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Ecuador 2020: Mountaineering

In February of 2020 I attempted to climb three mountains with Jaime Vargas of Andean Summit Adventure:

We successfully summited the first two, but ultimately had to turn back on Chimborazo.

Other photos from this trip can be found here.

The first mountain we climbed was Illiniza Norte. It's the mountain to the right. Have you ever ridden a horse to a convenience store? Illiniza Norte Day 1 was often pretty foggy, but overall, conditions were pretty good. We made it to the refuge! The refuge was super crowded, but still beat sleeping in a tent. We woke up at 5AM the next morning to try to summit. The first part of the climb was a fairly straightforward scramble. The second part of the climb was a scramble to the top. I would not want to do this without a guide! Made it to the summit! The views were fantastic! You can see Cotopaxi to the right. I met two Canadians on the climb, and if you look closely, you can see them descending in this picture. Here's all the stuff I had to pack for Cotopaxi. Ice axe and crampons not pictured. Day 3 was an easy hike to the Cotopaxi refuge, which you can see in this picture if you squint. Success! Here you can see a photo of a photo of the Cotopaxi summit and a ton crocs. It's nice not having to walk around in mountaineering boots. This refuge was nicer than the one at Illiniza Norte. It even had pillows! We woke up at midnight to begin our summit attempt -- the glaciers are the most stable in the middle of the night. Since we were climbing in the middle of the night in terrible weather, we didn't see much on the way up. This is the one picture I took before the summit. We made it to the summit! No crater view, but at least we made it. Most people turned back because of the weather. The views on the way down were spectacular, at least when we had visibility. There was one point where we could see Cotopaxi's shadow. Massive crevasses! Back at the refuge, in the process of deicing so I could eat breakfast. The harness was the trickiest part. Even after thawing out on the way down, my helmet still had a very thick layer of ice. Heading to Machachi. Fortunately the hostel had a clothesline I could use to dry all my stuff out. Everything was soaked! Machachi is a town about an hour south of Quito. It was the least touristy place I visited, which was great. The view from the hostel terrace. Machachi is small enough that the city center was only a 5-10 minute walk from here. Kids kept throwing eggs at flour at each other, which was really confusing at first. I later learned this is how they celebrate Carnival in Ecuador. Next up: Chimborazo! We had to wake up at 9:00 for this climb. Unfortunately I mismanaged my sleep schedule and I wasn't able to get any sleep. I started having balance issues on an exposed scramble and made the call to turn back. Disappointing, but definitely the right call. I think this was the first time I had ever seen a vicuna. They're super common on Chimborazo for some reason.
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