Trip Reports

Ecuador Volcanoes - 25 Jul to 13 Aug 04

Written by Leader, September 2004

Despite our time in Ecuador coinciding with heavy snowfall and strong winds in the mountains, this proved to be a pretty successful trip: all five team members summited Pasachoa and Pichincha, the acclimatisation peaks, before we battled our way up to the Cayambe refuge in distinctly 'Scottish' conditions. Three members made an attempt on Cayambe two days later in clear conditions, but strong, bitter winds, turned the group back at 5,400m when we encountered dangerous windslab conditions.

To Cotopaxi next (5,897m) and again, our glacier training was curtailed due to adverse weather; it seemed to be improving however and when our scheduled summit day brought more wind and low cloud, we elected to wait an extra day. Sure enough, the tactic proved successful with three climbers making the summit in good time on 7 August in the company of local superstar Alejo Lazzati.

Despite hearing rumours that the fresh snow had made conditions favourable on Chimborazo (6,310m), we arrived at the hut to find that once again ash from nearby Tungurahua had precipitated the melting and the mountain was dangerously dry. A quick conference and we chose to turn our attentions to Illiniza Norte (5,200m). An early start the following morning brought us to the roadhead and we made good progress up to the hut. Once again battling low cloud and fierce winds, the three previous summiteers, plus two more members proudly reached the summit by early afternoon.

The benefit of a small team is the ability to react quickly to changing circumstances and this team certainly coped well with the changes. The other advantage is the opportunity to get to know each other well and this team evolved into a harmonious, tightly-knit group (who played a mean game of cards!). We were all sad to see the trip come to an end, but will cherish the memories of experiences shared.

Greg Coe, Expedition Leader« Previous report | Next report »

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