Ecuador Expedition: January 3 - January 17, 2014

Ecuador Expedition: January 3 - January 17, 2014

Guides: Jose (Pepe) Landazuri

Climbers: Charles P., Fred E., Donna M., and Andy O.

Climbers get a clear view of Cayambe from a nearby shoulder.  Jason Martin.

Pepe called from Ecuador at 8 pm on Jan 9, 2014 with this report:

Hello, 

We want to give you an update on our activities and let you know we are all doing well. I tried to call yesterday, but I had trouble getting a connection that would work.

On Tuesday we drove up to the hut on Cayambe and on Wednesday we hiked up to a point at about 4900 meters / 16,075 feet and worked on skills. We climbed with just boots and then with crampons, we covered different ice axe positions, and we finished with safety procedures glacier climbing. The weather was not very good, but we still got a lot done.

We went back to the hut in the early afternoon and in the evening we had an early dinner and early to bed so we could get up at midnight for the climb of Cayambe if the weather improved enough.
I got up at midnight as planned, and I found that the weather was still not suitable. There was too much wind and rain, which is very odd for this time of year.  Thursday morning we drove back to Hacienda Guachala, and then in the afternoon to the Otavalo market. We spent another very comfortable night at Guachala.

Friday we will drive south from Guachala, past Quito, and on to Cotopaxi National Park. In the park we will drive to beautiful Tamboxi lodge. If the weather clears a little, from the lodge we will have great views of our next goal, 5790-meter / 19,997-foot Cotopxi.  We will drive and then hike to the hut on the peak Saturday, and our plan is to climb the mountain on Sunday, leaving at midnight, Saturday night. We’ll call again before the climb to give you an update.

We hope you all have a good weekend. Please wish us good luck for the exciting weekend we have planned down here!