Ecuador High Altitude Expedition #6: Dispatch 12

Ecuador High Altitude Expedition
February 18 to March 4, 2011

Climbers: Sam Kisson, Robert Gay, Tom O’Connell, Dennis Uhlir, Matt Donnelly Lead Guide: Benno Schlauri Assistant Guide: Ramiro Garrido 

March 2, 2011 

Benno called at 6:30pm Ecuador and US Eastern time with this message: 

"Hi everyone.  This is Benno calling again.  I just wanted to be sure that you got our message that we summited Chimborazo!   We had good snow conditions the entire way.  We feel very lucky to have accomplished this feat, because of the many guided and private groups that came to the mountain this year, very few people made it to the summit.  It is not an easy mountain to get up, but I have to say this team did a fantastic job.  Everyone was strong, kept a good pace, and they were meticulous about their technique – always being very careful and very secure.  We had truly great rope teams.  Everyone did such a good job.

Right now we are in Baños after descending 14,000 feet, from 20,000 down to 6000 feet.  So the atmosphere here feels very thick and delicious. It's warm, and everyone is enjoying the fact that we are surrounded by green and lushness.  So we're going to enjoy a lot of good food here, maybe go to the hot springs for which the town is named, and maybe explore down valley tomorrow a little towards the Amazon.  This is one of the country's main routes to the Amazon.

So in summary, we are all quite well and very happy.  It's been a great trip together!  I'll try to call again Thursday night and let you know what we did for the day.  

Ciao ciao."