Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Hi everybody and welcome to another series of dispatches from an
RMI Expeditions' Ecuador Volcanoes program! The majority of our team arrived scattered throughout the day yesterday with high spirits and great expectations despite being exhausted from a solid day of airline travel. We met up for the first time as a complete team this morning at Spicy, our hotel restaurant, and enjoyed a pretty good spread of food and decent coffee to boot. After breakfast we headed out on a very informative city tour with our veteran city guide Jorge. Jorge showed us around town while explaining much of the complex cultural past that made Ecuador the country it is today. Our crew climbed the towers of the Basilica, enjoyed sweeping views of the city from the top of the Panecillo, and got to experiment with different physical phenomena on the exact geographic
equator. All of this while beginning our all-important acclimatization process. Cool! We plan on rounding out our first full day in Ecuador with a brief team meeting followed by a team dinner.
More to come as the adventure progresses!
RMI Guides
Billy Nugent,
Katie Bono, and the rest of the gang
On The Map
I once heard the founder of
RMI (Lou Whittaker) tell a group "that climbing mountains is like hitting yourself in the head with a hammer, it only feels good when you stop." And I'm pretty sure that our team actually believes this after today.
Climbing in Ecuador is much different than back in the states. There is no weather forecast to help, no route condition updates, and no reliable rescue if you get in over your head. You pretty much stick your head out the door and decide whether or not you'll make an attempt or not.
As you have most likely
read in the last few dispatches its been pretty windy all week. Today was no different except that it was our summit day. It howled all night and even seemed to shake the 2,000 square-foot building we've been staying in. Some of us slept and others did not and around 10:30 pm
Adam, Jamie and myself put some water on the stove and crossed our fingers that things would get better. After breakfast, hot cocoa and coffee we finished the last of our packing and headed out into the night.
It was windy right outta the gates. The wind was blowing between 30 and 40 mph with higher gust. It was worse right next to the hut and subsided once we got a short distance away. Luckily for us the first hour and a half we were slightly protected by the rock buttress we had to climb around/over. It by no means made it any easier, but it did allow us to reach the glacier safely. We took a short break put on the majority of our gear (all those things we just had to have finally were really needed) and started up the mountain. We were able to climb for about 2.5 hours before we found shelter from the wind in a small rock outcrop. It became very clear that the wind and weather were not improving as we had hoped. Right above the outcrop the winds seemed to be getting much stronger. We decided to forge ahead and see if it was really as bad as it sounded. Sure enough a few feet above the outcrop we were in the thick of it, the wind was fierce and everyone was fight to just stay on their feet. We attempted to move forward but it was quite clear that was not a realistic option. Adam and I estimated the winds to be between 50 to 70 mph and gust were outright ridiculous.
We quickly descended to the outcrop and decided that the risk was too great and everyone was happily in agreement. The team safely descend as the weather continued to deteriorate all the way back to the hut.
We took a short nap, packed up and retreated to our comfy hacienda and hot showers. Everyone is doing well and happy to be out of the weather.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Up, up and away! Team 3 had a spectacular day carrying gear up to
Camp One at 16,500 feet. We brought up all the food for the upper mountain, fuel for our stoves and a little bit of personal clothing and gear.
It is nice in a weird way to throw on heavier packs and get a taste of thin air. The entire team did great and in reality we probably don't need to take another rest day here at base camp. However, we will.
Tomorrow we will rest and it will only provide every team member a stronger foundation for the upper mountain. There is no doubt a good part of high altitude mountaineering is about fighting the boredom. But as I sit here some team members are playing cribbage and others are playing some other game. The betting stakes Re cough drops and single sheets of toilet paper.
It was nice to see the beautiful views up high on
Aconcagua and we will post more exciting events from base camp and who may be out of toilet paper!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
On The Map
Hello to all following the Ecuadorean skills seminar. As Casey mentioned yesterday, the wind gods in this neck of the woods, or jungle, seem to be a tad upset with
Cayambe the last few days. Last night the gale rocked our hut, shaking windows and spraying dust onto our sleeping bags and equipment all through the bunk room. As I woke my concern shifted quickly not to dirt in my eyes but to Jan who will get his merit badge as the only one to have spent a night in a tent. I don't think too many of us were complaining though because the tent this morning looked very close to flying away. Unfortunately this same wind pattern continued throughout the morning making our projected second attempt at moving to high camp seem a bit detrimental to our actual summit attempt. As much as I wanted to give our team the experience of moving upward and making a high camp, discussions with Casey and Jamie helped me realize the effort needed to move up, pitch tents and get substantial rest was not advantageous to our climb tonight. What another day at the hut did allow us was more valuable training. The opening section to our route directly out of the hut offers impressive rock out croppings ideal for fixed rope travel and rappelling. After our outside time, that was certainly tested by the wind, we retreated back to the hut where we practiced rope coiling, knots and time killing activities. We are now preparing for an early dinner and retirement to our sleeping bags. We look forward to getting up early and gunning for the summit of the equator's highest point.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
On The Map
After a good trip up the Relinchos Valley yesterday, the team is enjoying a well-earned rest day here at
Plaza Argentina. Our night of good rest rolled into a breakfast of eggs, fried ham, peppers and onions with coffee and hot chocolate, and was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.
After giving the team time to digest, we all went over to the medical office and got the obligatory physical check-up. Everyone passed with flying colors, and we're now poised and ready for our carry up to
Camp One tomorrow, situated at 16,200'.
While we're living at about 14,000 feet, everyone is feeling tip top and acclimating perfectly. We have beautiful weather and look forward to staging for the move higher on this beautiful mountain.
Keep sending the positive energy!
RMI Aconcagua Expedition and Guides JJ Justman, Garrett Stevens and Geoff Schellens
On The Map
Hola amigos:
The last few nights have been a bit windy to say the least and the rattling of the windows has been soothing to some of us, and not so much for others. So we've had a few traditional siestas during the day.
Our plan was to move up to a
higher camp today, but due to weather and acclimatization we have decided to spend one more night here in the cozy hut.
Thankfully
Adam greeted the team with plenty of pancakes and coffee this morning, which helped start the day. We then headed out to do some training not far from the hut and did a short hike to get a better look at our route.
A number of climbers arrived today and are planning on climbing Cayambe tonight, which is good news for us. Hopefully they will be successful and kick in a good trail to help us out.
Other than that all is well here at just over 15'000'. Everyone is happy and hungry and looking forward to dinner.
RMI Guide
Casey Grom and crew
Hello Everyone!
Galloping across the Vacas River we had a few team members think we were riding mules the rest of the way to base camp. However, once on drier ground we hopped off, thanked the mules for keeping us dry and began walking up towards
Plaza Argentina.
Now at 14000 feet the team has had their fill of fresh melon and juice. Acclimating begins now and the entire team is feeling good, especially after a hot shower and a fresh change of clothes.
Tomorrow we will be resting. A full report of activities will follow. Now, it's time to set up the volleyball net.
RMI Guide JJ Justman & Team
On The Map
Buenos Dias from the Cayambe hut. Today was the first "real" day spent training on our first "real" mountain. It always amazes me how a simple acclimatizing hike ten minutes from our hotel in Quito puts us well over 15,000 feet in a matter of hours accomplished in simple hiking boots and a day pack. So when I say "real" it must refer to something big. Our first mountain,
Cayambe seems to fill those shoes. Sitting at 18,997', even the shortest climbers on the team will have the privilege of saying their throbbing noggins broke the respectable altitude of 19,000 feet. Breaking this psychological barrier should make climbing
Cotopaxi, a whopping 400 feet higher, a walk in the park.
This morning the group woke slowly having slept surprisingly well for the large jump in altitude. Our luxurious hut sits at
15,200', a casual one hour hike below the tongue of the glacier. Regardless of our groups strong résumé, we began hiking from the hut revisiting breathing techniques, rest stepping and minor drooling. After an hour hiking upward, we chose our high camp location and cached some tents, stoves and climbing headwear. After a brief rest we moved to the start of the glacier where we revisited self arrest, cramponing and rope travel. This three-hour exercise proved more taxing than expected so upon our return to the hut, eyes were closing sitting at the table so our next training skill was napping at altitude. So far the groups favorite skill to practice. We then practiced knots and hitches before sitting down for dinner. The altitude and full day caught up with all of us so we are looking forward to hitting the sack early. Tomorrow we move to high camp.
RMI Guides
Adam Knoff and
Casey Grom
On The Map
We are cooking with gas now...and fire! Team 3 is at 11000 feet at
Casa de Piedra. We had a beautiful day trekking in the warm sun surrounded by the high Andes mountains.
Now, the dining table is up, the chickens are on the grill, the homemade pesto is sautéing, and the angel hair pasta is cooking.
Everyone is doing fantastic and our motto is "a well fed climber is a strong climber". So we are going to sit down to a nice meal and get ready for our final day of trekking into
Aconcagua base camp.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
We are back in the mountains again! And it feels great! Our team had a leisurely walk with light packs in the Vacas Valley. The clouds kept us cool and the sun off our backs.
After a nice picnic lunch along the
Vacas River we arrived at our first trekking camp. The team is relaxing and we are about to prepare some snacks before we sit down with the cowboys as they prepare an asado meal of steak, corn on the cob and grilled vegetables. There's no need to start eating ramen just yet.
Everyone says hello to friends and family and the guides say hello to our RMI family back in Ashford, WA.
Chau from Pampa de Lenas!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
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Hi Matt. This link is a great! We’re excited to follow your climb. Best of luck to you and your team.
Stay safe.
Love,
Mom and Dad
Posted by: Polly and Ed Blum on 1/12/2013 at 5:19 pm
Take Lots of Pix Kendra and Mike! You know the usual exhange rate! Dinner for the slide show! Have a Blast!
Posted by: Deb on 1/11/2013 at 3:32 am
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