Entries from Ecuador
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
As the phone call from earlier today said, we had an absolutely phenomenal day climbing Cotopaxi. The team as a whole was saddened by the withdrawal of Ginger from the climb itself but but we were all so impressed by her selfless decision to remain at the hut and not attempt the climb do to a nagging chest infection. When climbers put their team first over their ego and personal ambitions, it reveals much about their true character. Ginger we missed you today. After descending from our surreal summit, we quickly packed up at the hut and marched the 15 minutes downhill to the waiting van. Our amazing local guide, Jaime Avila went home to Quito to prepare for his return to Chimborazo and the rest of us are now resting peacefully at a 400 year old hacienda south of Quito. I simply can't remember a nicer day in Ecuador.
Voicemail Message: Hello! This is Adam with Casey, Jaime and the crew on top of Cotopaxi! Ginger stayed behind at the hut this morning as she was not feeling well. Everyone else is on top on the most beautiful day we could have asked for. It is almost a fair trade - I would give a day like we had on Cayambe to have a day like this on Cotopaxi. It is a beautiful, beautiful place to be. Everyone is feeling great and all is well. We will check in later from La Cienega.
RMI Guides Adam Knoff & Casey Grom
On The Map
Well done on reaching the summit - and great to see you had such a fantastic day for it! Enjoy being back to ground level (still higher than anywhere here in NZ!). Brett
Posted by: Brett Vautier on 1/13/2013 at 12:25 pm
Congrats on a successful summit. Good luck on your third MT.
Posted by: Jane on 1/13/2013 at 10:32 am
Finally, we headed for the hills! A quick breakfast at San Luis and an easy checkout (not necessarily the norm) made for a smooth start to another busy day cruising around Ecuador. Right off the bat we headed for the Otavalo marketplace, world famous for its street food and local handicrafts. It being Saturday, the market frenzy was at a climax and the gang enjoyed a unique opportunity to experience Ecuadorian and more specially Otavalan culture. Not wanting to risk a potential intestinal disruption, we decided to grab lunch at the Cafe de la Vaca on our way over to Cayambe. After hiking for about an hour we arrived at the Refugio high on Cayambe's flank and settled in. Freshly baked pizzas for dinner were a welcome change to typical mountain food. Everybody is bracing for a rough first night above 15,000'. We'll check in tomorrow and let you know how the first night went.
All for now,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Welcome to another installment of the Ecuador Volcanoes 2013 blog. After an early rise and a quick breakfast the team checked out of the hotel, loaded up the wagons, and headed north out of Quito for another acclimatization hike. A good bit of driving brought us through the town of Otovalo where we turned off the highway and headed up into the mountains on a cobblestone road. We were climbing towards the crater of Cerro Fuya Fuya; a large, extinct volcano whose crater is filled with an impressive and beautiful lake. We were able to drive into the crater and alongside the like. Starting from the shore, our hike took us up to the summit of the highest point of the surrounding crater. The team moved well and was in great spirits - we all thoroughly enjoyed the spectacular surroundings and wish it didn't have to end so soon. Alas, we found ourselves piling back into the van headed for a local hacienda to spend the night. The rooms and grounds here at Hacienda San Luis are a bit more rustic than the Hotel Mercure in Quito but are still quite charming. I will say the setting and the views out here in the countryside beat Quito by a landslide. The crew is currently hanging out before dinner and hoping for some hot water so we can take a last shower before heading into the big mountains tomorrow afternoon.
Until tomorrow,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Dawn and Len: Hope you are having lots of fun. Good luck tomorrow on your climb. We are enjoying the postings.
Mom, dad, and Allan
Posted by: Mom, dad, and Allan on 1/13/2013 at 8:36 pm
Dawn and Len, we’re thinking of you, hope you are having fun, good luck with your climbs !!
Emily, Simone and John
Posted by: John Higa on 1/12/2013 at 12:56 pm
Hi Everyone,
Thanks to the Chilcabamba Eco Lodge the team has been well fed and all are well rested. After a leisurely breakfast the team finished packing for another climb before our ride arrived. It took as an hour to reach the parking lot at 15,000’. We hiked for about 45 minutes to reach the hut at Cotopaxi which resembles a modern two story house.
All is well and the weather is improving. We will spend the next few hours playing cards, getting some sleep and plan to awake at midnight. If things go well we should arrive on the summit of Cotopaxi near sunrise. We will call from there if the mountain allows us to do so.
Wish us luck!
RMI Guides Casey Grom, Adam Knoff and Crew
HOOOOOOORAH! Can’t wait to see the Summit picture! and very happy to get the phone call. Congratulations! Rest now and eat…soon you will return to reality with a super accomplishment and memory. Love, Mom
Posted by: Pat Gray on 1/12/2013 at 9:20 am
Glad to hear the weather is cooperating finally. Hope you were able to summit and if not, I’m sure you are having a blast! I am jealous and next time you can take me along just to be your interpreter!
Love you,
Tia Ginni
Posted by: Ginni Fennema on 1/11/2013 at 8:52 pm
Posted by: Adam Knoff, Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Hello Everyone,
After a severe spanking on our first climbing objective, expedition skills seminar Ecuador has settled into a well deserved day of rest. Here at Chilcabamba, a beautiful rustic Eco lodge located ten miles north west of Cotopaxi, Ecuador's most famous mountain, we have been treated like royalty. Luckily, whatever crazy wind dance some angry jungle tribe did to irritate the mountain climbers has seemed to run its course. So, by this afternoon many of the dark clouds and biting wind gusts seemed to have subsided which by dinner time treated the team to spectacular views of the mountain we are to attempt next.
Because Cayambe was such a struggle, we opened today up to doing anything, within reason, each person wanted to do. Armed with the the Spanish speaking skills of a two year old, I did my best to arrange a car to drive five willing folks to Machachi, the nearest town. When a pickup arrived with seating enough for four, shoulders were shrugged, the back seat was packed sardine style and twenty minutes later Ginger's legs were numb. But so goes travel. After a few hours in town the team returned and a quality debrief of our Cayambe experience hopefully prepared us better for what's to come on Cotopaxi. By 5 p.m. more training ensued and Clark was imitating self arrest in the front yard peppered with llama poop while Albert attempted to mock rescue Ginger out of the imaginary grass crevasse. Who needs a glacier? This segued perfectly into dinned and eventually into Jan and Gary kicking the guide's tails in a heated game of cribbage.
The team is growing closer every day and can't wait to attempt another climb. Stay tuned.
RMI Guides Adam Knoff & Casey Grom
Love to hear Clark is covered in Llama poop! Hope you’re all having a great time.
Posted by: Charlie W-G on 1/11/2013 at 12:13 pm
Love the updates!! Glad you all had a needed day of rest!
Posted by: vicky vogt on 1/11/2013 at 8:51 am
Posted by: Billy Nugent
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Another great day here (barely) south of the equator! We woke up this morning to slightly overcast skies that made me wonder if we were going to see anything at all today on our first acclimatization hike. Nevertheless, the team hopped a few taxis in front of the hotel and headed over to the Teleférico. A short gondola ride deposited us at an elevation just shy of 13,000'. Despite the cloud cover above we enjoyed clear and sweeping views of the metropolis below and even some occasional sun breaks came through to heat us up very quickly as we hiked along. After a little over three hours of hiking and a fun rock scramble we found ourselves standing on the summit of Rucu Pichincha! At an elevation above 15,000' many personal altitude records were broken today. We took some photos, hung out a bit hoping the cloud would dissipate for a split second (no luck), and began our sandy descent. After a mildly adventurous ride back to the hotel the gang has been chilling out while Katie and I did a little grocery shopping. Another team dinner tonight should commemorate our last evening in Quito before we head for the hills.
Talk tomorrow...
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Posted by: Billy Nugent
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
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
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
Posted by: Adam Knoff, Casey Grom
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
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
This is Albert’s Mom speaking..special thanks to Adam Knoff and Casey Grom for guiding your team on such sn adventure!..... safely and to the summit! The blog updates and pictures were awesome and I wish you and all guides safe climb, be well and thank you! Pat Gray
Posted by: Pat Gray on 1/14/2013 at 11:08 am
Tx for text today..thankful for the good decision..disappointing for you ..but SAFETY FIRST. Good weather on the next trip up..Enjoy! the experience. Pics are amazing! Mom
Posted by: Pat Gray on 1/10/2013 at 2:27 pm
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
Thought the wind may have died down - seems to have arrived in NZ last couple of days. Good luck with progress up the peak. Brett
Posted by: Brett Vautier on 1/9/2013 at 12:25 pm
“May the trail rise to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
May the snow fall soft after your decent.
And until we meet again may the mountain spirits hold you in the palm of their hand.”
-Slightly modified Irish Blessing
Carpe Diem Montañeros :)
Posted by: Saint Patrick on 1/14/2013 at 12:29 pm
Isn’t Morning a Great Thing?!! Have Fun!!!! Our spirits are with you All!
Posted by: Deb on 1/14/2013 at 9:02 am
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