Monday, December 18, 2017

2017 Ecuador Cayambe/ Antisana Skills Expedition (December 1 - 10, 2017) Dispatch 3

December 10th Dispatch

Climbers: Jason Sloan and Lara Kelly

Guide: Fredy Tipan


Fredy called again this morning to let us know that Lara, Jason, and he had summited 18,891-foot Antisana.

"We want you to know we had an incredible day today on the mountain and a wonderful time together.

The snow conditions were perfect and the weather was perfect.  Wow – what a day!  We couldn't have asked for anything better.  We left at about 10 pm last night; we climbed at a medium pace and enjoyed ourselves the whole way.

We had an incredible display of stars - of course because there are no towns or villages nearby to put light into the sky.  Some people say they never knew there were so many stars before coming here, because they have never been away from light pollution.  Also, because we are at altitude, the atmosphere is of course thinner, and that helps us see more of the smaller and more distant stars.  It's a carpet of white dots!

We summited by eight o'clock, and had a beautiful sunrise.  We enjoyed our time on the summit a lot because we see all the peaks of Ecuador, and it was nice to look so far out over the Amazon basin.  Just so beautiful - every part.

So we are now back in Quito resting and soon we'll have some great food.  It's been a wonderful trip with Lara and Jason, and we are all extremely happy that we made every summit we attempted!   What a good time.

Cheers to family and friends from the three of us in Quito!"
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