Ecuador Volcanoes: Walter & Team Summit Cayambe!
Sometimes the stars just align, and they did for our climbing team on Cayambe this morning. Yesterday we traveled from Otavalo to the town of Cayambe where we transferred from a bus to four-wheel drive vehicles. A beautiful drive up into the Cayambe-Coca National Park soon became a unique cultural experience as the 4x4s were stymied by wildly rutted and muddy roads en route to the climbers’ hut. We got out of the vehicles and began harvesting “paja”, or tall straw-like grass from the roadside to through onto the road for added traction. After about 45 minutes all three of our vehicles made it through the troublesome areas and we continued on to the climbing hut at 4600m. Light rain turned to blue skies and we got some great views of the next day’s objective. We were cautiously optimistic about the changing weather pattern for Cayambe (we had seen Cayambe from various peaks over the previous week, and it always looked windy and stormy).
I woke up this morning (actually last night at 10:30pm) and checked the weather. I was psyched to see a starry night without a single cloud in the sky, and very little wind. We ate a light breakfast, packed up, and left the hut at 12:15am. It took us about an hour to approach the toe of the glacier where we donned crampons and iced axes. We ascended moderate slopes up the Hermosa Glacier, avoiding the heavily crevassed peripheries. After tackling the Bergshrund and ascending a short pitch of steep ice, we found ourselves on the summit eight hours after we set out from the hut. Stunning views of the high peaks of Ecuador greeted us: Cotopaxi, Chimborazo, Antisana, and the Illinizas, all stood tall, unobstructed by clouds. The descent went smoothly and three hours later we were back at the climbers’ hut. The clouds kept threatening to cover up Cayambe on our descent, but they held off until the last 20 minutes before we hit the hut.
After an early wake-up call and a long day in the mountains, we are now settled in to our home for the night, Guachala, the oldest hacienda in Ecuador with history back to the 16th century. Our team will head back to Quito tomorrow for a celebratory dinner and our last night together in Ecuador.
RMI Guide Mike Walter
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