Entries from Expedition Dispatches
The first full day of the trip has been a blast. We started off with breakfast at the hotel in
Mexico City. While we were eating the military honor guard raised the national flag in front of the presidential palace giving us quite the show.
After that we peeled out of town and headed for the mountains. On our way out we stopped to get some water and one of the guys found a soccer ball that he just had to have. So now we have a team soccer ball.
The drive was real smooth and we pulled into the cabanas at
La Malinche before noon.
Once we moved in we set off for a hike. We ended up getting to about 13,700 feet on La Malinche and set a new altitude record for Dave!
We have just returned from the hike and we're all starving. Dinner is in 8 minutes so I've got to go!
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
After a difficult night of sleep, we woke to mostly clear skies and enjoyed our first views of
Cayambe up close and most of the other major volcanoes poking out of the clouds in the distance. It was the perfect mood elevator after a rough first night at altitude and very loud bunkmates in the refugio who treated us to a nice and prolonged wake up in the middle of the night. Well, tonight it will be our turn because after today's training on the glacier we are prepared to take a crack at summiting Cayambe VERY early tomorrow morning. The team is anxious but ready! Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Rest day at Aconcagua
Camp One means only one thing. Pizza making day! You may be wondering, "How do you make pizzas at 16,500 feet"? Sorry, it's an
RMI Guide secret.
Today our team awoke to a fresh blanket of snow covering the entire
mountain. It is a beautiful day to stay put and recover here in camp. Everyone is doing very well and we are feeling healthy and strong.
The remainder of the day will see some of us playing cards, reading books and watching movies. Yes, it's rough living up here.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
On The Map
Buenos noches from
Mexico City. Everyone has arrived without too much incident and we just spent the evening getting to know each other. Our hotel is located right on the zocalo (historic center) in the city so there is tons of activity all around. We had a great dinner overlooking the square and now we're getting ready for a fairly early start tomorrow. Our next stop is La Malinche where we begin our acclimatization in earnest.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
As the phone call from earlier today said, we had an absolutely phenomenal day
climbing Cotopaxi. The team as a whole was saddened by the withdrawal of Ginger from the climb itself but but we were all so impressed by her selfless decision to remain at the hut and not attempt the climb do to a nagging chest infection. When climbers put their team first over their ego and personal ambitions, it reveals much about their true character. Ginger we missed you today. After descending from our surreal summit, we quickly packed up at the hut and marched the 15 minutes downhill to the waiting van. Our amazing local guide, Jaime Avila went home to Quito to prepare for his return to Chimborazo and the rest of us are now resting peacefully at a 400 year old hacienda south of Quito. I simply can't remember a nicer day in Ecuador.
Voicemail Message: Hello! This is Adam with Casey, Jaime and the crew on top of Cotopaxi! Ginger stayed behind at the hut this morning as she was not feeling well. Everyone else is on top on the most beautiful day we could have asked for. It is almost a fair trade - I would give a day like we had on Cayambe to have a day like this on Cotopaxi. It is a beautiful, beautiful place to be. Everyone is feeling great and all is well. We will check in later from La Cienega.
RMI Guides
Adam Knoff &
Casey Grom
On The Map
Finally, we headed for the hills! A quick breakfast at San Luis and an easy checkout (not necessarily the norm) made for a smooth start to another busy day cruising around
Ecuador. Right off the bat we headed for the Otavalo marketplace, world famous for its street food and local handicrafts. It being Saturday, the market frenzy was at a climax and the gang enjoyed a unique opportunity to experience Ecuadorian and more specially Otavalan culture. Not wanting to risk a potential intestinal disruption, we decided to grab lunch at the Cafe de la Vaca on our way over to Cayambe. After hiking for about an hour we arrived at the Refugio high on Cayambe's flank and settled in. Freshly baked pizzas for dinner were a welcome change to typical mountain food. Everybody is bracing for a rough first night above 15,000'. We'll check in tomorrow and let you know how the first night went.
All for now,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Hello RMI Blog Enthusiasts! Today was more of the same. The team did a fantastic job climbing up to Camp 2 at 18000 feet. We cached more food for up high, some white gas and a few personal items.
In fact, the team was doing so well that after our cache we took a little walk up higher to get a view towards high camp. We made it to 19000 feet when the snow began to fly. It turned out to be a beautiful walk down back to
Camp One.
We are drinking hot drinks now and soon we will begin cooking for the team. Tomorrow is a well deserved rest day for all of us here at 16500 feet, which actually is feeling really good for all of us. Everyone here wants to say hi to friends and family back home.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
P.S. GO PACKERS!!!!
On The Map
Welcome to another installment of the
Ecuador Volcanoes 2013 blog. After an early rise and a quick breakfast the team checked out of the hotel, loaded up the wagons, and headed north out of Quito for another acclimatization hike. A good bit of driving brought us through the town of Otovalo where we turned off the highway and headed up into the mountains on a cobblestone road. We were climbing towards the crater of
Cerro Fuya Fuya; a large, extinct volcano whose crater is filled with an impressive and beautiful lake. We were able to drive into the crater and alongside the like. Starting from the shore, our hike took us up to the summit of the highest point of the surrounding crater. The team moved well and was in great spirits - we all thoroughly enjoyed the spectacular surroundings and wish it didn't have to end so soon. Alas, we found ourselves piling back into the van headed for a local hacienda to spend the night. The rooms and grounds here at
Hacienda San Luis are a bit more rustic than the Hotel Mercure in Quito but are still quite charming. I will say the setting and the views out here in the countryside beat Quito by a landslide. The crew is currently hanging out before dinner and hoping for some hot water so we can take a last shower before heading into the big mountains tomorrow afternoon.
Until tomorrow,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Hi Everyone,
Thanks to the Chilcabamba Eco Lodge the team has been well fed and all are well rested. After a leisurely breakfast the team finished packing for another climb before our ride arrived. It took as an hour to reach the parking lot at 15,000’. We hiked for about 45 minutes to reach the hut at Cotopaxi which resembles a modern two story house.
All is well and the weather is improving. We will spend the next few hours playing cards, getting some sleep and plan to awake at midnight. If things go well we should arrive on the summit of
Cotopaxi near sunrise. We will call from there if the mountain allows us to do so.
Wish us luck!
RMI Guides Casey Grom, Adam Knoff and Crew
Noah's Ark doesn't have anything on us! Yesterday the mountain received a little precipitation and as our team approached
Camp One, we discovered a new river running through camp.
Not only are tents up and people are settled in but we are on ditch digging crew to divert our new river, which we named Rio
Horiskey.
The entire team did great getting up to 16,500 feet. We are camped a little higher than the normal camp because we like peace, quiet and pristine water. The agenda for tonight is to make hot drinks and eat another fine meal.
I have a little surprise for the team. In honor of playoff weekend I brought some Green Bay Packers hot dogs. You know...for good luck!
RMI Guide JJ Justman & Team
On The Map
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Great update - and congrats on new altitude records…hope today is another good day for you all!
Posted by: Caskie on 1/14/2013 at 1:26 pm
Thanks Seth for the very fun report! Now Dave is a true High Altitude Mt Climber! Great photo! Viva La Mexico!
Posted by: Laura on 1/14/2013 at 6:00 am
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