Expedition Dispatch

November 10, 2009 – We Climb Our First Volcano in Perfect Weather!

Today we had our breakfast at 5am as planned and left for our acclimatization climb, the Imbabura Volcano., 4,630 meters (15,190 feet).

The drive to the trailhead is quite long but it was worth it. We had an amazing beautiful clear day and it was really warm. Osvaldo's, Juancho's and my memories of this climb last year were of an entire day of rain. We were never able to see much ahead and the summit was always somewhere hidden behind the clouds.

This time we were blessed with clear skies and it was beautiful to actually see where we were going. We were even able to see Cayambe Volcano in the distance. Cayambe will be our first glacier climb of this expedition.

The main conversation during our drive was how exposed Imbabura is near the summit. The focus was about its exposure. I assured everyone that we had ropes and our plan was have them available to be on the safe side.

I could see that Peter was looking intrigued and then after a while he asked what we meant by “exposure”. As far as he knows exposure is an expression used by the SWAT team, particularly by a sniper when he is trying to describe if he had a clear view of his target! For sure we were not planning on shooting anyone from up high! Maybe I should mention that Janice and Peter both work for the RCMP ( Royal Canadian Mountain Police). They definitely use some terms a bit differently than we do in the climbing community.

For the record, in climbing “exposure” means any time that a slip or fall could result in a logn fall. That is why we carry ropes and use them for protection.

We started our climb next to some beautiful potato fields and I was intrigued by their blue flowers. Joaquim explained that when they have just planted the potatoes, the flowers are blue; later their flowers turn white; that is when they are ready to be picked. That’s nature own alarm clock to let us know the time is now. We are always learning something new from Joaquim about this area.

Once we reached the 4000 meter level, Osvaldo and Juancho told us that “now it was better.” They were back to more or less at the altitude where they live in la Paz and it wasn’t so warm as down the valley.

That’s when we remembered our experience this year with Apollo, one of the Bolivians who joined us in Aconcagua and had never been in lower altitude than 4000 meters in his life. I think his body was having a hard time adjusting with so much oxygen at lower altitude level! Joaquim, our trekking guide, also mentioned that once he spent an entire season working at high altitude and at the end of the season he went to the beach here in Ecuador and he also felt uneasy due to all the oxygen at sea level!

We are all acclimatizing very well, so far we had no complaints of headaches or any altitude symptoms. Our entire team lives at sea level so that’s really good news.

Today we were also blessed with a clear up-close view of a condor, the magnificent bird that is a symbol of the wild Andes.

We had a long day but we moved fast and efficiently and reached the summit in great time. We were on the summit at 3pm and we were back at our bus at 5pm. We literally hiked all the way from the summit down to the bus non-stop. This group is in great shape!

We were happy to return to the comfort of our haciendas where our hot shower was waiting for us as well as a gourmet meal. We are all in great spirits and ready to move to the hut tomorrow. It is going to be an exciting change of scenery.

Tonight we said goodbye to Joaquim who is returning to Quito and will not be with us for the remainder of the trip. Tomorrow we will meet Cosme, our Ecuadorian mountain guide, who will help us achieve our next goals: to climb the three highest volcanoes in Ecuador.

Stay tuned, we will be reporting again in a couple of days to give you an update of how our continued ascents to higher elevations goes!