Getting Primed for Climb in the Ecuador Climbing School

Today, we came down from Cayambe after four days of an intense Ecuador Moun­taineer­ing School. This time, Liina, a den­tist from Fin­land, and John, an engi­neer from Ore­gon, joined our trip. They came not just for the oppor­tu­ni­ty of attempt­ing three of the high­est vol­ca­noes in Ecuador, but also to learn the fun­da­men­tals for enjoy­ing the moun­tains with safety.

Joshua Jar­rin photo

Every­thing start­ed with the acclima­ti­za­tion when we vis­it­ed the old and new parts of Quito at an aver­age of 9000ft. After that, we climbed Ruco Pich­in­cha as our first hike where our par­tic­i­pants had a great open­ing push suc­cess­ful­ly reach­ing the sum­mit. For this part of the trip, we alter­nate a hard day with an easy one, in order to adapt our bod­ies to the alti­tude. Fol­low­ing that idea, after the sum­mit of Pich­in­cha we vis­it­ed the mar­ket of Otava­lo, where the worst of the clients’ prob­lems was choos­ing the right col­or of hand­i­crafts for their friends and family.

Joshua Jar­rin photo

Once on the moun­tain we start­ed with cram­poneer­ing tech­niques and prop­er use of the ice axe. They learned that hav­ing a prop­er tech­nique is the best way to pre­vent acci­dents and trav­el glac­i­ers effi­cient­ly. After a full day of prac­tice, we moved on to the pos­si­ble prob­lems that could hap­pen while we climb high moun­tains. What if I slide down? What if my part­ner slides down? What if I fall into a crevasse? What if my friend falls into a crevasse? With that, Liina and John learned how to arrest a fall, self arrest, self res­cue, and the nec­es­sary anchors for these activities. 

Joshua Jar­rin photo

Joshua Jar­rin photo

With all these con­cepts learned we went to the Glaciar Her­moso to get our­selves in trou­ble. That was the third day. Five hours of steep and bro­ken ice put us at 5100 meters of fun. But we still had one miss­ing fac­tor to be includ­ed; prac­tice all that in the dark. So today, we woke up at 3am and went for our last day of prac­tices to part of the nor­mal route by the starlight. I was glad to know that they are already mas­tered how to rope up, put on their cram­pons, how to be effi­cient on the tran­si­tions and know­ing that if the weath­er coop­er­ates we will be reach­ing sum­mits in the com­ing days.

~ MM Guide Joshua Jarrin

Joshua Jar­rin photo