Climbers: Michael Watson, Glenn and David Booth, Eric Safieh, Eric and Loic Vincent, Susan Mullins, Dean Doyle, James Murray, Tom Fry
Lead Guide: Jeremy Devine
(From Jeremy)
Hi everyone,
We had a stunning day on our ascent of El Corazon yesterday. We woke at 1:30am to have some light food and prepare to depart. We left camp at 2:30am for a 15-minute drive to our trailhead. The weather looked really good, and we were excited to be on our way.
The route started as a dirt road for the first hour before we turned off onto a narrow path through the paramo. From there it was a somewhat rolly terrain and gradual ascent through the beautiful open grasslands.
We arrived at the mountain’s technical rock ridge just before sunrise and donned our helmets and harnesses there as we waited for the sunrise. The weather was just brilliant, with a low lying cloud layer and stunning views of Cotopaxi, Rumanahui, Tungaragua, Chimborazo, and the Illinizas.
We continued along the rock scramble ridge, taking our time to make sure climbers moved securely. We spotted and coached climbers on a couple short sections, but otherwise the ascent went without complication.
We arrived at the summit just after 7:30am with amazing views of all the major peaks of Ecuador. In addition to the peaks we saw earlier, we now also could see Cayambe, Antisana, and El Altar. These were by far the best views I've ever had in Ecuador. From each of the big peaks you can see most of the country’s major summits, but I’d never seen them all from a single vantage point as we did on Corazon.
We enjoyed the summit for about a half an hour and started our descent. We took the down-climbing very slowly to make sure everyone moved securely and used the rope to belay a short down-climbing section. After an hour we were back onto non-technical (unexposed) terrain and could move more quickly and comfortably.
We arrived back at the trailhead just after 11:00am and headed to our camp. We had some delicious scrambled eggs and very nice Ecuadorian coffee before loading up the bus for our ride back to Quito. We arrived in the city around 1:30pm, and everyone was excited to relax or catch up on sleep after an early morning and a good workout.
We are planning to meet at 11:00am today for our drive south towards Chimborazo. It’s going to be an easy travel and recovery day, which is well earned after another successful summit by the whole team. We'll give you another update later this afternoon to let you know how our day has been.
Talk to you soon!
Group on the summit of El Corazón. Illinizas in the background. Chimborazo and El Altar far away on the left.
Llamas on the return hike down from El Corazón.
Sunrise with Cotopaxi.
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