Ecuador: Walter and Team Climb Antisana
We spent the past two nights camped near the base of Antisana, at an altitude of around 13,500', getting ready for our summit bid. Last night we woke well before midnight and were pleased to find a starry sky with calm winds. The climbing on Antisana was very enjoyable, weaving in and out of crevasses and climbing steep slopes, all on consistent snow for cramponing. Everyone did very well, but as our altitude increased throughout the climb, so did the wind speed. Very strong winds and moisture were streaming in over Antisana from the Rainforest to the east and far, far below. The winds were consistently blowing 30mph with much higher gusts, and it made it challenging to stand up, much less climb a volcano that is well over 18,000' in height. We climbed strong but the winds proved too much, and we turned around about 500 meters shy of the summit.
We all arrived back at camp safely and packed up our tents and now we're headed south. Our first stop, tonight, will be the historic Hosteria La Cienega. Hot showers, warm beds, and delicious food awaits our team as we will take a much needed rest day tomorrow.
That's all for now. We'll be in touch again tomorrow!
RMI Guide Mike Walter
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Comments (1)
great effort to make that summit. best of luck with weather tomorrow. can’t wait to hear from you brother Bob
Posted by: Karen Deeds on