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beyond_gravity
Oct 8, 2002, 12:29 AM
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i'm looking at going to Ecuador and climbing some of the easy Volcanoes and experiencing some altitude. Has anyone here climb Cayambe, Cotopaxi, Antisana or Chimborazo??
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atg200
Oct 8, 2002, 4:35 PM
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the ecuadorian volcanos are a fantastic trip. antisana is considerably harder than the other three - last time i was there no one was summitting because of a nasty bergschrund. make sure to spend enough time acclimating. the refugios at 15,000' make it really easy to go too high too fast - saw lots and lots of altitude sickness there. i would recommend doing a hike or two on imbabura(easy access without a car), pasochoa(need a car), or some other smaller peak for that purpose. imbabura is a wonderful hike, and the village of la esperanza at the base of it is one of my favorite places on earth. lots of people do the pinchichas, but rucu is dangerous(thieves) and guagua was blowing up when i was there. imbabura is prettier anyway, and has a long 4th class summit ridge that is lots of fun. cotopaxi is easy - you follow a trench throuh the glacier, and guides place ladders over crevasses if needed. its a long summit day, but no harder than the DC route on Rainier. chimborazo is harder - varies wildly based on conditions. the summit plateau can be horrible if covered with deep snow, and it is steeper than cotopaxi. do cotopaxi first to make sure you are totally acclimated. i haven't done cayambe yet, though it is a beautiful peak. illiniza sur is really great, and the outhouse at the refugio there has the most scenic view of any outhouse i've ever used. make sure you know what you are doing with glacier travel and crevasses. cotopaxi was casual, but we punched through a couple of times on chimborazo(never fell all the way in though). bring wands - we got stuck in a whiteout near the summit of cotopaxi and we and a few other parties were really happy we used them. make sure to budget some rest days in quito. its a nice town, and day trips to otavalo are highly recommended. i stayed at a small hotel near the parque alameda halfway between new and old town, and i kept the room for the entire trip to use as a staging area. bring a combination lock to supplement the hotel room locks. the pub reina victoria in new town has bathrooms with toilet seats - this made me very happy after a few weeks in ecuador. andrew
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gerglenroc
Oct 8, 2002, 5:06 PM
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I climbed Cotopaxi 10 years ago and it is a major huff but with only a few crevasses to dodge it is fairly non-technical. The last 100-200m is the steepest bit of snow. In 1991 I paid a local guide $110US for 3 days which included transportation, food, lodging, rented gear and guiding-what a deal! We used one long axe each, a rope and snow pickets and no screws. The view from the summit is unreal! The massive altiplano desert below(3800m?) the hut is where Pele(Brazil) practiced to expand the lungs before setting off to the World Cup in Mexico City.
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beyond_gravity
Oct 10, 2002, 2:03 AM
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Thanks for the beta, guys. This will be my first trip above 11,000 feet...so i'm planning on going with a guide. I'm trying to get my Venture company to inroll in some training so a few of them can come and I can book a private trip. If anyone is interested in going with about 3 17-year olds in 2004, it's gonna be around $2000 Canadian. It's still up in the air because we have to decide between this and Scuba diving in Tahiti. Thanks again, Jeremy
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estebandb
Oct 10, 2002, 3:14 AM
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hey jeremy im from Ecuador but now live in the US. what andrew (atg200) said is great info on the climb. I would not recommed you to go to the South of Quito, the northest you stay, the better, if you don't want to be robbed. Do not climb Pichincha, the one right next to Quito, either . Other than that, evrything is more than safe. Guides are DEF. important if it's your first time, they would know more about technique than i would. IF you haven't found a company yet, www.cotopaxi.com is very reliable and very proffesional. they have english, french, german and spanish speaking guides. Most of them are americans and Ecuadorian. I know two of them personally. Also, check www.volcanoclimbing.com don't really know them, but I've heard good of them Let me know how your planning goes and later how the trip goes. Im going to Ecuador in December for a short visit. I plan to summit Cotopaxi again and hopefully Chimborazo, that should do them all. PM me or post any further questions Hope this helped Esteban
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atg200
Oct 10, 2002, 1:39 PM
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another suggestion. check out the volcano el reventador while you are there. its in the jungle east of the main crest of the andes, and is about 13,000' high. bring rubber boots and a good sharp machete. bushwhacking through the jungle was absolutely incredible. the guidebooks all say to use a guide or you'll get lost for sure, but we didn't have a problem. make sure you leave the road early in the morning as getting to the refugio takes a whole day(we got there around midnight after wandering around the jungle at night for hours). wild and a totally different experience than the glacier climbs on the other high peaks.
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estebandb
Oct 12, 2002, 7:00 PM
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andrew: thats awesome i summited el reventador with a couple of friends we were 3 guys and 2 girls...all 15 yrs old. i loved it! great experience and definetively different from the glaciers. this might not be such a good idea if you hate bugs, heat, spiders, snakes or any of those things...but if you like that....go for it!
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mainline
Oct 15, 2002, 10:04 PM
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I climbed Cayambe (5790 m) 18991 ft several years ago. A long slog with little technical dificulty. Be prepared for travel in crevasse fields and small ice falls though. There is one narrow snow bridge over a big crevasse near the top which can be a little un-nerving in the high winds which often buffet the top. The climbers hut is at 15,250 ft. Sleeping there I had classic altitude sickness symptoms: nausea, insomnia, minor headaches. It all went away on summit day though. Maybe because of the Coca Tea we drank before climbing. Check out the photos on the following site. http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/south_america/ecuador/cayambe2.html
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