Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Yesterday we drove five hours south of Quito to
Ecuador's highest mountain, Chimborazo. News from other local guides provided mixed information. We heard there was a bit of new snow on the route which contrary to popular belief actually makes the route safer. What we found was nothing of the sort. For many years the north side of
Chimborazo has been melting making rockfall an increasing concern. Having a bad gut feeling I could not ignore, I spoke with the other guides and we decided climbing up with ten other climbers ahead of us was too risky on a route with substantial rock fall hazard. During the night two team members began having diarrhea and a guide threw up. I took this as a sign and began to reevaluate the situation. Over breakfast the guides laid out an alternative mountain that we felt would have a much better chance of success given the teams health and über challenging route on
Chimborazo. A discussion was held and a difficult but good decision was made to abandon Chimborazo and go to Illiniza Sur. This will be a more technically challenging but safer and shorter climb. We are all a bit bummed to not be giving our main objective a shot but also psyched we are all still together. We leave the hostel tonight at eleven and will send word of the climb tomorrow. Stay tuned.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
Hello from high camp on
Ixta! Everyone did great today, the tents are up and I'm about to start cooking dinner.
This morning we got up at 6:30 and had bacon and eggs for breakfast. After packing our gear we got a ride from our driver to La Joya, which is where the trail starts. It took us five hours to reach high camp with the big packs but we have plenty of time to relax before we go to the summit.
Hopefully the next time I check in we'll be standing on top of
Ixta!
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
On The Map
We woke on our rest say today to another beautiful morning on the
Stone Sentinel, feeling good at our Camp 2 altitude of 18,200'. Although clouds have slowly built and a light snow is falling, team morale is high and the collective attitude is positive and charged with anticipation of the move to come. Everyone continues to climb well, and we're all taking care to eat and drink enough for the hard days ahead.
Rest days give time to think, and something that always comes to mind is the total experience of mountain climbing. A big part of that experience is being present in the moment, finding the rhythm of walking and breathing, seeing the splendor of nature all around and being able to appreciate it without the distractions that are all too present in most of the world. The team is definitely embracing the moment, soaking up the beauty and enjoying the journey through this high and wild place. While occasional thoughts may jump forward and higher to the
summit of South America, we are perfectly content to enjoy a cup of coffee and the company of friends new and old on this well-earned rest day.
Keep us in your thoughts as we push higher and higher the next few days. The weather looks promising, the team is strong, and we look forward to the challenge ahead!
RMI Guides JJ Justman, Geoff Schellens, Garrett Stevens and the
Aconcagua team
On The Map
We're on
Ixta! Well we're actually at the Altzimoni Hut but we did get up to 14,600' on Ixta today. That means we set new altitude records for the whole team. That's always cool.
The day started with an 8 am pick up from La Malinche. Our fantastic driver, Rogelio, took us to the best breakfast in Mexico at the Hotel Mission Tlaxcala. Very nice.
Then we hit the market in the town of Amecameca for some last minute food and water before driving to the
Altzimoni Hut. After dropping our gear we set out for a hike. We took the same route that we will follow tomorrow and I dropped some water at our high point. We'll pick that up on the way through on our way to high camp and I'll check in again from there.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
On The Map
Our preparations for high altitude complete, the team awoke a few minutes after midnight on Monday morning for our summit bid on
Cayambe. The sky was cloudy, but calm- a hopeful sign given the hail and rain the afternoon prior. The first hour of climbing found us negotiating a long rocky stretch in big mountain boots. We transitioned to snowy slopes and the group moved steadily uphill in high spirits as the clouds gave way to a clear and starry night. At a break at ~17k, we caught the sunrise, as well as a glimpse of three climbers high up on the mountain. Several of us were amazed at the steepness of the slope they were ascending, only to discover shortly thereafter that that would be our route, as well! However, our group was more than up to the task, and everyone summitted after 7.5 hours en route. The weather on top was flawless(!), so we lounged around and took hero shots for an hour before heading down. The steep section was just as exciting on the descent, but the remainder of the route was easily accomplished by our crew.
After arriving at the refugio, we quickly packed up our gear and hightailed it down the mountain to get to some food! Unfortunately, hightailing it only works so well when you have 36k of rough road and 6000' to descend! After eating, everyone was looking forward to seeing our lodging at Chilcabama. However, the travel gods felt differently, and the expected transit time stretched out longer and longer, as first rain (on our duffels on top of the van), then traffic, the construction, and finally dark, unmarked roads had their way with us. Finally, we arrived to Chilcabama, where hot showers, freshly-made soup, and fires in our in-room fireplaces awaited us. It was the perfect end to a very long day.
Pictures to come pending wifi access!
RMI Guides Billy Nugent, Katie Bono and Team
On The Map
Hello everyone.
The team has traveled south and we have arrived at our last climbing objective,
Chimborazo. It took us about five hours to drive here from Quito. This is the biggest mountain here in
Ecuador and it stands proud at 20,700'.
We have currently just downed our dinner and are getting ready for bed. Everyone is doing well and ready to climb so we can return home to our loved ones. I'm keeping it short as we will be getting up early for this one.
We'll update tomorrow.
RMI Guides
Casey Grom,
Adam Knoff and crew
First, my condolences to both Green Bay and Seattle. For more uplifting news, the team moved to
Camp Two at 18200 feet. As usual, everyone is feeling great. The sun is shining now, however, the clouds are moving in. I wouldn't doubt we get some more snow.
Yesterday the mountain had a fresh blanket of snow, which made for beautiful climbing today. For now, we are all getting settled into our new home for the next couple of days. Stay tuned because we are literally a hop, skip and a jump from the summit. If we get the weather we will move to high camp in a few days!
RMI Guide
JJ Justman & Team
On The Map
Domingo. This is the Spanish equivalent to Sunday. And as we all know, on the seventh day of God's exhausting work week he rested. Granted he did create all living things, the land and sea as well as the heavens so deservingly so he earned the right to sit on the couch and mourn a Green Bay packers loss. Our team simply climbed a 19,000 foot mountain which God would dismiss as child's play but we are mere mortals. Regardless, Sunday greeted our freshly washed group at
La Cienega with beautiful sunshine and happy humming birds. After breakfast we loaded the van and rolled back to Quito to celebrate Ginger and Albert's time with us. By mid afternoon the team had sniffed out the most American sports bar this side of the amazon and watched what us gringos consider "real" football. Jaime keeps calling it hand ball and for some reason I can't find a witty comeback. All I can say is God is a Green Bay packer fan. After football we rested some more and then headed out for our fair well dinner. We have all passed this one Mexican restaurant with a short mariachi man standing on the corner blowing a toy trumpet trying to persuade any hungry looking gringo into his place. Because I seem to promise this funny little guy we will come in next time, I figured it would be bad karma to pass him up again. So Mexican it was. Sadly they can't serve beer after 4pm on Sundays because too many people were getting sloshed after church and crashing their cars, so I had to sooth my jalapeño burns with red wine. The food turned out to be great so the team went back to the hotel content. We now head south to Chimborazo. Albert and Ginger, we will miss you. Wish us luck.
RMI Guides
Adam Knoff &
Casey Grom
On The Map
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
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We are all watching your precarious adventures biting our nails from the coffee shop in Los Angeles. Worried sick that Clark will get a blister or lose his beauty sleep (he can’t afford to!). He said he was tired of walking the dog everyday but don’t you think this is a bit extreme, Clark?
Wishing you all safe passage home!
XO, from all of us here at sea level
Posted by: Ted Craig CJ on 1/16/2013 at 3:29 pm
Sorry to hear about the hardships but I had to go back to work today and that’s no fun either…haha I hope everyone feels better and you can all end the trip on a high note.
Posted by: Albert on 1/15/2013 at 3:33 pm
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