Ecuador Mountaineering School Summits Cayambe, Iliniza North, and Chimborazo

The lat­est Ecuador Moun­taineer­ing School start­ed with a city tour in Quito, vis­it­ing church­es and walk­ing around the town as climbers got accus­tomed to the alti­tude of the Andes. The first acclimi­ti­za­tion climb was Ruco Pich­in­cha, aka ​“Rac­coon Pikachu,” where the team kept their fin­gers crossed for the weath­er to hold out dur­ing the five-hour trip. It did — that day. The acclima­ti­za­tion hike to the entrance of the glac­i­er at Cayambe, how­ev­er, was not so lucky. Lead guide Ale­jan­dro describes the very wet day as ​“soaked to my under­wear,” and the team climbed up on a bad bliz­zard. All was not strug­gle, though; after the climb the team went to Tupi­gachi to dry at a fire­place and enjoy warm food.

Climb­ing ​“Rac­coon Pikachu.” Fran­cis­co Arro­ba photo

The first day of the glac­i­er school was an intense one, as the team learned cram­pon­ing skills and ice axe basics at the Glaciar Her­moso. After return­ing to the hut, they prac­ticed knots and rop­ing up as a team. The next three days fol­lowed the same pace, with the team prac­tic­ing self-arrest, snow anchors, pul­ley sys­tems, and auto rescue.

Fran­cis­co Arro­ba photo

The poor weath­er broke in time for Cayambe, turn­ing absolute­ly beau­ti­ful. Tak­ing advan­tage of this for­tune, all mem­bers of the team sum­mit­ed; one client and guide even doing it in a speedy eight hours round-trip.

Fran­cis­co Arro­ba photo

Ilin­iza North pro­vid­ed a bit more chal­leng­ing weath­er. As the team arrived to the hut, hail fell in on the moun­tain for a cou­ple of hours. The amount of ice delayed the start but allowed time for a nice, relaxed break­fast. The climb­ing was com­pli­cat­ed by ver­glas, and the team mem­bers who made the sum­mit only stayed for a few brief moments due to high wind.

Fran­cis­co Arro­ba photo

Anoth­er switch in the weath­er offered a very nice day for Chimb­o­ra­zo; almost no wind and good snow con­di­tions allowed two of the three team mem­bers to reach their third summit.

Fran­cis­co Arro­ba photo