Entries from Ecuador

Friday, November 1, 2024

Cotopaxi Summit!

Yes, you heard that right. After a couple years of eruptive activity, the mountain is back open and today was the first Cotopaxi summit for RMI since December of 2021. In that time, a lot has changed.

The two years of eruptions have been characterized by frequent outbursts from the caldera in the form of ash plumes. This has led to a loss in glacial mass as the sun beats down on the dark material deposited on the usually reflective snow surface. The current numbers are not yet known, but also this is not a new part of the mountain's history. Cotopaxi is the second-highest active volcano in the world and has had numerous periods of activity in the past that have led to closures of the mountain for recreational purposes and threatened local communities. In fact, in the past 50 years, Cotopaxi has lost over 54% of it's glacial mass.

In addition to the ash, the country of Ecuador is experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. Due to both factors the route has changed dramatically. It routes through some different aspects of the mountain and is quite icy. The main obstacles we encountered today were moving through steep, icy terrain that at times required front pointing with crampons or the occasional swinging of our ice axes. One big factor did save our climb, which was the 6-8cm of fresh snowfall the mountain received yesterday. It deposited just enough snow on the surface to give a little more traction than the hard ice, but not so much to create avalanche hazards. We hope the snow in the mountains will continue, for the sake of the climbing routes; and more importantly, we hope for the people of Ecuador that this is marking the beginning of the wet season.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

Thursday, October 31, 2024 - 8:22 am PT

Yesterday's trip to Illiniza Norte went quite smoothly. We were on the move just after 5am and were able to complete the loop from the refuge to the summit and down the alternate descent back to the trailhead. The route was a touch slippery to begin with as a wet cloud blew past the mountain all night, but as the sun rose, the rocks dried off and we had mostly dry conditions once we reached the scrambling portion. For our entire climb it was dry and in the afternoon there was a heavy downpour, which may signal the change towards the rainy season.

Today, we are headed for Cotopaxi. The mountain does not seem to have received any fresh snowfall from yesterday's weather as we were treated to perfect views of the mountain from our hacienda this morning. The conditions are "dry" meaning that the glacier itself is mostly ice instead of "neve". Tonight after a few fitful hours of rest, we will make our summit attempt starting from the hut at about 16,000'.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

Tuesday, October 29, 2024 - 6:20 am PT

We had a lovely acclimatization trip to the summit of Rucu Pichincha yesterday. We caught a bit of light rain, not enough to stabilize the electrical grid, but enough to keep us cool for our nice day hike. On the way down, the clouds opened up a little and were treated to views of surrounding valleys, which includes the city of Quito.

Today, we are heading for the Illiniza refuge and hopefully a summit of Illiniza Norte tomorrow morning! While this is labeled as an "acclimatization" hike, it's definitely fun in it's own right. The route from the hut goes up a steep ridgeline that occasionally requires some class 3 scrambling. The views from the summit are astounding and the movement enjoyable.

We will check back in tomorrow with an update as we head towards Cotopaxi!

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

The whole team has arrived in Ecuador and we spent our first day of acclimation touring around Quito. While the activities were the standard preplanned trips to the indigenous equator museum and the old town of Quito, the feel is a little different this time. The country of Ecuador is experiencing it's worst drought in sixty years. Their power grid is based about 70% on hydroelectric power and as such, blackouts are a regular part of life right now. Fortunately for us, the hotel has generators that keep the power on throughout the day, but most residences and businesses in Quito have power for only 10-14 hours per day. This brings some moderate uncertainty to everyone here and it is felt in our interactions with our local friends and service providers. Nonetheless, life goes on and local businesses are happy to have the continued support that tourism brings. All that being said, everyone is doing their best rain dance! It feels like one of those moments where if it begins raining, everyone in the street will stop what they're doing to celebrate and honestly, even if it turns us around on Rucu Pichincha today, it will bring a smile to my face as well.

Dustin

Chimborazo Summit!

We have now traveled much of Ecuador's "Avenue of Volcanoes", visiting some of the highest mountains in this country and having the fortune to stand on top of a few:

Rucu Pichincha (15,354') - A warm-up hike that often sets a new altitude record for someone on the team

Cerro Fuya Fuya (14,039') - The first agenda item after leaving Quito, another acclimatization hike

Cayambe (18,996') - Wow, the weather almost stopped us and we were the only team to summit that day

Chimborazo (20,561') - A perfect sunrise summit this morning

Tonight, we find ourselves in the city of Riobamba, recovering from a third alpine start within a two-week vacation. As it turns out, even with built-in rest days, that is a demanding schedule. On top of climbing, there are the long bus rides and the never-ending duffel shuffle. Every member of the team has two large duffels full of mountaineering gear and general travel items that are continuously being unpacked, repacked and subsequently toted around. Hacienda and hotel staff always get a chuckle when they see how much stuff we have.

As for last night's climb, the weather worked out perfectly. It has been several days of wind and humidity on Chimborazo, which has been regularly stymying climbing parties' attempts. Even yesterday, right as we arrived at camp the clouds moved in and there was hail off and on for a couple of hours. However, in the late evening the sky cleared and it was a calm, clear night and morning. It was the perfect way to cap a trip that saw us turn around on Antisana for some pretty intense weather. We can go home with a couple big summits and start thinking about our next trips!

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

Sunday, February 18, 2024 - 7:11 am PST

Summit Chimborazo, walking down from high camp. Another blog and more pictures later!

Saturday, February 17, 2024 - 4:14 pm PST

We are settled in for the night at Chimborazo High Camp. One final climb for the team, wish us luck.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier & Team

Friday, February 16, 2023 | 5:38 PT

This morning everyone reported having slept soundly. As it turns out, even climbing half of Antisana is still hard. We're recovering and now looking forward to Chimborazo, which has been giving us quite the show this evening. We're staying at the Chimborazo Lodge, an historic mountain lodge run by Marco Cruz, a climbing legend in Ecuador. It sits at about 13000' right at the base of the southwest flank of the mountain. There is no cell reception and no wifi, giving us a chance to unplug and hone our focus towards the task at hand, climbing another massive volcano. With any luck and a lot of trying hard we may have a chance to visit a truly majestic summit. Stay tuned!

-- RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier

Yesterday morning the wind began blowing from the east around 2am, accompanied by moisture in the form of a light rain at basecamp. It continued in this manner until, well... it's still raining at basecamp. The rain was never too horrible at camp and was often accompanied by sun to the west. We had a really successful time practicing some skills and just enjoying a nice couple of nights up high (14700').

However, today we attempted to climb Antisana and ultimately were turned around at about 17500'. The team climbed strong, but the further we pushed towards the summit and therefore towards the cloud, the wetter and windier it got. It was great experience for the team and we came away from it without too epic of a tale to tell. We now set our sights on Chimborazo, the final climb of the trip. The remainder of today is for resting and tomorrow we continue the drive south to Riobamba and ultimately to the Chimborazo Lodge for one more relaxing night prior to our climb.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier & Team

Happy Valentine's Day!

We spent the day up here at Antisana Base Camp (14700'). The weather was too mediocre all day to walk to the glacier, so we practiced skills around camp. The main topic for the day was crevasse rescue and we spent several hours dialing it in. The rest of the day was spent physically and mentally resting in quite a romantic locale.

The camp chef made great meals today, which would have made lovely meals to share with our significant others :( Seriously, this place is so beautiful, and the food is so delicious, it's worth booking a couple nights just to camp. Alas, we don't get to enjoy such a civil night in this wonderful place. Instead, our alarms will be going off in the next few hours for another alpine start.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier & Team

We are off the grid! Battling through holiday traffic as the bus was continually sprayed with celebratory foam and squirt guns, we made it beyond the hoards. Arriving at Antisana Base Camp was a welcome relief as we showed up to our private camp and pitched tents in the páramo. The mountain was out, and we caught glimpses of Cotopaxi as well. The team spent several hours learning how to rappel safely and added to our knowledge a couple more hitches.

Now we are settled into our tents, waiting for dinner. Tomorrow morning will include more training before we rest in the afternoon in preparation for our climb.

RMI Guide Dustin Wittmier & Team