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Home · About C. E. ·
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Ecuador 2006
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Bolivia/Peru 2005 |
Ecuador 2004/Aconcagua 2005 |
CLIMB ECUADOR NEWSLETTER -- WINTER 2004/2005 Time for another Climb Ecuador Newsletter!! Yahoooooo!!!!! For those of you "new" to the Climb Ecuador email list, our newsletters are a way to let people know how recent trips went, and to announce upcoming trips. The CE newsletter is sent out about 3 times a year. If anyone would care to be removed from the Climb Ecuador email list, please let me know. Climb Ecuador ran 3 trips this past winter season. The first one was to Ecuador -- December 27, 2004 to January 11, 2005. The second one (the big news!!!) was an expedition to Aconcagua -- our first ever -- January 11 to February 2, 2005. And the last one was also to Ecuador, a customized itinerary for 2 former clients -- February 2 to 11, 2005. Full details follow below. But before I describe how things went on each of these 3 trips, let me first announce what CE has planned for the summer climbing season. UPCOMING TRIPS -- SUMMER 2005 BOLIVIA: May 22 to June 7, 2005. 17 days/$2500. Climbs of Chacaltaya, Pequeño Alpamayo, Huayna Potosi (19,974 feet) and Illimani (21,125 feet) -- Bolivia Trip #1 as it appears at _www.climbecuador.com_ (http://www.climbecu ador.com/) . This is our "bread and butter" Bolivia trip. We have run this itinerary successfully now for the past 4 years. It is a crowd favorite. And Bolivia is a hotbed of alpine adventure. Trip price includes 8 nights, single occupancy, at the beautiful 5-star Hotel Europa in La Paz. All climbs are fully supported with private van transportation, guides, porters, mules, cooks, tents, all group climbing gear, etc. La Paz, the world's highest capital city, is an experience not to be missed. PERU: June 9 to 29, 2005. 21 days/$2800. Climbs of Ishinca (18,138 feet), Urus (18,023 feet) and Huascarán (22,205 feet) Peru's highest mountain, and the 3rd highest mountain in South America -- Peru Trip #1 as it appears at _www.climbecuador.com_ (http://www.climbecuador.com/) . Climb Ecuador ran this itinerary in 2003 with great success. All climbs will be fully supported using the same excellent support staff of guides, drivers, porters, and cooks we had in 2003. We begin with acclimatization climbs of Ishinca and Urus, then move onto Huascarán where the expedition lasts 8 days as we ascend 12,000 total vertical feet from the warm valley floor to the frigid summit of this famous mountain. Oh yeah, . . . and back down. The climbing is challenging and varied with only one slightly technical section -- 30 feet of 60 degree snow and ice. The Cordillera Blanca mountain range in Peru, with more than 30 peaks over 20,000 feet is, in my humble opinion, the most impressive range in all of the Andes. Both trips are confirmed to go. So make your summer climbing plans early!!! Former clients get an automatic $100 off listed trip price. Plus, we pay a $75 referral reward to anyone who refers someone to Climb Ecuador who ends up taking one of our trips (one reward per person per trip). Also, if anyone is interested in climbing ALPAMAYO (19,511 feet) (Peru's "most beautiful mountain") this summer please let me know. There is still a possibility that we will run our Alpamayo itinerary (see Peru Trip #2 at our website) for the dates of June 30 to July 21, 2005 if we can find enough people. OR people can join our Huascarán trip for the first two acclimatization climbs, then go off to climb Alpamayo (with a full Peruvian support staff) independently while others climb Huascarán. ALL OF OUR TRIP ITINERARIES, AND OTHER INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT http://www.climbecuador.com RECENT TRIPS ECUADOR: December 27, 2004 to January 11, 2005. Ecuador Trip #1. Since our inception in 1999, Climb Ecuador has repeated this itinerary successfully over 10 times. This time we had 2 clients -- Scott Collier, 47, from Vancouver, WA and Bruce Tkoch, 47, from Poway, CA. By the way, I am also 47 years old so for the first time in CE history, all climbers on the same trip had the same age. Scott's wife, Terri, joined us for the first week of the trip. Here's how the trip unfolded: Dec. 27: Flew to Quito, Ecuador. Arrived at night. Checked into the Hotel Ambassador. Dec. 28: Guided city tour of "Old Town" Quito. Had the afternoon free. Dec. 29: Hiked to the summit of Rucu Pichincha (15,706 feet). Terri joined us for this. 8 hours roundtrip. Returned to hotel at night. Dec. 30: Visited the Mitad del Mundo monument at the equator, then the dormant volcanic crater at Pululahua. Dec. 31: Drove south along the Pan American Highway (aka: the "Avenue of the Volcanoes") to the base of Iliniza Norte. Hiked up to high mountain refuge (15,000 feet). Celebrated New Year's Eve at 8 PM with a hip flask of aguardiente. Evening attire: headlamps and Gore-tex. (Terri stayed in Quito.) Jan. 1: Climbed to the summit of Iliniza Norte (16,818 feet). Descended to hut. Returned to Quito. Jan. 2: Our "shop til we drop" day. Visited market towns of Otavalo, Cotacachi (leather), and San Antonio de Ibarra (wood). The Colliers ended up with the most booty. Jan. 3: Scott, Bruce and I traveled south to the 400-year-old Hacienda La Cienega. Relaxed in regal comfort. Prepared for climb of Cotopaxi. Terri flew home to the states. Jan. 4: Drove into Cotopaxi National Park. Hiked up to the Jose Ribas high mountain refuge (16,000 feet) with full packs. Enjoyed barbecue chicken for dinner. Went to bed at 7PM. Jan. 5: Arose at midnight. Climbed to the summit of Cotopaxi (19,348 feet). Descended to hut. Drove out of the park and back to the Hacienda La Cienega. Jan. 6: Traveled in private SUV south to the town of Baños. Checked into the Hotel Palace. Headed right to the hotel's steam room. Jan. 7: Guided tour of major waterfalls near Baños. 3-on-3 basketball game later that day. Almost had a heart attack. Jan. 8: Traveled to Chimborazo, Ecuador's highest mountain. Bought fresh trout along the way for dinner. Photographed wild vicuñas in park preserve. Had trout dinner at lower hut (16,000 feet). Hiked to upper hut (16,500 feet) to sleep. Jan. 9: Climbed to the summit of Chimborazo (20,703 feet/6310 meters). Descended to hut. Returned to Baños. Took advantage of late-night bar and club scene. Jan. 10: Spent the morning in Baños. Returned to hotel in Quito. Memorable Farewell dinner. Jan. 11: Scott and Bruce flew home. I flew to Mendoza, Argentina to begin the Aconcagua expedition. For the record, Scott summitted all four mountains on our trip. This is not an easy accomplishment, having been done by only 3 other clients on past CE trips. Both Bruce and I were slightly off this blistering pace. Congrats to both gentlemen for some good climbs and good times. ACONCAGUA: January 11 to February 2, 2005. This was Climb Ecuador's first Aconcagua expedition and, thankfully, it was a logistic success (with some unavoidable road bumps along the way, as always) with everyone returning home safely. We started with 6 clients: John Church, 61; Pat Post, 53; Kent Hall, 49; Clif Majoue, 43 (all from New Orleans, and all members of a climbing club called "The Mardi Gras Mountaineers"); Steve Bontempo, 43, from Austin, Texas, and Grover Rose, 58, from Saratoga, NY. And me, 47, hailing from the Big Apple. John and Pat are former Climb Ecuador clients. I met Clif, Kent, Steve and Grover for the first time on this trip. Out of the 7 members of our group, 3 reached the summit (22,841 feet): Pat Post, Clif Majoue, and I. Steve and John, got to around 22,000 feet at the bottom of what is called the "canaleta" ("chute" in English) -- the final section of the climb, leading up to the summit, of steep, loose rock and scree. Kent Hall developed pulmonary edema at the Plaza de Mulas base camp, and on Jan. 19 was helicoptered down to the park entrance where he caught a bus back to Mendoza and returned home to the states a few days later. Here's the day-by-day call: Jan. 11: Everyone began their overnight flights to Mendoza, Argentina. Jan. 12: John, Pat, Kent, Clif, Steve and I met at the airport at Santiago, Chile, awaiting our shuttle flight to Mendoza. Grover flew in via Buenos Aires. We arrived in Mendoza, met our head guide, Gonzalo, at the airport and drove to the Hotel Aconcagua -- a four-star establishment in a quiet section of town. Here we met our other guide, Victor, threw our bags in our rooms, got our marching orders for the next day, and set out together to explore the beautiful tree-lined streets of Mendoza and to have lunch. Jan. 13: We all bought our climbing permit ($300 per person) then drove 3 hours (with all of our gear for the expedition) to Puente Del Inca, the trailhead for Aconcagua expeditions via the Normal Route. We spent the night in a comfortable hostel and got organized for the next day's departure. Jan. 14: Four-hour trek up the lower Horcones Valley to Confluencia Camp (11,000 feet). Settled into a big dome tent with bunkbeds that we had reserved for the next 2 nights. Jan. 15: Acclimatization hike to around 13,500 feet, near Plaza Francia, to view the awesome 10,000 foot South Face of Aconcagua. Returned to Confluencia. Around 6 hours roundtrip. Jan. 16: Long, dry and dusty eight-hour trek further up the wide and flat Horcones Valley to Plaza de Mulas (14,000 feet) -- Base Camp for our expedition. Set up tents in "tent city." Had a delicious steak dinner in our private dining tent. Jan. 17: Rest day at Plaza de Mulas. We all visited the nearby hotel (officially called the "Refugio Plaza de Mulas")(30 minute walk from tent city) where we played ping pong, had hot chocolate and burgers, and took a shower (for $10). Jan. 18: Acclimatization hike to the summit of the nearby mountain "Bonete" (16,000 feet). When we were about 10 minutes from the summit of Bonete, we encountered a serious thunder and lightning storm. Electricity crackled in the air all around us. Without hesitation, we turned around and headed, more like ran, back down, through blowing snow, to the comfort and safety of the hotel. Hot chocolate and burgers were once again the preferred snacks. Kent developed a bad cough later that day. He visited the Base Camp doctor who determined that Kent had pulmonary edema. Very bad news indeed. He ordered Kent to descend in the morning to Puente del Inca via helicopter. Jan. 19: Rest day at Plaza de Mulas. We all said goodbye to Kent who was later helicoptered out. We learn later that Kent's bad luck continued in Mendoza where someone robbed his backpack (containing his passport, camera equipment, cash, clothes, etc.) while he was sitting at a street cafe. He experienced a real nightmare trying to get out of Argentina without a passport. Eventually he made it home -- with plenty of stories. Jan. 20: Climbed up from Plaza de Mulas to Camp Canada (Camp 1)(16,000 feet), with light day packs. Descended back to Plaza de Mulas. Jan. 21: Rest day at Plaza de Mulas. Jan. 22: Climbed up to Camp Canada (16,000 feet) again -- this time to stay. Enjoyed beautiful clear, sunny skies and impressive views of "tent city" at Plaza de Mulas, the nearby mountain, "El Cuerno" ("The Horn")(18,000 feet), and other distant mountains of the Argentinean and Chilean Andes. Set up tents and camped. Stunning sunset. Jan. 23: Continued our ascent from Camp Canada to Nido de Cóndores ("Condor's Nest")(Camp 2)(17,500 feet). Nido de Cóndores is a flat, expansive area with views in all directions, including a view of Aconcagua's rocky summit. Again, we had great weather, although we were beginning to feel the bite of the thin, cold air. Set up tents for a two-night stay. Jan. 24: Rest and acclimatization day at Nido de Cóndores. Grover decided to descend. He felt he lacked the energy to continue higher. He returned to Plaza de Mulas and waited 3 days for the rest of our group to finish our ascent and return. Jan. 25: Climbed to Berlin Camp (Camp 3)(19,500 feet), our highest camp. Excellent weather once again. We set up tents, had dinner and went to sleep early in anticipation of what was going to be the hardest day of the expedition tomorrow. Summit was so close you could almost touch it (although it ended up taking us about 14 hours roundtrip to reach it!!). Jan. 26: We got up at 4 AM, had a quick breakfast and began ascending the icy and rocky path at 5:30 AM. The skies were clear and the air was calm and very cold -- it looked like we had a PERFECT summit day. We soon ran into another group of some 24 climbers but managed to remain about 20 minutes ahead of them. We continued ascending past Independencia Hut (21,500 feet), a wooden shelter, now fallen into disuse, which is reportedly the highest alpine refuge in the world. After a long traverse of the mountain, we eventually reached the base of the infamous "canaleta," Aconcagua's heartbreak hill. The weather took a turn for the worse as clouds moved in and light snow began to fall. John and Steve decided they did not have the energy to climb the final 2 hours (800 vertical feet) up the steep canaleta. I began to feel some urgency, being so close to the summit but with the weather worsening. I felt that anyone in our group who had the energy to continue needed to leave NOW for the top. Clif and I set out together for the summit immediately, without a guide. No guide was needed at this point as the trail was obvious, plus there were a number of other people going up. Pat started up shortly after Clif and I, accompanied by our head guide, Gonzalo. Clif and I arrived at the top (22,841 feet -- highest summit in North and South America) at around 2 PM. Pat and Gonzalo arrived about 30 minutes later. There were no views in any direction as heavy cloud cover had moved in. Clif and I vied with a sizeable group of German climbers for summit photos next to the aluminum cross marking the top. For a fleeting moment or two, the clouds opened up to provide us with a view down the frightening South Face wall. After Pat and Gonzalo arrived, we hastily took our group summit photo and quickly started down. By now, the snow and wind had picked up considerably. Visibility was about 50 feet. We slowly worked our way down the loose sand, scree and rock of the canaleta until we arrived at the 22,000 foot mark to rest and assess our situation. The snowstorm was howling at this point so despite our fatigue we kept moving. We passed other climbers on the traversing trail, many of whom were NOT in good condition. Clif and I reached Independencia Hut first and waited for Pat and Gonzalo. Once we were all together, Gonzalo took over the lead as by now the trail down was obliterated under fresh snow with near white-out conditions. For the next few hours, Gonzalo did what I consider to be the best bit of mountain guiding I have ever seen, finding his way down through the rocks, snow and ice, with almost no visibility and no trail, to our tents -- and SALVATION!! Without a guide, we most certainly would have gotten lost in the storm and possibly have died from exposure. It was a potentially VERY dangerous set of circumstances. Clif, Pat and I fell into our tents, covered with snow inside and out, but thankful to be "home." John, Steve, and our other guide, Victor, were already back. Then came a night to remember -- more like a night from hell. The storm continued through the night pounding our tent with what seemed like hurricane-force winds. John's tent was MOVED about 10 feet with him inside and it being fully staked down with large rocks. I felt as if at any moment my tent was going to explode from the pounding and send me and all my belongings flying to the four corners of the globe. Luckily, and gratefully, the North Face tents held, and we all survived a seemingly endless night. The next morning was clear and sunny and absolutely beautiful. Jan. 27: Descended to Base Camp (Plaza de Mulas). Had a lavish steak dinner, and finished off our private stash of wine and beer. When there was no more wine, the guides broke out some champagne and the celebration continued. Final night in tents. Jan. 28: Long 24-mile "Death March" from Plaza de Mulas, past Confluencia, all the way out to the highway at Puente del Inca. Spent the night in the roadside hostel. Hot showers, hot meals, cold beer, foosball and ping pong. Jan. 29: Returned to Mendoza. Checked into the Hotel San Martin situated on Mendoza's main plaza -- Independence Plaza. We had an absolutely fabulous Farewell Dinner at a winery, part of which has been converted into a restaurant. Our group had dinner inside a wine barrel -- literally!! A very large wine barrel. We consumed an obscene amount of local wines, meats and side dishes as we celebrated the end of our successful expedition. Jan. 30 -- Feb. 2: The final days were filled mostly with eating, drinking, sleeping and shopping. We also took a winery tour, visiting two local wineries, and a plantation where they grow olives and make olive oil. One by one, on different days, we said goodbye to each other and to the beautiful city of Mendoza, and flew home to the states. ECUADOR: February 2 to 11, 2005. For the final outing of Climb Ecuador's winter season, 2 clients and I followed a 10-day customized itinerary with 4 separate climbs. Paul Soderholm, 61, Syracuse, NY and Richard Thompson, 62, Southampton, PA are 2 of Climb Ecuador's very first, clients, having traveled to Ecuador with me in August of 1999. We have remained in close contact ever since (although I did not get a Christmas card from either of them this year). We worked out a climbing itinerary of "different mountains" that included a traverse from the summit of Guagua Pichincha to the summit of Rucu Pichincha and down (that was the plan anyway), followed by climbs of Pasachoa, Rumiñahui, and El Corazon. All these mountains are in the 15,000 to 16,000 foot range, except for Pasachoa which is about 14,000 feet high. Pat Thompson and Nancy Soderholm, their wives, also came to Ecuador but opted for an 8-day cruise in the Galapagos rather than do battle on high Andean peaks with "the boys." All hikes went exceptionally well. The weather was partly sunny pretty much every day. We enjoyed excellent views from all mountains, except on El Corazon where it clouded over in the afternoon. I would strongly recommend ANY of those hikes to anyone who wants to get into some altitude and experience beautiful Andean mountain scenery. Our two days at the mountain lodge, Tambopaxi, in Cotopaxi National Park, with a climb of Rumiñahui, was particularly enjoyable. We ended our trip with an overnight stay at the Papallacta Hotsprings Resort and Spa, located about 2 hours from Quito. We rented a private cabin in an area of the resort which has private (24 hour) thermal pools right outside the door. We soaked away our cares, woes, aches and pains in the hot medicinal pools, played some frisbee, cards, drank beer, ate trout, etc. Rough life. We drove back to Quito in the morning, met up with Pat and Nancy returning from the Galapagos, and ended our trip together with yet another CE Farewell Dinner. That's it!! Another newsletter comes to a close. If anyone needs exciting alpine adventure this summer, please consider our Bolivia and Peru trips described above. Stay in touch and stay well.
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©2001
- 2005 Climb Ecuador Mountain climbing trips to Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Mexico and Aconcagua. Also, Cuzco, Machu Picchu and the Galapagos Islands. Organized climbing expeditions to the Andes Mountains of South America and the volcanoes of Mexico. |
