Expedition Dispatch
November 18, 2009 – Memories of Three Summits in Seven Days
The morning of November 18th found us in a snowstorm at the lower hut on Chimborazo, the last of our climbing goals in Ecuador on this expedition. Our forecast from Michael Fagin confirmed our mountaineer’s instincts that this was not precipitation that was going to relent today or tomorrow.
So it was off to Quito - Not that final summit goal was given up easily, but after the successes and the great experiences that we have had on this trip it seemed appropriate to leave the mountain gods one mysterious high summit that will remain unknown to us.
As Ken, our team member who had the strongest commitment to reaching the top of this last peak said, “Chimborazo is not going anywhere, I will have to come back to climb it someday.”
As we drove downhill toward the lights and luxuries of the city of Quito, we were reflective about the challenges, inspiring scenery and comradeship of the past days.
These photos will show some of what was on our mind…
Leila Silveira signing off from Ecuador!
Berg Adventures' guides, Osvaldo and Juancho, came all the way from Bolivia. Their next BAI climb will be Aconcagua in January.
On this trip they led us up mountain trails in Ecuador.
As the terrain got more demanding, they always used appropriate equipment and techniques.
On each of our long days during this trip, Janice always finished looking as if she had plenty of energy to spare.
Peter and Janice on our first glacier climb, Cayambe.
Leila seemed to always be working on our dispatches. It was no exception in our hut at the base of Cotopaxi
We left Jose Rivas hut on Cotopaxi for the summit on November 17th.
This climb was challenging but it went extremely well: Peter nears the top of Cotopaxi.
High near the summit of Cotopaxi as the sun is rising.
Ken near the top of Cotopaxi
As we descended from the summit of Cotopaxi we realized it was still early in the morning.
Juancho seems to always look cool – especially at high altitude.
It felt as if we were walking from the top of the world as we left to top of Cotopaxi