Ecuador Volcanoes Expedition Dispatch

November 18, 2010 – Trying Times on Chimborazo

This is Leila Silveira reporting from Chimborazo base camp. The weather has been relentless for the past 24 hours; since the team left the bus and started their hike up to the first refugio, the weather has managed to deteriorate and the bus had to turn around, since there was no way it would have made it all the way up. Even small 4-wheel-drive cars were not venturing any further.

They finally made it to the first cabin where they took a break, dried themselves out a bit and then soldiered on to the next cabin. The further up they went, the deeper the snow got. In certain parts it was up to their knees and there was no sign of the storm calming down.

They got to the high hut, which was hidden by the snow, and started to get organized for a possible alpine start at midnight for their summit attempt. They brought the mattresses from the bedroom to the kitchen and established themselves in front of the fireplace where it was warmer and less damp.

Helvecio mentioned that he heard Osvaldo and Joaquin waking up at midnight to check the weather, just to see if it made sense to wake everyone up and start getting ready. But there was no point; the weather had only gotten worse and the snow was just getting deeper. The safest thing to do was to respect mother nature and accept the fact that this was just not their time.

At 2:30am, as the team was back to sleep, the cabin was stormed by a dozen Spanish climbers, coming up from the lower cabin. They managed to wake everyone up as they took flash photos of the entire scene and, when asked what were they doing up there at such hours, replied that they had come to see Chimborazo, to see the “vista”. At 2:30am.

Soon after, they started their climb back down to the lower hut, since it was obvious that any climb further up made no sense.

As the morning came, everyone got ready for their climb down and to hopefully meet our driver Antonio to take them back to the lodge. Joaquin had been in touch with Antonio via radio and was informed that the conditions further down had also only gotten worse. The bus was not able to go up at all; they would have to climb down to the lower cabin and back down the road, even further down than where they had originally been dropped off. The bus was at the bottom of the road, almost at the entrance to the park.

So the team soldiered on, accustomed to facing any challenge that is thrown at them. Down they went, breaking trail through the deep snow, since the trail from the day before was completely covered over.

They were happy to be finally back down at the bus and then at the lodge, where the day’s adventures have been the main topic of conversation. It's always fun to reminisce in the comfort of a nice mountain lodge, in front of a fireplace, with a nice hot tea with rum. Part of being a climber is accepting that the mountain and weather always have the last word, to accept defeat, and to remember that the mountain will always be here for another attempt.