Wednesday, July 5, 2017

2017 Ecuador Cayambe/Antisana Skills Expedition and Chimborazo Extension (June 30 - July 14) Dispatch 1

July 4th Dispatch

Climbers: Jonathan Myers, Sandee Myers, Calvin Hartman

Guide: Jaime Availa

Phone call from Calvin Hartman:

Everything is going well down here, and we are enjoying Ecuador a lot. There is wonderful scenery everywhere we go and beautiful mountains.

The physical workout is harder than I expected, but it's been fun. From the hiking we've done so far, I am already in better shape and feeling good.

Our first big hike and scramble was on Pasachoa (13,776 ft), and though it was a work-out for me I really enjoyed it. It's beautiful countryside and we saw almost all of Ecuador's big peaks very clearly. It was a beautiful day and the views were remarkable.

We also had a good time on Rucu Pichincha (15,413 ft)
. There was more scrambling on that peak. We had good views at first but then climbed up into the clouds or fog and our view was blocked.

We're at Hacienda Guachala now below Cayambe at 9199 ft. It's a very comfortable place and the food's been every good. Pretty soon we will leave and head up to the hut on Cayambe, which is our first big climbing goal. We'll work on skills on Wednesday and make our summit on Thursday.

Jaime says we're going to make a stop at a local store from some snacks and then in a few hours, we'll be up at the hut at an elevation of 15080 ft. We'll call in a couple of days with an update.


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