Iliniza Norte, 5126m (16,818 ft)

With Cotopaxi done, Parofes and I had planned Cayambe. However, illness derailed that plan for Parofes. After talking with Dan, I decided to try Iliniza Norte.

We hiked in after getting dropped off at 7:15 am. It was a great day and we had beautiful views of the mountains during the approach. The whole hike in we saw dangerous clouds on Sur, but our target, Norte, was cloud free! The only concern was the fresh snow, which can make what is a technically straight-forward and fairly easy climb much more dangerous.


After a long approach, we began the ascent. After about an hour and a half, we reached the Paso del Muerte (Death´s pass, or the Pass of Death). Normally not all that dangerous, the fresh snow and ice meant we had to get out our crampons, snow boots, and ice axes. This was a fun section, requiring us to tread carefully.

I made it through this section and then quickly rushed by another group begining their descent. And then I was there, the summit! The photo below is looking down the rock ridge from the summit.

But where was Parofes? Since he had been ill, he had gone a little slower. As we weren´t roped in, I had managed to get a bit ahead of him. I waited on the summit until clouds pushed me off out of concern over a storm. I had to descend looking for him, which was a little harrowing in the white-out conditions of the cloud. I was happy to find him back near the start of the Paso del Muerte, but I was concerned as to what had happened. It turns out that group I passed had been kicking loose all kinds of snow, ice, and rock, making for dangerous falling debris. The result, he couldn´t summit! The photo below is him climbing back up the Paso del Muerte in the clouds.

A little bummed by that, we descended out of concern for the soft snow and ice and the changing weather. Then it was back to Quito for a big dinner at Tio Billy´s!

Cotopaxi Successfully Summited

Cotopaxi was quite the ordeal, a butt-kicking really.

We took the van in the morning of the 13th. We could see the mountain on approach and had to stop for photos several times.

This mountian was to be the highlight for us, and we were all in high spirits. We hiked up to the refuge, which was no small feat! We had our large packs and were at 4810m! This first day was spent resting, laying in bed once we got up there. I´d like to note here our snack for that day: bread with cheese and mustard. Can I say AWESOME?

The next day was an early rise, as we had to get to Snow School. After a breakfast of granola and blackberry yogurt, we hiked out onto the snow at the base of the glaciar. We practiced walking as a rope team, self-arrest, and other ice skills during the morning. It was then back to bed at about 10am, resting until lunch at 1pm. Finally we rested again until dinner at 5pm, another meal which deserves note: pasta with tomato, ricotta, and chestnut pesto. Delish.

After dinner, it was rest time until our summit push. The altitude has not been too much of an issue for me: I was eating well and sleeping without much difficulty. When I wasn´t sleeping, I was reading Ghandi´s autobiography, possibly a new favorite book! But I digress. We awoke at 12:15am, having planned on a 1 am start since we had been crushing all our other climbs and expected to make a great pace. It took us 30 minutes to suit up, getting all our layers on, boots, gaiters, and final packing of our bags. We then took breakfast, eating some danish and drinking hot, hot coffee. Finally, we were off!

We were one of the last teams out, leaving at 1:10 am, but as we proceeded unroped on the snow up to the glaciar, we began to overtake multiple teams. We reached the glaciar quickly, running into a group of about three teams at the base of the steep snow and ice that marked the begining of the glaciar. They were getting their ropes out and preping the team for the real start of the climb. Instead of setting down with the teams there, we made our way up the steep ascent and roped in at the top. This enabled us to pass these teams. A quick change of plans resulted in Tim and Stephan being roped in with our Ecuadorian guide, Ronaldo, and Dan and I operating as a two person rope team.

We ascended the glaciar in the dark of night, only able to see as far as our headlamps would show us. During the descent, I realized this to be a good thing: I had no idea the degree of exposure on some sections! Three specific locations are worth mention. The first was an ice wall that we had to traverese the base of. To do so, we had to walk with our sides to the wall along an ice ledge about six to eight inches wide with a 75 degree slope to the side. The second site was pretty much identical to the first. The third site was a steep ice climb, requiring us to front-point our crampons into the ice and use our axes for hand grips. The photo below is of us doing the same section, during the descent.

And finally, we were there. Exausted and freezing (from the start I had been fighting frost bite on my toes, and then on my hands), we reached the summit. What a view! We were the first team to ascend that morning, having passed all of them on the ascent, and our arrival was timed perfectly to the rising sun! A blistering pace, we summited at 5:50 am, after 4 hours and 40 minutes.


The descent was painful: as I regained the feeling in my feet, I also began to feel the big blisters on my pinky toes. Obviously, I was a very happy camper to make it back to the refuge!

Rucu's Direct Route and the Ventana del Muerte

Now here was an adventure! After taking the teleferico up and hiking to the rock base (see previous post on Rucu for details of that trek), we busted out our ropes and harness for a very exposed climb. Dan climbed ahead, fixing gear (protection to hold the rope to rock in case someone fell) for the rest of us. We then used prusicks (a kind of knot that can slide one way, so that if you fall the knot and rope hold you) to follow. As I had the most experience climbing, I got to climb last and clean all the protection as I went (essential removing the gear from the rocks and taking it with me, also coiling the rope as I climb). THIS WAS SO COOL! And then we get to the venta del muerte (window of death), which was just so freaking awesome (see the photo below!).

All in all, we had a great summit. Today is rest day in Quito, tomorrow we leave early for Cotopaxi! That means no more news until I get back late on Saturday!

And so it begins, Pasochoa

Our first climbing trip with ET was an attempt on Pasochoa. This is a small mountain located outside of Quito that gave Tim and Stephan a chance to acclimatize. We got an early ride out of the city, eventually bringing us to this cobbled but deteriorated road. After a bone-jarring trip, we passed through the gates of a hacienda before beginning our trek. It was very straightforward, just a bit muddy. We got a little rain on the ascent, too. We summited without difficulty, climbing both the real and false summit. The real summit was fun, entailing a little scramble. Also, there was a giant crack at the top: instead of climbing down and going around it like the rest of the team, I jumped it! As you can see from the photo, I didn't quite make it all the way across...

We returned to Quito for a tasty burger at Tio Billy's before an early bedtime, as we readied for Rucu.

Welcome to Quito, ET!

On Saturday, January 8th, the climbers from ET arrived. We are staying at a really nice hotel, a great upgrade from the hostal I had been staying at! The first morning, we all met up for breakfast at the Magic Bean, a real treat: I had yogurt with granola and fried eggs, it was delicious! We spent the morning with some briefings, getting oriented to Quito, Ecuador, and our itinerary. We also began getting to know each other: Stephan is a young guy, works for EPA in DC, while Tim is in his mid-40´s and works as a general contractor in Boston. That afternoon we toured Quito, specifically Old Town. This was a lot of fun, touring the churches and just sort of running all over the place.

That night, we planned and packed for Pasochoa.

No Major Updates - Waiting in Quito

We have been having some less than ideal weather on the mountains. Parofes left Thursday morning for the Ilinizas, but snow trumpted his summit efforts. I stayed in Quito, taking a rest day. My heels were swollen from 3 mountains in four days, so I lounged around reading a Dean Kootnz book and relaxing. Like I said, no real news.

On Friday, I met an American at the hostal who had been traveling through Central America and had just gotten to Quito. She was planning on going out to Mitad del Mundo, the site built up over where the equator is supposed to pass. We caught an early bus out to the main terminal and caught a connecting bus from there. Mitad del Mundo was interesting enough; they have an small museum with info on Ecuador´s indigenous populations. We stopped for a light lunch, a waffle with fruit, whip cream, and ice cream, before heading back into Quito. Once there I took some time to get my logistics all arranged for meeting up with Earth Treks. While at the hostal planning this, I bumped into a group of Americans I had met the week before; they had just gotten off Cotopaxi (succesful summit; the weather has broken). They told me an ET group had summited too! Low and behold, a little research and I find out that Chris Warner and some other ET group is down here right now. I surmise it´s a private Wharton Business School group... Anyways, bumped into Parofes that evening. He had been turned back by snow at the paso de muerte (the pass of death, which is exactly as it sounds). He will be making an attempt at Cotopaxi on Sunday/Monday; best of luck to him.

Parofes and I are arranging our attempt on Cayambe, the country´s most dangerous peak. The current plan is that we will join his buddy, a local guide with 10 successful summits on Cayambe, and make a three-person alpine ascent. We will likely organize on 16th, leaving that evening, and attempt the summit in the wee hours of the 18th. Very excited, very hopeful that we can pull it off!

Succesful Guagua Pichincha Summit

After the early defeats, it feels great to make some summits! Tuesday evening, after the successful Rucu summit, I met Paulo Roberto, aka Parofes. He is a very famous Brazilian climber, know for his solo climbs on many of Latin America's highest and hardest peaks. He had just returned from an unsuccessful attempt at Cotopaxi (the weather is shit there right now; snow, snow, and more snow). After that frustrating defeat, he was eager to get a summit. That night, we discussed options for climbing Guagua, about 20 km away from central Quito and is the partner mountain of Rucu. It is much harder to get to, requiring either a traverse from Rucu, which is a long day or more likely a two day affair, or a hike from nearby Lloa.

The next morning we awoke to gray skies. We ate breakfast before running down to the internet cafe, trying to find out what the weather had in store for us. On our way out, we met another American, Danni, and invited him along. The weather forecast did not look good, but we said to hell with it and decided we would try. Lo and behold, as we took a taxi to Lloa the clouds started to burn off. Traditionally, to do Guagua, you either hike from Lloa or take a 4W truck up the road to a parking lot at 4050m. We had planned on the hike, but it's a heck of one: over 6 hours with a 1800m elevation gain. However, when we got to Lloa our taxi driver offered to find out about the chance of us getting a ride up further, as we were short on time. We stop in the center of town in front of the police station and the taxi driver runs in. He comes out in about 3 minutes with a man in a nice suit, who is introduced as 'el jefe de la policia,' or the chief of police. After introductions, he immediately begins bargaining with us for a ride up the road! A few moments later and its agreed, and off we go! We get up to about 3800m before a landslide blocked the road, forcing us out of the car.

We hiked along the road, all making good pace. Parofes was taking his time, enjoying the view (clouds had cleared up and we were getting great views of the valley around us) while Danni and I kept a strong and steady pace. We quickly made it to the parking lot and then on to the refuge, following the switchback road. The refuge sits at 4550m, and from there we had two options: follow the easy, clear trail to the left up to the crater's rim before following the rim to the summit, or traverse the base of the summit pyramid and then follow scree up. We opted for the later, working our way up along the fresh snow that was sporadically present. We reached a ridge line and then quickly followed that to the summit. The summit push was 30 degree hike, nothing too serious. The summit was awesome, marked by a large pillar that, when held, allowed to lean over the lip of the crater and peer down into the active volcano. Unfortunately, we could only see steam and fog, but we sure smelled the sulfur! Time to summit, 3850m to 4776m: 2 hours even.


We were joined at the summit by three Spaniards, seen below traversing the rim.


Notes on Guagua: Equipment was insufficient; very cold and windy at summit. In addition to base, thin soft shell, and hard shell, thicker soft shell was needed. Clear path to refuge, and from refuge to rim. If taking traverse, follow higher where scree is more stable. Avoid the direct path up the scree, as this is the descent path and is very tiring to try to hike up. No altitude effects. Drank 1 L of H20. Boots were still damp at start, but dried quickly.

Photos shared with permission from Paulo Roberto, aka Parofes. See more at http://parofess.blogspot.com/.