Ecuador Volcanoes Expedition Dispatch

December 3, 2015 – Termas to Chimborazo Summit Day

We left Termas around 11:00 am on Tuesday and said goodbye to Doreen, who had signed up for the Cayambe only part of this expedition. Her program on our trip is over now and and she is headed back home with the memories of Ecuador.

We stopped at a market on our way and stocked up on some fresh produce. After arriving at our mountain lodge in Chimborazo at around 5:00pm, we took some time to explore the amazing Swiss style chalet. After relaxing for a bit, we all met for a delicious dinner.

Our next goal: Chimborazo summit. We met for an early start and breakfast. After our bellies were full, our guides helped us with packing and making sure that we had everything we needed for the climb. Once all packed and geared up we took our bus to the Refugio Chimborazo.

We are spending the night at the lower Refugio which has road access. The high Refugio is currently closed after having just finished a complete remodel. The distance between both Refugio’s is very short, 30 minute hike.

Our group update: Paul decided to stay at our beautiful mountain lodge and Tim went to Rio Bamba with our driver, Ivan. So our summit team is Terri, Margaret, Sam, Howard, Marie-jo, Martial, Sergio, Osvaldo and Joaquin.

A much needed afternoon nap at the Refugio to get some sleep before the climb. The team woke up and got ready to start for the summit at 11:00pm.

Chimborazo is a mountain that changes its moods frequently and dramatically. When it is not right up there it is just not right. Earlier this season, with more snow, conditions were reasonable. Just two weeks ago, Joaquin had climbed to the summit in new snow, but that situation did not last long and in recent days it has been out of the question. The current conditions are extremely dry. This can create hazards and dangerous rock fall, which we ended up experiencing on the mountain. The advantage of climbing through the night is that it provides cooler temperatures and more stability. We attempted and then decided to turn around at 17,388ft/5,300m after being very concerned for our safety. Two climbers from another expedition decided to keep going and told us that they would just put their ice axes close to their face in order to protect themselves from falling rocks. Pretty much like using their ice axes as baseball bats. Well, hopefully they only had to defend themselves from small rocks, not sure the ice axe would work with larger ones.

It was a beautiful night, absolutely clear skies, warm, no wind, but the mountain had the last word. We are very proud of our accomplishment and our guides’ decision to turn around, always making our safety the main priority.

We all made it back down to our mountain lodge and decided to drive to Rio Bamba for lunch. We plan to be back at the lodge this evening and then get ready for an early morning departure back to Quito for our wrap-up and return home.