Expedition Dispatch

November 12, 2009 – Learning and Reviewing Skills for Our Upcoming Climbs

Today was scheduled to learn climbing skills that will be needed for our climb. We had a tough night since we were all sleeping in a dormitory room and there were several climbers who woke up around midnight to go to the summit. Ken and I managed to sleep heavily through the whole ordea,l but Janice and Peter, who are not used to sharing a room with many people, found that their sleep was disrupted.

We had our breakfast at 9am, a bit later than usual, and we had the usual Berg Adventures variety: French toast with Canadian maple syrup, western omelet, scrambled eggs, just to name a few.

After breakfast, Ken, Janice and Peter brought their climbing gear down to the dining area and we started working on all the skills that we would need for tomorrow.

Cosme jumped up and put a rope above so that we could learn how to move on a fixed line, how to make a prussic loop for use as an ascender.

It was a busy afternoon. After an early dinner, everyone went to bed early and had their gear ready for their midnight wake-up call and 1 am departure towards the summit of Cayambe.