RMI Expeditions Blog
Posted by:
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Greetings everyone from Chilcabamba Eco Lodge! We're enjoying a great rest day after our big day yesterday on Cayambe. From our spot we have an amazing panorama of beautiful green farmland surrounded by tall mountains on all sides. Most notably, a full frontal view of Cotopaxi's impressive north face! Last night we could even see the lights of the refugio on the flank of the volcano. That's going to be home in a couple of nights, and where we'll make our summit attempt from. Anyhow, the team has been spending the day drying out and organizing gear for tomorrow's hike to the refugio. We'll check in tomorrow from the refugio! Billy and the crew!
Shout outs: Greetings, Nick and Cam from dad! Study hard! See you soon after exams. Julie, I love you! James says, "hello to friends and family back home!" Mena, one down one to go! Outta touch with civilization - be home soon! Casey and Sarah say, "we're having a great time, lots of stories, we'll be home soon!" Dawn: "Eating, feeling, and doing great!"
Thanks to Dawn Kim for the photos in this post!
Big day today!
We summited Ixta this morning around ocho in the morning with our entire crew. Everyone did very well, including a random puppy who joined us from our night at the Altzimoni hut and stayed with us the entire way to the top. We were treated to amazing weather, barely any wind and clear skies above, the lights of Amecameca and Mexico City to the West and Puebla to the East. As the sun rose it cast a shadow of the Lady Ixta and illuminated our next climb, Pico de Orizaba. Quite a beautiful day on the mountain, now to be complimented by a celebratory dinner in the Districto Historico here in Puebla where we will relax for a day and rest up for the next adventure.
Woo hoo!
Today was a great day for our crew. Despite some rough weather and a windy lenticular cloud we were able to put seven of our ten teammates on the summit of Cayambe! Snow conditions on the ascent were perfect despite the high winds and generally squirrelly weather. The ascent took around eight hours from the refugio to the summit with a brief stay on top and was followed by a three hour descent. After driving for a while we then enjoyed a celebratory lunch at a typical Ecuadorian restaurant. After nearly four hours on the road, our weary team arrived at Chilcabamba, the beautiful Ecuadorian farmhouse that will be our home for the next two nights. A great dinner of local trout and fresh vegetables put a terrific finish on a long but satisfying day.
That's all for now! We will check in tomorrow from Chilcabamba. Much love to all our friends and family back home in the states!
Thanks to Dawn Kim for the photos in this post!
Posted by:
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
We hiked about five hours to our high camp today while brushing up on some mountaineering skills such as ice axe arrest, cramponing and roped travel. After dinner and our summit chat, it'll be off to bed in anticipation of our summit bid in the morning! The team is doing well, feeling strong and excited for the morning.
Wish us luck!
Billy here checking in from the refugio, high on Cayambe. After exploring the amazing open-air market in Otovalo, complete with live meats, fresh produce, and an impressive offering from local artisans, we headed up to spend our first night above 15,000'. We dined on spaghetti a la bolognese with a balsamic viniagrette and crashed after a small nightcap of Cabernet. Ooh yeah, roughing it! And despite a slightly rough night everybody is acclimatizing really well, and also performed well during our mountaineering school this morning and afternoon. Right now we're all chilling back at the refugio gearing up for tonight's summit attempt. A summit talk and an early-to-bed evening will help us cope with our expected 11 pm wake up. If the weather and snowpack allow, the crew should be celebrating on the summit tomorrow morning!
Wish us luck!
Team Fuya Fuya (our elected team name)
Thanks to Dawn Kim for the photos in this post!
Posted by:
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Hola from the south! Today we left La Malinche and drove to the town of Amecameca where we picked up the last of our supplies for our attempt on Ixta. Leaving Amecameca we wound our way thousands of feet above the town, past Christmas tree farms and corn stalks with an eye on our mountain for the next few days. We rallied our bus up the road of fine moondust to the Altzimoni Hut, our launch pad for tomorrow. We spent the afternoon packing and topped it off with a big dinner. Now its off to bed to get some rest before our move to high camp.
Greetings from La Malintzi, the former Mexican Olympic Team training grounds and our first chance to taste a little altitude. Today we left Mexico City and arrived here, quickly getting ready for our hike up to 13,800 feet. We walked through dry forests before leaving the trees behind and gaining the ridge of La Malinche where we were able to see our future objectives, Ixta and Pico de Orizaba.
Tonight we will get some rest and start our journey to Ixta.
Today was another great day for the crew down here in Ecuador. After an early rise and quick breakfast we loaded up our van and headed out on the road from Quito into the countryside. The valleys and mountainsides around Quito are a gorgeous emerald green and the high peaks were all covered in fresh snow. We caught glimpses of our first mountaineering objective Cayambe, as clouds moved in and out. Needless to say the group was excited as we continued past Cayambe to a large volcanic caldera called Fuya Fuya. We spent the late morning and early afternoon summiting one of the twin peaks of Fuya Fuya at around 4,200 m. The views from the summit were spectacular. We looked down on a huge lake filling the crater and were surrounded by many beautiful peaks. After a quick descent the team headed to the Hacienda San Luis for dinner some R&R. Everybody is enjoying the beautiful grounds and rustic rooms (complete with fireplace) here. Tomorow's plans call for a trip to the open air market in Otovalo and then a move up to the climber refugio high on Cayambe!
I'll check in again as soon as I can, we hope everyone at home is doing well too!
Ciao from the Equator!
Thanks to Dawn Kim for the photos in this post!
Hi everybody, it's Billy checking in with another dispatch from Quito, Ecuador. Today's events brought us some of the first exertion of the trip. After a pleasant breakfast the crew geared up and headed out in taxis to the teleferico where we rode a gondola up to 13,600'. From there we began our first acclimitzation hike up on the volcano, Rucu Pichincha. We hiked up through bright green hillsides and skirted some large volcanic cliffs, moving in and out of the clouds, all the while with the sprawl of Quito far below. It was a pretty cool place to get things started with some amazing views when the clouds parted. After stretching our legs and working our lungs a bit we headed back down to Quito in the late afternoon. The day finished with a thorough gear check for the mountaineering to come and a team dinner on our last night here in Quito.
Tomorrow, an early rise and escape from Babylon will take us out to Cerra Fuya Fuya (13,986') for our next training hike. We'll check back as soon as we can!
Thanks to Dawn Kim for the photos in this post!
The team arrived late last night and met formally for the first time over breakfast this morning. We enjoyed a great buffet for breakfast at our hotel and set out for an all day tour of Quito which included a visit to the physical equator. The team enjoyed visiting many old churches, government buildings, and private homes some of which dated back to the 1500's! The Spaniards founded the colonial city in 1538, so lots of the architecture is original and impressive. So much so that the entire old town neighborhood in Quito is a UNESCO world heritage site. We visited one church in particular with huge vaulted ceilings that were completely covered in baroque woodworking and gold leaf. Apparently over 52 kg of pure gold were used to decorate the church and show the power and glory of Rome. It's kind of crazy to think about how young many of the cities in the United States really are compared to other places in the world.
After the city tour we enjoyed a fritada lunch. It was a traditional Ecuadorian meal consisting of maize, fried pork, avocado, tomatoes, plantains, and potato soup. Delicious!
Later in the afternoon we took a trip to the physical equator where we enjoyed some fun experiments. There is no coriolis effect directly on the equator so water will drain from a basin straight down when on the equator, spin counter-clockwise four feet north, and clockwise four feet south! I didn't believe it until I saw it. It was also possible to balance fresh eggs vertically on a nail. Cool stuff. And all the while we were beginning our acclimitization because Quito sits at nearly 10,000 ft. Tomorrow we will head out to the teleferique and the volcano Pichincha for our first acclimatization hike, hopefully the weather cooperates!
Thanks to Dawn Kim for the photos in this post!
Previous Page
Next Page
