| Jan. 5th, 2008 @ 05:18 pm Ecuador travel bits |
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Sometime in October I decided to go on a climbing trip and started looking for places. After looking around for a while I zeroed in on Ecuador. Ecuador was a great choice as the Avenue of Volcanoes in Ecuador has quite a few high but accessible peaks and more importantly, was within my budget. After making all the necessary arrangements and buying climbing equipment (most used from ebay) I toured Ecuador for sixteen days from December 13-29. The whole excursion was a memorable experience with breathtaking scenery, exhilarating and daunting climbs and a short glimpse of a whole new cultural vista. A major reason for the trip being what it was was the people I met - our guides Wilson and Hugo were excellent, and the other members of the group - Andy, Colleen, Eric, Ghee and Tengren - were all great fun. And there were the mountains, beautiful and humbling.
The tour began inauspiciously with a flight/weather problem that had me ending up in Guayaquil instead of Quito, where I had to stay overnight at the airport. The picturesque in-flight to Quito the next day partially made up for the miserable night however. Before coming here, I told myself that I'd try any exotic food that I can get, but when I saw Sopa de Lengua (soup made out of bull's tongue) on the menu (at the first Ecuadorian restaurant I went to), I couldn't.
The next day was the first day of the tour. After meeting up with the rest of the group - Andy and Colleen from Colorado, Tengren, Ghee from Chicago and Eric from Arizona and our guides Wilson and Hugo, we went around Otavalo market and Cuicocha crater lake. I was surprised to learn that Otavalo market is the third most visited place in Ecuador (with Quito and Galapagos being the first and second).
Day 3 we headed to Rucu Pichincha an active volcano standing at 4700m. The normal route up the mountain is supposed to be an easy hike good for acclimatization with a vertical gain of about 3000 feet. We took the ridge route which involved rock climbing with some segments probably 5.7-5.8 and quite a bit of exposure, rappelling and climbing down in volcanic gravel. As this was the highest I've been to - till then - and I had not done any rock climbing before, I was quite exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel after hiking for about 10 hours. And I had a terrible headache to attend to.
Day 4 was a tour of Quito. Quito is a unique and fascinating city. The whole city wraps around the slopes of an active volcano and is surrounded by many others that can be seen from various points in the city on a clear day. The old town is particularly remarkable as a center of culture and history in Ecuador. Strangely, I also got to see the president of Ecuador waving to the crowds from his presidential palace - which got our lead guide quite excited (he, like most Ecuadorians, is a strong supporter of Rafael Correa). However, the city is quite unsafe at night - even in the tourist district - with walking on the streets after 10 strongly discouraged.
Having spent the past few days relaxing and acclimatizing we were now set to embark on our main climbs - Cayambe, Cotopaxi and Chimborazo. We set out to Cayambe refuge in two FWD's early in the morning and after a long and alluring drive got to the refuge at dusk. We spent the rest of the day relaxing to further acclimatize. In the night we were rewarded with a spectacular sky lit by a bright moon and a thunderstorm far away in the distance. In the dark we could see the summit of Antisana every now and then when a lightning struck. Even though I took a tripod with me, I couldn't get good pictures of this remarkable sight as my camera had a maximum exposure of 30 seconds.
Day 6 we set out to practice our alpine climbing skills on the glacier near by as I took my first steps on a glacier. The dinner that night was particularly exquisite with humita - a corn dish - being served for dessert.
Day 7 was the day to climb Cayambe (5790m). We started at 1 am and after about 2 hours of trekking through sludge and rock got to the glacier. Most of the climb was not technical but was extremely tiring due to the snow the day before - a step forward was invariably followed by a half step back. For the most part I didn't have the energy to take pictures when the clouds cleared up and we got some breathtaking views of the valley below. Our guide Hugo was a great help, especially with his lies about how close to the summit we were. It was disheartening to see other members of the group turning back and other teams going down having already reached the summit when we were a couple of hours from the summit. The climb got tougher and steeper as we neared the summit and the last 20-30 meters of near vertical section I bear-crawled my way through. Due to several factors only me and Eric made it to the top in our group. This was the highest I had been till then and considering how much I had exerted myself to get there, it felt like heaven to have a brief pause at the top. I was tired as I've never been before by the time we got down at around 12 PM. Fortunately, by this time I was well acclimatized and didn't have any headache. We set out to Hacienda Guachala - a laid back country inn in the Cayambe province.
Day 8 we set out from Hacienda Guachala to Hacienda Cienega - a four hundred year old mansion from the Spanish colonial times that works as a hotel now.
Day 9 we drove from Cienega to Cotopaxi refuge. Cotopaxi (5897m) is one of the highest active volcanoes in the world and the second highest peak of Ecuador with a large crater at the summit. The Cotopaxi national park was beautiful with "small" volcanoes everywhere. In the evening the clouds cleared up and we could see the summit of Cotopaxi from the refuge. The weather stayed clear for the rest of the day and the conditions seemed perfect for climbing with sun shining - a rare sight during my stay so far.
Day 10 we set out to climb Cotopaxi (5897m) at around 1am in horrible weather. There were winds at 20-30 mph blowing snow everywhere and it was real cold. Within a couple of hours three members of our group decided to turn back and many other teams made the same decision. Our lead tour guide Wilson wanted us to turn back too, but Hugo wanted to continue for another hour or so to see if the weather would let up. It felt like one of those stupid decisions you see on television that never end up too well, but three of us decided to continue - with Tengren and me in one rope team and Andy behind us. Fortunately, after sometime the weather kind of let up and the winds subsided.
As we got closer to the summit it became ridiculously steep with the last 500 meters being 45-60 grade slopes. I was scared a lot over a particular section that was very steep and where just to tease us, I guess, the clouds cleared out for us to get a view of the valley below. We were walking parallel to the mountain on a dome like structure with the summit not yet in sight and the edge 20-30 feet away. You know that behind that edge just a little away is probably not that big a fall - may be 200-300 feet - with the glacier below this dome. But you could not see the glacier behind the edge from the point I was standing at. All you could see was the dirt at the base which is at least 400-500 meters below and your eyes can really deceive your mind. You are left imagining a 500 meter fall a mere 20 feet away standing on a glacier sloping at more than 45 degrees. I tentatively asked our guide if I could pause for a second and take a picture and the answer was a strict no. You have to keep moving till you get away from this section. Finally, after about an hour, we slowly made it out of the section.
I was really exhausted at this point and the segment close to the summit which was sloped at roughly 75 degrees really took the heart out of me. I started out climbing properly - use the ice axe, dig in your crampons and lift yourself up. After about ten meters I was on all fours crawling my way up ... and the last 2-3 meters the guide pretty much had to drag me up with the rope. Three of us - Andy, Tengren and me - made it to the summit. And, as if to ridicule us, now that we were out of the scary section and on the summit it got very cloudy so that we could barely see ten feet ahead of us and we couldn't see the crater on top. At this point I was very tired and when we started climbing down my legs began to buckle. For the steep sections at the top, me and Tengren resorted to "ass-sliding" with the ice axe dug in deep, even though this is in general strongly not recommended. Again, our guide Hugo was fantastic and his lies had only gotten bigger this time.
I think only four out of all the people (excluding the guides) set out to climb that day made it to the top. We left for Cienega after lunch.
Day 11 we set out to Chimborazo from Cienega. Chimborazo is an inactive volcano and is the highest peak of Ecuador. The summit of Chimborazo is also the farthest spot from the center of Earth (even though there are many higher peaks, Chimborazo is just one degree south of the equator). Along the way we got a great full frontal view of Chimborazo. It seemed monstrous in its size. We also got to see a few Vecuña on the way to the refuge. The sky stayed pretty much clear for the entire night and it was a full moon day. It was beautiful to see the moon rise from behind the mountain. I was glad I carried a tripod.
Day 12 we idled around for most of the day and went up to the second refuge in the evening. The weather had been very clear the previous days and to me it seemed as these would be the best conditions there would be. But our guide cautioned us that if the snow melts it would be dangerous to climb as there'll be an increased risk of rock fall and avalanche. On the way to the second refuge we went past a memorial for Alexander von Humboldt who made a failed attempt to climb Chimborazo and made the first observations of altitude sickness here. There were other plaques and stones of a more grave nature - these were in memory of people who had died climbing Chimborazo.
Day 13 we set out earlier than usual at 12am as this was going to be a longer climb. At this point I was confident enough that I expected myself to climb at least till the Ventemilla summit. We had climbed for about two-three hours over some steep and slippery rock sections when our guide Hugo said that we might have to turn back as the rock was too loose. The rock did seem loose on the way up but it did not seem that bad. After a while the three guides said we have to turn back because there is too much of a risk. We were mighty disappointed and to a certain extent pissed too. But what can you do? We slowly descended back, packed our gear and left for Baños. We were pretty pissed as we thought we shouldn't have been on that route to begin with. But as one of our guides said, from where they got to the day before, the conditions didn't seem too bad on the route we took. I really wished we had an extra summit day (among all agencies that offered a similar trip, I think Mountain Madness was the only one that had an extra summit day for Chimborazo, but it was 2000$ more).
So we ended up in Baños earlier than we expected and after getting some rest, Eric and me ended up on zona de bares. After a while all of us ended up at the Leprechaun bar and pretty much got wasted. The shot in the picture is called Bob Marley (the colors are the colors of the Jamaican flag).
Day 14 we went out to see some waterfalls, took an exciting cable car ride, and I caught a trout in an artificial trout pond, meant for people like us who can't catch fish in a normal lake. In the evening we ate some Cuy - Guinea pig.
Day 15 we set out to Quito. We hadn't gotten much of an opportunity to see the night life in Quito as it is pretty scary and also because at the beginning we had to save ourselves for the climbs. All of us had dinner at some odd, but good, Tapas place. As it was pretty late already and I had to be at the airport by about 5 am it was more prudent for me to stay up all night. So Andy and me stayed up all night going around the tourist section of Quito and by the time I got to the airport at around 5 am I was pretty inebriated to say the least and I hadn't slept at all. Not surprisingly, I got pulled aside for secondary checks three times and astonishingly a couple of times for X-Ray (in case you have seen Maria full of Grace - I had to fill up the same form a couple of times).
I had a fascinating two weeks in Ecuador and climbing was great fun - more exciting than I had expected it to be. I'm reasonably certain that I'll go climbing in South America again. On our drive from Cienega to Chimborazo national park we drove for a short while on the Pan-American highway and the short drive was incomparable to anything I've seen before with a view of mountains in all four directions. I hope that someday I can drive down the Pan-American highway.
At the summit of Cayambe.
Chimborazo
Christmas Eve, Chimborazo refuge; clockwise from left - Andy, Colleen, Eric, Wilson, Hugo, Ghee, Tengren.
 
Cuy/Guinea pig; A flaming shot known as Bob Marley. |
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