Ecuador Volcanoes Expedition Dispatch

November 8, 2011 – Climbing Imbabura

The team woke up at 4:30am to have an early breakfast before heading to Imbabura for today’s climb. Imbabura is an inactive volcano that has not erupted in 14,000 years. It stands at 15,750ft/4,800m and it is a fun challenge to prepare us for the glaciated volcanoes that we will attempt in the coming days. We started hiking before dawn and hiked most of the day in the rain and mud. We reached the first summit, but were unable to climb to the second summit due to the quickly deteriorating weather conditions. Quite suddenly a bad storm moved in and it began to hail, so we quickly descended to lower altitudes. After the climb we returned to our lodge for a delicious dinner and some well-deserved rest. Tomorrow we will travel to Cayambe and we will report to you from there!