Entries from Expedition Dispatches
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Buenas Tardes from Ecuador; Today is a rest day in between climbing Cotopaxi and Cayambe. We traveled north through the Avenue of Volacoes on the Panamerican Highway this morning, heading closer to our next climbing objective: Cayambe. We stopped in Quito for lunch and to say goodbye to our teammates Robin and Sean, who successfully climbed Cotopaxi with us as part of the Cotopaxi Express trip. We had a blast climbing with them, and are sad to see them leave.
After lunch we continued north to the oldest hacienda in Ecuador, Guachala. We are settled-in for the evening in this relaxing atmosphere, and we will rest up for Cayambe. Tomorrow morning we will head to the world-famous Otovalo market in the morning, before driving up to the climbers' hut on Cayambe to stage for our summit attempt. I will give update again tomorrow.
This morning we left for our summit attempt on Cotopaxi at 1:15 am. A starry night and a light breeze greeted us as we ascended the slopes above the climbers' hut. The weather stayed beautiful, and our team climbed strong. At 7:30 all of us stood on the 19,347 foot summit of Cotopaxi-six hours and fifteen minutes after starting. Climbing conditions were great, and summit views were vast; from southeast to northeast we could see all ten of the 5000+ meter volcanoes of Ecuador: Sangay, El Altar, Tungurahua, Chimborazo, Carihuairazu, Iliniza north and south, Cayambe, and Antisana-and Cotopaxi was under our feet!
After a half hour of rest and photos on the summit, we began our descent. The climbing conditions remained excellent and we arrived back at the climbers' hut by 10:00. We spent an hour or so at the hut, resting and rehydrating, before hiking 15 minutes down to our waiting vehicle.
We are now at the Hacienda La Cienega, enjoying hot showers and delicious food.
Congratulations to Robin, Sean, and Sherman on their successful ascent of Cotopaxi!
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Dave's team arrived at K2 Aviation at 11:00 a.m. ready to fly onto Denali. They loaded the planes and headed out only to turn back as the weather window at the airstrip closed down. However, at 6 p.m. Talkeetna time the weather at basecamp cleared and they were expecting to fly onto the glacier.
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
After starting the morning with breakfast burritos, coffee, and tea, we hiked out to the glacier to review climbing skills--such as cramponing and ice axe arrest. The rest of the day is spent resting, eating and drinking, and preparing for our summit attempt tonight/tomorrow morning.
The weather is looking good right now: partly cloudy skies and light wind. Cross your fingers for us that it stays that way! Everyone is feeling strong and climbing well. I will be in touch tomorrow.
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
After breakfast and meeting with the National Park Service, we went shopping and gathered up all our equipment for our upcoming adventure. Tonight we will enjoy downtown Talkeetna with dinner at the steakhouse in anticipation of flying onto the glacier tomorrow.
The clouds cleared last night, and we had a beautiful view of a moonlit Cotopaxi and a starry sky (with views of both the North Star and the Southern Cross) as we went to bed. After a restful night and a great breakfast at the hacienda Chilcabamba, we headed off into Cotopaxi National Park. An hour hike from the end off the road led us to the Cotopaxi climbers' hut--a spacious, clean, and comfortable hut at 16,000'.
This afternoon we are resting, drinking hot tea, and getting used to the thin air at this altitude.
Tomorrow we will hike to the glacier to review essential climbing skills before our summit attempt, which will begin with an alpine start tomorrow night.
We left Quito this morning and traveled south on the Panamerican highway, headed for the Iliniza volcanoes for another training hike. We hiked to an altitude of 15,700', where we took a break in the Iliniza climbing hut. After descending, we drove to the beautiful and rustic Chilcabamba Hacienda, nestled on the flanks of Cotopaxi. Tomorrow we'll head up to the climbers' hut on Cotopaxi and get in position for our summit attempt. Everyone is doing well. Saludos from Robin, Sherman, Sean, & Mike!
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Everyone has arrived and our trip officially began this morning. We met for breakfast and enjoyed beautiful spread of native fruits and juices, Ecuadorian breakfast dishes, breads, and of course coffee. We started our trio this morning with a tour of the 'old town' Quito - visiting the Basilica and the Presidential Palace, seeing different styles of colonial Ecuadorian architecture, and learning much of the history of Ecuador - from the pre-Incan culture of the Quitu Caras all the way through to the present-day Ecuador.
Next we headed slightly north of Quito to visit La Mitad del Mundo, or the middle of the world. This is the term used to signify the site of the Equator, Ecuador's namesake. At the Equator, we toured an ethnographic museum and experienced some physical phenomena associated with being exactly on the Equator.
We'll have a relaxing dinner at The Magic Bean, a popular restaurant/cafe in the Mariscal district of Quito. I will check in tomorrow after the team's first training hike up Rucu Pichincha.
Our team had a great training hike today, taking a gondola from Quito to an altitude of around 13,000'. There we started our hike up towards Rucu Pichincha, the dominating volcano that towers over Quito. We hiked in clouds to an altitude of ~15,200'. Everyone did great with the thin air, and climbed very strong. After descending, we had a little free time to explore Quito before dinner. Dinner was delicious Ecuadorian cuisine including tomales, sea bass, and potato and cheese soup.
We're exited to head out tomorrow morning for our second training hike to the Illiniza volcanoes.
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
The team is all safely back in Quito now, after returning from or climb of Cayambe. We took advantage of good climbing conditions with an alpine start (midnight) from the climbing hut on Cayambe, and enjoyed a starry night, comfortable climbing temperature, and good cramponing. Everyone climbed very well - the previous week of climbing and hiking at high altitude had obviously paid off; we were all strong and acclimated. The stars turned to clouds as we ascended the Picos Jarrin route on Cayambe, but the climbing conditions remained favorable. We reached an altitude of 18,700', where a bergshcrund separates the summit ice cap from the glacier below. We searched far to the north and south, trying to find a passage that would allow access to the summit. During this excursion, we explored inside the bergshrund and ascend some steep snow ramps that looked like they would connect to the summit. But, in the end, we were thwarted by the enormous bergshcrund; our high point would be just a couple hundred feet below the true summit - just barely out of our grasp. Our climbing team was still pleased with our strong performance today, and certainly had a very enjoyable climb on Cayambe.
As we descended, the clouds decided not to take mercy on us, and frozen precipitation turned to rain at lower altitudes. We were pretty wet when we arrived back at the climbing hut, but fortunately it was warm and hot drinks awaited us. After a brief rest to dry out and have a bite of food, we hiked 15 minutes down to our van, and continued on to Quito.
Hot showers at the hotel and clean clothes were very welcome. A great meal was enjoyed last night as the group celebrated the past 10 days we spent together enjoying the Ecuadorian culture, people, and mountains, enjoying traveling and adventure, and enjoying spending time with each other.
That's it for now. Thanks for following our adventures!
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