trip via text, photos and video, we've given an honest and entertaining glimpse of a place and experience that enthralls us. Having accomplished our personal goals of challenging a big, dangerous and magnificent mountain while keeping safe and coming down as friends, I also hope that we've succeeded in our "business" of demonstrating conclusively that Eddie Bauer is back in the expedition game... to stay.
Thanks very much for following the trip through to its end and for the many thoughtful and friendly comments that have been passed our way.
The cyclone pushed us out of Everest Basecamp. Early yesterday morning, it tried to crush us in our tents. Heavy, wet snow was falling at the rate of perhaps three inches per hour. Everything was getting buried fast... tents, yaks, climbing gear. It was tough to tell just how much accumulation there was since the ground is so uneven to begin with at BC, but it was common to be thigh deep while attempting to get from one tent to another. We'd eaten breakfast in our comfy dining tent, insulated from the storm, when Lam Babu suggested (politely) that we think of leaving. It was becoming impossible to maintain the camp in the continuing storm and it didn't seem farfetched that we'd soon reach a depth of snow in which we could no longer walk to escape down-valley.
Each team member went back to his or her soggy tent for a rushed packing effort. It definitely wasn't an optimal way for leaving the mountain. Ideally one would like to have everything dry before it gets stuffed and duffled for a trip to Kathmandu. Ideally, it would be great to be standing over an expanse of spread-out gear so as to figure what will be needed on the trek out and what won't be needed until Kathmandu. Ideally, one would know that the bags were going to get yakked out in the next couple of days... enabling one to make onward travel plans that included said gear. Except... there wasn't time, space or heat for anything like "ideally". We hunched over in damp tents, pushing damp gear into damp duffle bags and we weren't so sure when we'd see them again because the last yaks we'd seen fleeing basecamp were in snow up to their horns.
It made good sense to leave anyway, but we determined to do it as a team and to make noon the exit hour. A skeleton crew of Sherpas would remain at the gear dump formally known as Basecamp. At the appointed hour, Seth, Melissa, Kent, Cherie, Jake, Erica, John, Tom, Gerry, Lam Babu, Kaji and a handful of others (it was tough to see who was who with all the matching jackets, hats and goggles in heavily falling snow) followed my lead out of camp. The escape trail was surprisingly well-packed by people and packless animals in the preceding hours. I looked back often through the storm to make sure all were safely in the parade behind me, and I tried not to stop. We meant to go five hours down to Pheriche, but that depended on everybody staying strong and not rolling an ankle or knee in the powder.
It all went fine as we trudged down through the landmark villages of our long-ago trek in; Gorak Shep, Lobuche, Thukla... and finally Pheriche... all in much whiter condition than we'd seen them seven weeks ago. In Pheriche, we walked out of the storm to experience the novel INDOOR comfort of Nuru's Himalayan Hotel. Long forgotten appetites came back, coughs mellowed in the marvelously humid air, and real sleep was had by all... 14,000 ft sleep, not the 17,500 ft version that we'd been calling sleep for so long.
And today dawned without much sign of the cyclone. The sky was blue again and the mountains were white again. We hit the trail and within a short time we were actually out of the snow and onto the dirt. Then there were trees... then green trees. And next there were flowers... and flowers in trees. The rhododendrons of Deboche and Thyangboche Hill were in bloom and beautiful. We walked up hills and down hills and along hills until we reached good old Namche Bazaar. Civilization as we know it... with internet and commerce and tourism and comfort at the easy to love altitude of around 11,500 ft. In two days, we'd come down what had taken us approximately 8 days to go up... long ago... in the Spring, when we were younger.
We'll walk to Lukla tomorrow and we will begin hoping for cloudless flying weather which might get us to Kathmandu sooner. And we'll just hope that our wet duffels find us before the contents rot... Life is not, by any means, trouble-free as yet but it is sure getting easier.
I don't think I've ever seen an Everest season end so early or so abruptly. It began snowing hard at basecamp at around 6 AM and that has continued without pause for the entire day. Cyclone 02B out of the Bay of Bengal is the likely culprit. That was the same "depression" that prompted my summit squad to speed up our attempt, and in fact to go a day earlier than we'd originally planned. That all worked out, just barely, but I must admit that as we walked down the Western Cwm early yesterday morning under temporarily clear skies, I wondered what all the rush had been for. No wonder anymore. This is a big storm and our forecasts say it hasn't actually arrived yet... the whole cyclone may track right over Everest in the next few days.
Due to the hard and smart work of our Sherpa team, we are sitting pretty. They managed- during our summit push- to take down every non-essential piece of gear from the Lhotse Face to the Khumbu Icefall. After the summit, when Seth, Melissa, Kent and I thought we had a big chore in getting our tired, coughing bodies down to ABC for the night, the Sherpas we'd gone to the summit with began tearing down Camp IV and putting it on their backs. They put in a huge, and with the value of hindsight, essential contribution in getting everything off the South Col before the bigger storm. This allowed our entire team, members and Sherpas alike, to be off the mountain and safely in basecamp by yesterday afternoon. According to Lam Babu and Tendi, just a handful of loads remain at ABC. While in logistical terms, this means that the expedition isn't quite finished and some of the guys will have to brave the Icefall for a final roundtrip, in the greater scheme of things... as I say, we are sitting pretty. If it intends to snow and snow and snow, then the Western Cwm could get extremely hazardous from an avalanche perspective. It is far better to have a team at the bottom of the mountain waiting until things are safe enough to go up rather than to have a team halfway up the mountain waiting until things are safe enough to come down.
This doesn't mean that we aren't worried and concerned for our friends on neighboring teams who were caught in a less advantageous position. But yesterday evening, we were simply elated to be all in one safe place ourselves and to be newly successful. As we finished up dinner, happily comparing notes on the trip's two summit days, it was clear that the Sherpa dining tent next door was the more happening venue. The cheers were getting louder and louder, the singing and stomping of feet more enthusiastic. One by one, the team members found excuses to leave the dull tent and flee to the festive one. Since I'd put in about three hard days at altitude without significant sleep, I snuck past what was surely the best party in the entire valley and made for my own little hovel of a sleeping tent. I was not bothered in the least to hear the celebration go on for hours as I lay comfortably dozing in the dark.
Nobody seemed the worse for wear in the morning as we huddled near a propane heater for our snowy breakfast. Not a lot got done today as we mostly took shelter and tried to catch up on food and drink. Linden Mallory, our hardworking basecamp manager, kept plenty busy with inventories and packing lists. The afternoon showing of "The Bourne Identity" on laptop had the dining tent jam-packed and silent. If the entire team is ready for beaches and jets and home, one couldn't quite see that today. We'll pack up and get walking soon enough. The gang is just happy to be together... and very aware that, while a cyclone spins overhead, none of the other teams that left BC so urgently in recent days are flying out of the Khumbu Valley.
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