November 20 - 29, 2015 Cayambe – Antisana Skills Expedition, Ecuador – Dispatch 4

Cayambe – Antisana Skills Expedition

Lead Guides: Jeremy Devine and Romel Sandoval

Climbers: Catherine H., Graham K., Richard L., Melissa L., Hernando M., Jason M., Thomas W., Hallie Z., Andrew Z.

Received on November 26, 2015
"It's evening here again and we are about to turn in for the night as soon as we finish dinner. We had a great day of skills practice on the glaciers near the refugio today learning and practicing how to self arrest, cramponing techniques, and rope team travel.

Toward the end of our skills practice we got a little bit of precipitation, it has since ceased but is still somewhat cloudy. After our session on the glacier we returned to the refugio for a lunch of hot soup and sandwiches. The afternoon was spent organizing our gear and resting up for tomorrows summit climb. Everyone is still going great and feeling good.

The plan for later tonight/tomorrow is to have an alpine start getting up at 11pm, so that we can be climbing by 12pm round trip; we are aiming for a 10hr climbing day. Despite the precip earlier today it is colder than the past few days at this time, with calm to light winds; should make for good firm climbing conditions tomorrow.

We'll check in when we return from our climb, night!'

Jeremy Devine