Entries By casey grom
Hello again everyone!
Today the team left behind the hustle and bustle of Quito and headed just north of the Equator to the comfortable and quite rural countryside. Once outside the city the landscape quickly turns into rolling farm land with farms pitched on steep slopes and isolated eucalyptus forest. Along the way we stopped by a smaller mountain called
Fuya Fuya where we stretched our legs on a acclimatization hike. Normally we like to reach the top of this mountain but cloudy skies and the occasional rain kept us off the steep and slippery upper slopes.
We are just on the outskirts of a town call Otavalo, which is known for its massive market and we are relaxing at a wonderful Hacienda called "La Casa Sol". The team is doing great and looking forward to a nice quiet night here.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
We stretched our legs today with the first acclimatization hike of our
Ecuador's Volcanoes program. Despite a slow start due to weather, we were able to successfully summit Rucu Pinchincha, a 15,400' volcano in Quito's backyard. The day started off with a short taxi ride from our hotel to the base of the Teleférico, a gondola that brought the team to just above 13,000'. Upon arriving, we ducked into the upper station to wait out the clouds and moisture that seemed to be hanging in the air. We drank coffee, told stories, and used the time to get to know each other a little bit better.
Soon our waiting was rewarded with a break in the rain. Grabbing our packs, we headed out into the clouds. The views were obscured, but at least we remained dry. A three hour hike and a bit of scrambling brought us to the top, where we grabbed a couple of summit shots and prepared for our descent; we didn't stay long because the rain seemed eager to return!
Moving as a team, we made it back to the gondola in about half the time it took to go up, but not soon enough to outrun the rain. We had to shoulder our rain jackets for the last leg of our descent; thankfully the team was strong and spirits were high.
Now, back at the hotel, we're packing our duffels in preparation of our move out of Quito tomorrow morning.
Hasta mañana,
RMI Guides Nick Hunt and Casey Grom, and the rest of Team Ecuador
Hello Everyone:
All is well here in
Ecuador! After some long flights and a little bit of sleep the team is doing well. We started our day with a team meeting where we did our usual round of introductions and discussed the game plan for our upcoming adventure.
After the meeting we headed out on the town to explore this beautiful historical city with our tour guide Angel. He took us to the older part of town where we visited many old churches and the president's palace that sit on the old town square. Next we headed to a small hill that overlooks the city before heading north to visit the Equator from which
Ecuador gets its name.
We finished the day with a small break and then a quick gear check to make sure everyone has all the gear needed for our climbs. We then went to dinner at a nice Ecuadorian restaurant where we were joined by some good friends from back home who were here visiting on their own.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
100% on the
Cotopaxi summit! Everyone is safe back at the hacienda. Once we are back in Quito, we'll check in again.
Congratulations team!
RMI Guide Casey Grom
On The Map
Hello again everyone.
We've spent the last two days relaxing in Chilcabamba and are finally ready for our next climb. The team packed up this morning and headed closer to
Cotopaxi. Our home for the next few hours is another nice hacienda call Tambopaxi, and sits just a short distance from the base of Cotopaxi and will be our launching point for tonight's climb. Our plan is to wake up around 10pm, have a quick breakfast and hopefully be out the door close to 11. Then we'll hop in our bus and drive to the base of the mountain where we'll begin our climb.
Based on how well this group did on
Cayambe, I'm guessing it will take us around seven hours to reach the summit if all goes well.
Keep your fingers crossed for us!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Hola from Ecuador!
Things are great here on the equator. We had a fantastic climb on
Cayambe in the most amazing weather I've ever had. We started our climb by waking up at 11pm to ensure we had plenty of time for the day ahead. Everyone did a good job of getting ready in our tiny hut that was a little cramped for the 11 of us. Once the team was ready and had plenty of fresh coffee we were out the door at midnight as expected. The weather was clear and calm all night which was perfect, and the team saw dozens of shooting stars and even an amazing lightning storm far off over the Amazon. We made our way steadily up the mountain climbing close together and stopped for short breaks every hour to eat and drink. The sun rose shortly before we climbed the final steep section where we took a little time to snap pictures and put on our sunglasses. We summited just after 6am with the entire team and spent about a half hour enjoying the unbelievable view we had. Not a cloud in the sky and all of the mountains in view, it was spectacular to say the least.
The descent went relatively smooth and before long we were back at the hut tired but very happy. We took a short break then packed up all of our gear and then headed south to the always wonderful food and hospitality of hacienda Chilcabamba.
Check it out for yourself.
After some much deserved and needed sleep the team spent the day relaxing around the hacienda. Everyone enjoyed the day watching the endless hummingbirds visit, playing lots of cribbage and a few of us went on a short horseback ride in the countryside.
Everyone is in great spirits and looking forward to another good night of sleep before tomorrow night's upcoming climb.
Buenos noches from Ecuador!
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Quick note from
RMI Guide Casey Grom on the
Cayambe summit:
100% on top!
Once the team is back to camp, Casey will send photos and a dispatch.
Congratulations to the Team!
On The Map
Hello again everyone,
All is well here in
Ecuador. We had a slight technical issue yesterday which delayed our ability to send a dispatch.
So let me bring everyone up to speed. Yesterday we checked out of our warm and comfortable hacienda and made our way to the famous Otavalo market. It's the largest market in Ecuador and one of the largest in all of South American. The team spent a few hours negotiating the endless maze of goods for sale and worked on our bartering skills- some did better than others. :)
After everyone satisfied their shopping desires we headed uphill towards
Cayambe, our first major climbing objective. The road to Cayambe is long, rough, and an accomplishment in itself. We were amazed that our bus was able to make it so far on what is clearly a 4x4 road. There were several times I was sure the mud was going to win, but somehow Hector, our daring driver was able to make it through. We hiked the final hour to the hut at Cayambe to help with our acclimatizing and spent the remainder of the evening relaxing.
Today the team woke early with a big breakfast and plenty of coffee. We then hiked up to the start of the glacier which is about an hour away, and spent a few hours refreshing our skills for tomorrow's climb. While out on the glacier we were not only amazed at the beautifully clear day, but also incredibly lucky to see a condor soaring not far away! Once back at the hut we reviewed the plan for the upcoming climb and got everything packed up and ready to go. A special thanks to
Leon for whipping up one heck of a nice meal for everyone.
The team is off to bed now as we are waking early for tomorrow's climb. Wish us luck!!!
And one more thing... Keep your cell phones handy tomorrow morning. One lucky trivia winner will be making a satellite call from the summit if all goes well.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Hola from Ecuador!
Today the team left the busy city of Quito and headed north to the much smaller and far more rural town of Otavalo. We were hoping to do a acclimatization hike on a small mountain called Fuya Fuya, but due to a little rain, thunder and lightning, we opted for a little acclimatization while eating pizza! And based on what happened to all the pizza, it was a huge success.
It was an enjoyable drive along the Pan-American highway through the
Ecuadorian countryside. We passed many farms magically perched on hillsides and what seemed to be endless rose plantations. We spent the remainder of the afternoon playing cards, reading, taking naps and a review of all the gear we'll need for our upcoming climb. We are currently relaxing in the comfort of
La Casa Sol.
Everyone is doing great and looking forward to tomorrow's adventure.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew.
December 11, 2014 - 6:57 pm PT
The team here in Ecuador got their first taste of altitude today, on the hills that surround Quito. This morning we rode the teleferico to 13,000 feet and began our trek up
Pichincha on the rutted trails that wind up to its rocky 15,000 ft summit. It was a day to pressure our bodies into absorbing the thin atmosphere and experience the weather patterns that commonly occur here. So the last half hour of our descent was a mixture of rain and hail and by 2:30 the team was drying off in the hotel and relaxing before dinner. This will be our last evening in Quito and our trip commences north towards Cayambe.
RMI Guides Leon Davis & Casey Grom and Team
On The Map
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Missed the update today. Hope all is going well. Greetings to Michael.
Posted by: sesixth on 1/24/2015 at 10:34 pm
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