Roger Kovary here, from CLIMB ECUADOR.
I recently got back from a 4 mountain/16- day climbing trip to Ecuador
with a group of 7 climbers. And after every trip, I like to
write a Newsletter of what happened and send it to everyone
on CLIMB ECUADOR’s mailing list. It’s a good way to stay in
touch. Plus, it gives me a chance to announce what trips are
next!! So without further ado, here is a list of our
upcoming trips for Summer 2003, with the Newsletter
following:
BOLIVIA: May 29 -- June 14, 2003 (17
days/$2000)
PERU (Huascaran): June 16 -- July 6, 2003 (21 days/$2700)
ECUADOR: July 7 -- July 22, 2003 (16 days/$1900)
Both the Bolivia trip and the Peru
trip are confirmed. These trips will definitely go.
The trip to Ecuador is still pending.
The Bolivia trip lasts 17 days, with 4 fully supported
climbs -- Chacaltaya (17,400 feet), Tarija (17,500 feet),
Huayna Potosi (19,974 feet) and Illimani (21,125 feet).
The Peru trip is a 21-day/3 mountain trip with climbs of
Ishinca (18,138 feet), Urus (18,023 feet) and Huascaran
(22,205 feet), Peru’s highest mountain, and the third
highest mountain in South America. The climb of Huascaran,
alone, takes 8 days. If you are interested in any of the
above trips, please call soon. All trips have the same top
service and well-planned itineraries that CLIMB ECUADOR is
now known for.
Visit
http://www.climbecuador.com
or contact Roger Kovary at
rkovary@aol.com
or (212) 362-4721 for additional information.
CLIMB ECUADOR’S recent trip to Ecuador
(Jan. 4 -- Jan. 19, 2003) went exceedingly well. The group
consisted of 7 members of a New Orleans-based climbing club
called the “Mardi Gras Mountaineers.” Groups members
included John Church, Patricia Post, Ellen Johnson, Jay
French, John Garoutte, Rob Riley and Bruce Worley. They
range in age from 40 to 68. John Church, John Garoutte and
Jay French are medical doctors. All are experienced climbers
and some had prior climbing experience in Ecuador. Two
people had already summitted Cotopaxi (19,348 feet) -- John
Church and Pat Post. Wherever we went or whatever we did,
they always brought with them their innate Southern charm
and congeniality. Group members arrived in Quito on Jan. 4.
We checked into the Hotel Ambassador. Our proposed itinerary
included climbs of Sincholagua (16,000 feet), Carihuairazo
(16,471 feet), Cotopaxi (19,348 feet) and Chimborazo (20,703
feet). On Jan. 5 we already had on our hiking boots and
hiked up to some antennas on Cruz Loma, a hill, that
directly overlooks the city of Quito. This is a good
acclimatization hike because it is close to Quito, takes
about 5 hours roundtrip, and offers some great views of the
whole city and the “Ecuadorean skyline,” i.e., the mountains
and snowcapped peaks that line the horizon. The next day, we
rode in our van to the thermal hotsprings at Papallacta.
This is a popular day-trip destination from Quito where
people can go and spend the day relaxing in a variety of
warm pools. There is a hotel, dressing rooms, restaurant,
snack bar, museum, etc. all in a remote setting near the
border of the jungle. Practically all of Papallacta has been
refurbished since the last time I visited it in 1997. Our
first full climb was of the seldom visited mountain of
Sincholagua in Cotopaxi National Park. We positioned
ourselves by checking into a recently completed hikers’
lodge called Tambopaxi. Tambopaxi is located between the
mountains Sincholagua, Ruminahui, and Cotopaxi and offers
comfortable beds, hot showers and good food to climbers and
trekkers who want to spend time in the park. There is a
telescope in the dining room where one can watch climbers on
Cotopaxi during the day.
On the morning of Jan. 7, two 4x4 transports arrived from Quito and
carried our group and 3 Ecuadorean guides over some rough
terrain, and up one of the shoulders of Sincholagua, where
we began our climb. It took us about 5 hours to reach the
16,000 foot summit. The trail up was not easy -- much of it
was loose rock and scree making footing difficult and at
times dangerous. We used a rope and our harnesses near the
summit for extra safety. The summit area was very small and
quite exposed in all directions so we couldn’t move around
much. After taking photos, we headed down and arrived back
in Tambopaxi after dark. The hut’s staff prepared and served
dinner and it was surprisingly good.
The next day, we packed up and headed out of Cotopaxi
National Park in a private van, with our driver, Diego, on
our way to the city of Ambato. In Ambato, we met three
different Ecuadorean guides, Rodrigo, Efrain and Maurizio,
and a cook, Marcelo, all of whom would be with us for the
rest of the trip. They were traveling in a separate jeep to
give group members more room in the van. We first bought
groceries in Ambato then drove to our next mountain --
Carihuairazo (16,471 feet). Carihuairazo is an excellent
mountain to acclimatize on, but is often overlooked by
climbers visiting Ecuador. It is right next to Chimborazo so
if the weather is good, views of Ecuador’s highest mountain
can be spectacular; it is glaciated so climbers can
familiarize themselves with plastic boots, crampons,
harness, ropes, etc., and it is not that high or that
difficult so you can climb it and still have energy for
other climbs. We decided to spend the night in a “cabaña” so
we unpacked the van and prepared gear for the next day’s
climb, while our cook prepared dinner. It was mostly cloudy
but after dinner, the clouds broke, the sun peeked through,
and we were treated to a great view of Chimborazo which was
a lot closer to us than anyone had imagined.
We started our climb the next day at daybreak. The weather
was not good. It was rainy, windy and cold -- typical
weather for Carihuairazo. We hiked up through alpine meadows
most of the morning, eventually reached the treeline, and
finally arrived at the start of the glacier. After putting
on technical gear, we climbed up the glacier and reached the
summit of Carihuairazo at about noon. The final meters
before the summit were the most difficult. There was steep,
wet, loose rock and scree and it was almost impossible not
to continually slip and fall. Visibility on the top was very
limited -- the wind was howling, and it was sleeting and
very cold. Ellen began to suffer from hypothermia so we
didn’t linger too long on the summit. We descended as
quickly as we could and made it back to our cabin late in
the afternoon. But the day was far from being over. One
member of our group, Bruce, had climbed Carihuairazo with
Maurizio (one of our guides) at a slightly slower pace.
Bruce and Maurizio summitted shortly after we did, but the
problem was that neither Bruce nor Maurizio ever returned
that night !! The rest of us had finished the climb, eaten
dinner, packed all of our gear into the van and then waited
and waited and waited until it was completely dark. Needless
to say we extremely worried. We imagined every possible
scenario but knew nothing for sure. One of our guides,
Rodrigo, decided to organize a rescue and climbed the
mountain AGAIN, IN THE DARK to look for them. Marcelo, our
cook, accompanied him. None of us could believe that Rodrigo
had the energy to climb Carihuairazo a second time, much
less in the dark, but Rodrigo reassured us that he would be
fine. So instead of driving to a hotel in Riobamba, which
had been the plan, we unpacked the van and waited anxiously
for the return of Bruce, Maurizio, Rodrigo and Marcelo.
At 12 midnight, about 5 hours after Rodrigo and Marcelo had
set out on their rescue mission, a car drove up and the
driver informed us that Bruce and Maurizio were safe.
Apparently, they had gotten lost coming off the summit of
Carihuairazo and had descended a different side of the
mountain. Maurizio eventually used his cell phone to call a
friend in Ambato -- the person who just drove up in the car
-- to have him come and tell all of us that they were safe.
We were instructed to spend the night where we were and to
pick up Bruce and Maurizio in Ambato the next day. Rodrigo
and Marcelo eventually returned at about 1 AM, wet and
covered with mud. They said they had seen no trace of Bruce
or Maurizio. We informed them of what we had just learned.
With collective relief, we all finally went to bed. The next
day, we picked up an exhausted and relieved Bruce Worley who
described to us a rather incredible night of survival in
remote mountain terrain. Bruce is an ex-Marine so he was
probably better able than most to cope with what had
happened to him but you could see that he had experienced a
very difficult ordeal. Much to his credit, he shook it off
and was ready to climb Cotopaxi the next day.
From Ambato, we drove to the Hosteria La Cienega -- a
beautiful, historic, 400-year-old hacienda near Cotopaxi. We
were treated to private rooms, hot showers, great food and
top service. La Cienega has traditionally been the jumping
off point for our climb of Cotopaxi. The next day, we
boarded our van in the morning, (bought four whole barbecue
chickens in the town of Lasso) and headed into Cotopaxi
National Park. Cotopaxi was mostly in the clear when we got
near it, and as always, seeing it close up provided quite a
thrill. We drove up to the upper parking lot, prepared our
backpacks and hiked up the soft volcanic scree to the Jose
Ribas hut. Normally we schedule a “glacier travel seminar”
in the afternoon, but since everyone had plenty of
experience climbing and traveling on glaciers, we rested in
the hut and had soup and tea instead.
We all got up at 11 PM at night, and began climbing Cotopaxi
at 12:30 AM. The weather was absolutely perfect. It was
clear, warm, with very little wind. The dark sky was filled
with stars and as we climbed, we tracked the moon’s path as
it set in the west. The hours went by and everyone was
feeling good and ascending well. Rope teams were: John
Church, Rob Riley, and guide, Rodrigo on one rope; Pat Post,
Jay French, and guide, Efrain on another rope; Ellen
Johnson, me and guide, Carlos, on another rope; and Bruce
Worley, John Garoutte and guide Maurizio on the last rope.
Seven clients, me, four guides, four separate ropes. When
the sun finally rose, you could see in all directions. The
sky was cloudless and blue. We were all very excited by the
near perfect weather -- not always the case in Ecuador !!
Rob, John Garoutte and Bruce all got up to around 18,500
feet and decided to turn around, mostly from fatigue. John
Church, Pat, Ellen, Jay and I, all summitted Cotopaxi at
around 8 AM. The sun blazed overhead and we could see all
the major peaks of Ecuador. Cotopaxi’s black crater loomed
off to one side -- crystal clear. The smell of sulfur was in
the air, and steam rose from beneath some of the rocks in
the crater. We had a magnificent day on our hands so we
enjoyed the summit for a good hour, taking photos in all
directions, and celebrating our arrival. We left the summit
at around 9 AM and slowly descended Cotopaxi’s steep slopes,
arriving in the hut 3 hours later, exhausted, but quite
content. After packing up all our gear, we drove down, back
through the park and returned to La Cienega for some much
needed rest. Since we had a couple of days off before
Chimborazo, out came the bottles of wine, and we enjoyed
some rather spirited festivities.
From La Cienega, we drove to the Hotel Palace in the town of
Banos. Banos is situated at around 6600 feet so the climate
is almost tropical. It is a very relaxing town, known for
its thermal hotsprings, and attracts vacationing locals and
tourists alike. The Hotel Palace, where we stayed, has its
own facilities with a steam room, sauna, jacuzzi, swimming
pools, etc. so we did not need to walk to the public
hotsprings. After soaking away our cares and woes, we headed
into town and had dinner.
The next day we took a full day tour of waterfalls in the
area, and ended the day with yet another fine meal at
another local restaurant. That night we made final
preparations for our last mountain -- Chimborazo. It is a
Climb Ecuador tradition that before every attempt on
Chimborazo we go fishing. Don’t ask me why, that’s just the
way it is. It’s not really fishing as most of you know it,
it’s more of just going to a trout nursery near Chimborazo
and pulling a bunch of rainbow trout out of one of the pools
with a net. The owner of the trout nursery stopped letting
us fish with fishing poles because in the past someone would
inevitably wander over to one of the “prohibited” pools and
lay a hook into one of the big “breeder” trouts, and the
owner would throw a fit. So to avoid this whole scenario,
the owner now just hurriedly drags a big net through one of
the pools of trout and sends us on our way before we can
cause any trouble. Mind you, we still enjoy delicious fresh
fried trout for our pre-climb meal, but it never seems to be
quite the same.
We drove from Banos
(6600 feet) (via the trout nursery) to the lower hut of
Chimborazo (16,000 feet) in about 3 hours. This is a total
vertical gain of almost 10,000 feet in a relatively short
time so we were feeling the altitude. Marcelo, our cook,
quickly went to work and prepared a great meal of homemade
vegetable soup, fried trout, and pasta. It makes me full
just describing it !! After dinner, we hiked (maybe I should
say waddled) up to the upper hut on Chimborazo, where
climbers begin their climbs of Ecuador’s highest mountain.
The hut was busy that night -- a lot of people had their
sights set on Chimborazo -- so we quickly chose beds, drank
some tea, and went to bed. Our group now “looked” a bit
different from the one that had climbed Cotopaxi. To begin
with, Jay had to return home to work after Cotopaxi, so he
was not with us. John Garoutte decided to stay in Banos and
relax instead of gearing up for Chimborazo, so he was not
with us. Bruce decided that he only wanted to climb up to
the glacier to explore and take pictures so he did not get
up with the rest of us. And Ellen decided that after
climbing Cotopaxi, she had enough of “big peak” life for one
trip and was going to stay near the hut. So at 10 PM, John
Church, Pat Post, Rob Riley and I were the only ones getting
up to climb Chimborazo.
We began ascending at about 11:30 PM and again we had
excellent weather. It was very warm when we set out, maybe
40 degrees, there was no wind, and the skies were swept
clean of clouds. It looked like it was going to be another
excellent day. John, Pat and Rob were with the guides
Rodrigo and Efrain. They climbed the lower rocks and scree
fields for about an hour and decided for various reasons
that today was just not their day. They returned to the hut.
I continued on with a guide named Jose. Jose is the very
first guide I had ever climbed with in Ecuador, back in
August 1997. He and I had attempted Chimborazo together back
then, but since that was my first big mountain in Ecuador, I
was not used to the altitude and got sick. I had been back
to Chimborazo with Climb Ecuador groups over the following
years a total of 6 times and NOT ONCE had I made it to the
top (for a variety of reasons). They say persistence pays
off and indeed it did. Jose and I made it to the Veintimilla
summit of Chimborazo at around 8 AM, almost 6 years after he
and I had attempted it in August 1997. So now when people
ask me how long did it take to climb Chimborazo, I tell them
6 years.
We returned to Banos from
Chimborazo for one final night of debauchery, southern style
!! The next morning, we drove from Banos to Quito and
checked back into the Hotel Ambassador. We all ran off to do
errands but met later for the famous Climb Ecuador “Farewell
Dinner.” This time it was at the Mare Nostrum, a well-known
seafood restaurant. A variety of wines flowed freely. It was
a great way to end a great trip. The Mardi Gras Mountaineers
and I parted ways later that evening. The next morning they
were all on their way back to the states.
Roger Kovary
CLIMB ECUADOR
147 West 79th Street, #1D
New York, NY 10024
(212) 362-4721
www.climbecuador.com
rkovary@aol.com
