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We are in Quito, heading out to Antisana in a little while. The trip has gone well so far. We had good acclimatization hikes and a wet hike up to the Illiniza hut, but then the weather cleared and we summitted Illiniza Norte the next day. We rested, had a lot of soup, and climbed Illiniza Sur yesterday. Todd fell ill (flu?), so he stayed behind, but Rene and I managed to get the team of six up the normal route in a fair amount of time. Though receding rapidly over the last few years, the glacier was snow covered and offered good cramponing. We passed the bergschrund fairly easily, climbed some moderate angled snow, and topped out on the wild looking summit mushroom. Everyone is feeling healthy, and we are looking forward to giving Antisana a shot. I will send more news soon. Cheers December 13, 2004: Ascent of Antisana The approach to Antisana was beautiful. We walked for about two hours up the paramo, and camped in an alpine meadow which offered a spectacular view of Antisana when a fog cleared in late evening. The route was very interesting, and we enjoyed the fact that there was no trace of the presence of other climbers, unlike on the more popular peaks in Ecuador. We climbed up a steady grade of about 37 degrees from the start of the glacier up to about 17,700 feet. There it rounded off, and we had to traverse to the north side of the mountain, occasionally dipping into crevasses, climbing back out, then traversing a very steep slope for about 1000 feet. One last tricky move over a 'schrund brought us up to a big, round, summit plateau. We had spectacular views of Cotopaxi, Cayambe, and the smoking cones of Tungurahua and Reventador. On the descent it became extremely hot. Not a lot of air between us and the sun at noon on the equator at 18,000 feet! Most of us were exhausted from the heat once we returned to basecamp, and we spent the rest of the afternoon napping before wolfing down one final high altitude dinner and then going back to sleep. As we left the area yesterday, the clouds parted and gave us a view of Antisana's formidable southwest face. Beautiful mountain. Now everyone is either resting in Quito, or flying back home. Over and out, December 17, 2003: Cayambe, Cotopaxi, and Chimborazo December 30, 2004: Ascent of Chimborazo The other half of our group, Nancy, Michael M., and Jerry joined our local guide Patricio for a climb of Carihuairazo (16,496'), a jagged remnant of an extinct volcano lying just northeast of Chimborazo. Their climb went well, involving a rugged, bushwhacking approach across the paramo, steep climbing on dry glacier, and some steep rock thrown in at the end. All were on top by 9:00am. Now we all have reason to celebrate. With fresh summits on our belts and fresh food under them, we've been enjoying the events leading up to Ecuador's New Years festivities. Driving any street here involves paying a toll to children who guard elaborate road-blocks. Effigies (life-sized straw-filled replicas of real people) are on sale on every street, and many of them are recognizable. They include members of the Ecuadorian government (and an assortment of world leaders), movie stars, and just about any personality that someone would wish to model in straw, soak in gasoline, and ignite./p>
Prospero año, January 7, 2004: Cayambe and Cotopaxi "On Cotopaxi, after a day of blowing snow as we made it to the hut, it then cleared up nicely and even got cold for six hours before we started our ascent at 1a.m. We started with good conditions and we readily climbed to within 800 feet of the summit face. There we hit the deep snow that we had been expecting all along. Very quickly it was over our knees and close to waist deep as we started up the face that was up to 50 degrees steep." "Concerned with the avalanche danger I dug pits on differing aspects, the first showing very little danger but the second only 100 feet higher and on an aspect that was a more gentle 40 degrees and further north gave me a slab about a foot thick on top of a fairly hard icy surface that was not too difficult to move. With the sun not yet on this surface but on its way, I considered the danger "high," and so we turned around. All other parties on the mountain followed suit." "We let the snow settle down and returned two days later for an excellent climb. Clear skies gave us views of both the big dipper and the southern cross with Orion accompanying us throughout the night. We made excellent time through the lower section of the glacier, which is very broken up (with many interesting crevasse problems to sneak around and jump over). The upper portion, which stopped us before, had definitely settled down but was still the crux with 50 degree climbing at 19,000-feet. I believe we gained a fair bit of respect from the local guides (which oddly enough is not that easy to come by) when instead of waiting for half an hour at a bottle neck of steep ice near the top we forged to the north and created an alternative ascent line that avoided the wait and also provided us with great snow climbing on steep ground. It helped all parties on the mountain, as there was now an ascent and descent route through this difficult area. We topped out just after dawn in calm weather and with clear skies (the temperature was probably just a little above freezing - very comfortable). And the summit was spectacular! We could see from Cayambe to Chimborazo with views of both Sangay and El Altar through the clouds of ash that Tunguragua was belching." "We arrived in semi-tropical Baños safe and sound for a little rest, but this was the eve of the new year, so the place was going crazy! There were masked kids and adults touring the streets, swaggering and singing. It was crazy by 3:00 p.m., and stayed so through the wee hours. People do have fun here!"
"So in sum, unusual snows complicated things at times, but we got in some great climbing. We all had a good time throughout, and the new snows should help keep the mountains in good shape for the rest of the season." January 9, 2004: Illiniza/Antisana Expedition "Our trip started out auspiciously with lots of fun climbing on both Pasachoa [13,776'] and Guagua Pichincha [15,670'] as acclimatization climbs. Our hikes were coming on the tail end of a very unusual rain/snow storm, which dumped lots of new snow in the mountains and created unique conditions and unusual snowy scenery. It briefly looked like winter in Ecuador, with less of the dominant green that we normally see." "On the day we got to Illiniza, we packed up our horses with gear and food and hiked to the hut where we would be for the next three days, including New Years night. When we arrived at the refugio, we rested, had warm drinks, and then reviewed roping-up, tying knots, and belaying. Julie and David both had good experience, so this was easy to do. We then headed to bed for an early attempt on Illiniza Sur." "Up at 3:00 a.m. and we were caked in fog, which we swam through to the edge of the glacier. This has receded drastically not only in years past, but even in the last 6 months the change is noticeable. Who doubts global warming? We climbed up a mixed rock/snow section, and then gained a 55-60 degree snow and ice ramp that we followed for a thousand feet. Beautiful climbing! About 700ft from the summit I concluded that that with all the new snow it was more prudent to retreat before the equatorial sun really started to heat up the snowpack. Avalanches and weak snow bridges would become a major concern as the day progressed if we stayed longer. So not to the very top, but it was an excellent climb that we all enjoyed a lot." "We descended to the hut, but since we were feeling strong and well acclimatized, we decided to go for the linkup, climbing Illiniza Norte as well. We summitted Illiniza Norte with great ease, and other than 700ft of Illiniza Sur almost completed "Illiniza Norte/Illiniza Sur" in a day. It was a lot of fun. That night, we celebrated New Year's. Ecuadorians have a tradition of burning effigies to put the last year to rest. We hadn't talked politics at all, but out of the blue the hut keeper drew a picture of Saddam Hussein, taped it to a body (arms and legs made of garbage and toilet paper) and lit the whole shamboozel on fire. Very strange. This was done to the backdrop of the Andes. We could see bright lights in villages below and assumed they too were burning figures from the past year." "We came off of the mountain the next day and rested in a great hacienda near the village of Machachachi (famous for bottling Guitig water), for a restful night and great food. Then we went on to Antisana, off-roading in the park to get to our base camp. We arrived, set up camp and our cooktent, and went to bed. The night brought a new storm system with it, including winds gusting to 70mph. Quite inconveniently the wind knocked down our kitchen stove set-up and our cook tent twice, even when it was lashed to our jeep!" "We attempted the mountain the next morning, but at a certain point we could barely stand up to the wind. Recognizing that this was not ideal, we decided to cut our losses the next day and drive to Cayambe for some steep ice technique to round out the technical portion of the trip. It was a great choice, and the climbing was excellent. We enjoyed a lot of steep ice including one multi-pitch route through the icefall that topped out on an impressive serac! I'm pleased to report we all had a great trip - excellent climbing and interesting cultural experiences, including the Ecuadorian New Year." January 20, 2005: Ascents of Gua Gua Pichincha and the Illinizas January 23, 2005: Ascent of Antisana On Saturday, Jan 22 at approximately 9:48 am, we summitted a rather benevolent Antisana (a gift for all our hard
work on Illiniza Sur!). I have climbed this peak approximately 5 times since 2000 and have never seen it in such
accommodating conditions: technical terrain with no technical climbing. After leaving the 15,300-foot base camp
at 3:15 a.m., we proceeded up gentle moraines for about 1.5 hours before hitting the glacier. From there, moderately
steep slopes took us to the base of the heavily guarded summit plateau. Over the years, it has always been a roll of
the dice whether the route goes right or left around the final, massive schrund. This year, we opted for a rightward
traverse to the west and found salvation in a broken but passable route. Two hours later, we were standing on the
summit. January 24, 2005: Ascents of Cayambe, Cotopaxi, and Chimborazo The conditions on all of the peaks are currently very dry (for example, much of the bottom of the
glacier on Cayambe is hard ice), but the conditions on our climb were excellent. Clear starry skies, no wind, and
not too cold! The snow higher on the mountain was in excellent shape, and the upper part of the route proved more
exciting and steeper than most folks were expecting. We had one interesting crevasse bridge to cross. We stepped
carefully across it while looking down through holes next to our feet into the depths! After that came a couple of
steep sections which required the steep climbing skills we had practiced the day before and that led us to the
summit. It was a beautiful sunny morning, perfect for pictures of smiling faces! After moving south and getting a brief rest at a hacienda, we headed up to the refugio on Cotopaxi.
Between 6 p.m. and midnight it snowed about 2 inches, but by the time we left the refugio at 1 a.m., the skies had
cleared and the weather was perfect. The bottom of the route was not as dry as the glacier on Cayambe, and we
quickly got onto excellent snow. The climb is currently very direct and the angle unrelenting. After several hours,
we were in sight of the summit slopes, but still had the steepest part of the route to climb. The last big crevasse
is constantly changing and is currently crossed by descending into the crevasse and traversing the inside of the
lower lip until you can climb back out and cross the crevasse on a snow bridge. This was a very interesting maneuver!
The steep slopes above led us to the summit again under beautiful blue skies. The views down into the summit crater
as well as of the neighboring peaks were excellent! Chimborazo is currently very dry and has changed considerably since I was last on it. It was
interesting to be crossing long slopes of hard ice embedded with rock and dirt, where I had previously only
experienced snow. This climb proved very challenging for everyone and tested our climbing skills. Once we were off
the dry, lower glacier, the ridge steepened and turned to beautiful dense ice climbing for about two pitches. After
a strenuous morning of moving up this slope, some folks made the decision to turn around, while one of our party
continued toward the summit. The upper slopes proved to be in excellent conditions and even the traverse from the
Ventimilla summit to the higher Whymper summit was possible. By 8 a.m. we had one team member standing on the most
distant point from the center of the earth! We had a wonderful day of rest in Banos after our climbs and still had enough energy to do a little
mountain biking along the "avenue of the cascades" below Banos (mostly downhill, of course!) It was truly a wonderful
trip and with a great team of climbers. Each person really helped make it a fun-filled, safe, and successful trip. I
am happy to have had the opportunity to join them all on this adventure. I am certainly looking forward to the next
one! [Congratulations to Carol Masheter (Salt Lake City) Richard Katzman (Waterbury, VT), Josh Katzman
(Arlington, MA), Dan Smith (Broadview Heights, OH), Mike Kehoe (San Antonio), and Jeff Glans (South Port, CT)] |