All Ecuador expedition dispatches

Imbabura Volcano

On the summit of Imbabura

One last day of acclimatization hiking around Otavalo before the team heads to Cayambe tomorrow.  Garrett provides the details of today’s hike up the Imbabura volcano:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Ecuador Volcanoes program.  Today we hiked up the volcano Imbabura – 15,000 ft.!  It was a beautiful hike up this inactive stratovolcano in northern Ecuador.  It hasn’t erupted in over 14,000 years, but its intermittently capped with snow – no permanent glaciers.  Very fertile slopes around Imbabura.

We got back down this evening, had a nice dinner here at the Hacienda Pinsaqui for our last night.  Tomorrow we’re gonna pack up and drive to Cayambe, up to the mountain hut on the volcano and get ready for our first glaciated climb.

All’s well here in Ecuador!  We’ve been having a great time and are excited to head to our first mountain soon.

Acclimation hike on the Imbabura volcano

Acclimation hike on the Imbabura volcano

Nearing the summit of Imbabura

Nearing the summit of Imbabura

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

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Lake Cuicocha and more acclimatizing

Laguna Cuicocha, Ecuador

Our Ecuador team continued their acclimatization today with a hike around Laguna Cuicocha just west of Otavalo.  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, has today’s dispatch:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Ecuador Volcanoes program.  Today we hiked around Lake Cuicocha and it was nice weather, we got to see the lake and some nice views overlooking the hills around including the summit we did yesterday and tomorrow’s objective as well.  Another great day here acclimitizing in Ecuador.  We’re staying at the Hacienda Pinsaqui, which is a great accomidation.

We are excited for tomorrow’s hike and then heading over to Cayambe, the first glaciated volcano in our program.  Everyone’s doing well and all’s good here in Ecuador!

Acclimatization hike near Laguna Cuicocha, Ecuador

Acclimatization hike near Laguna Cuicocha, Ecuador

Hiking around Laguna Cuicocha, Ecuador

Hiking around Laguna Cuicocha, Ecuador

The view of Laguna Cuicocha, Ecuador

The view of Laguna Cuicocha, Ecuador

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

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Acclimatizing on Fuya Fuya

Laguna de Mojanda, Ecuador

Our Ecuador team has jumped right into their acclimatization after just arriving in Quito last night.  Garrett Madison provides a recap of the day:

Hello!  This is Garrett calling in the Ecuador Volcanoes climb program.  Today we left Quito in the morning and drove to our first acclimatization hike, Fuya Fuya, and we hiked up to 14,000 ft. (4275m).  Day one!  Wow, really strong crew.

And then we came to Hacienda Pinsaqui, an old hacienda here in the countryside of Ecuador, and had a nice evening cocktail, some music, and a nice dinner.  Looking forward to a good night’s rest and tomorrow we’re heading off for another acclimatization hike.

All’s well here in Ecuador.  We’re very excited to be here with our good friend and local guide, Estalin Suárez, and heading to Cayambe soon after.

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

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Ecuador Volcanoes Expedition Kick Off!

Today we kick off our final expedition of 2020 in the capital city of Quito, Ecuador.  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, provides this initial Ecuador Volcanoes expedition dispatch.  We hope you will follow along.

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Ecuador Volcanoes program.  Today we are meeting in Quito, Ecuador.  I’ve just arrived and tomorrow we are heading out to the small town of Otavalo and going for our first acclimitization hike up to about 12,000 ft. (3658m).

Our first volcano that we are heading towards is Cayambe (5758m/18,891ft).  And then after Cayambe, we’ll come back to Quito for a couple of nights and then head off to Cotopaxi (5897m/19,347ft) and then Chimborazo (6310m/20,702ft), the highest peak in Ecuador and the closest point to the Sun.

We’re looking forward to a great trip here in Ecuador with Todd and Jen.  We’ll get started here tomorrow.  All’s well!

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

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Ecuador climbers have reached the summit of Cayambe volcano!

Early this morning our Ecuador climbers reached the summit of Cayambe at 5,790 m (19,000 ft)! Located in the Cordillera Central, this glaciated super-volcano runs along the Ecuadorian Andes mountain range. The volcano and most of its slopes are located within the Cayambe Coca Ecological Reserve. Weather conditions looked beautiful on the summit today with epic views from high above the clouds! After a short rest at the high altitude hut, our team packed up their gear and will now drive back down the mountain and toward their next mountain ascent on Chimborazo.

Way to go team!!

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William enjoying the amazing summit views from Cayambe.

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Summit success!

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Route to summit.

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Lower glacier crossing.

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Climbers arrive in Quito for our Ecuador volcanoes expedition!

Beautiful views in the Andes as our climbers set off for the Ecuador volcanoes! Our team will spend the first few days acclimating on local peaks close to Quito in preparation for Cayambe at an elevation of 18,996 feet. For a detailed overview of this exciting climb please visit our page here.

To the top!

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William celebrating his first summit of Pasochoa. This extinct volcano is located in the Guayllabamba river basin in the Ecuadorian Andes.

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Ecuador team successfully summited Iliniza Norte!!

“I am happy to report we (Jared and Andrew) successfully summited Iliniza Norte this afternoon!  Snow and ice made the ascent and descent rather technical as well as frigid temperatures and strong winds (Jose estimated gusts to near 70 mph). It was a fantastic climb to end the trip and Jose took excellent care of us along the way. I can’t say enough good things about him! We were lucky to have him!
Looking back, sometimes the better climbs aren’t the highest, they are the ones that present the more challenging conditions and technical aspects of mountaineering.  Despite being sick for Antisana, weathered off of Cayambe, and switching things up to give up Chimborazo for Iliniza Norte (technically an acclimatization peak), today’s climb made the trip worth it!” – Jared
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Beautiful photos by expedition climber’s  Jared and Andrew!
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Ecuador team successfully summits Iliniza Norte!

“I am happy to report we (Jared and Andrew) successfully summited Iliniza Norte this afternoon!  Snow and ice made the ascent and descent rather technical as well as frigid temperatures and strong winds (Jose estimated gusts to near 70 mph). It was a fantastic climb to end the trip and Jose took excellent care of us along the way. I can’t say enough good things about him! We were lucky to have him!
Looking back, sometimes the better climbs aren’t the highest, they are the ones that present the more challenging conditions and technical aspects of mountaineering.  Despite being sick for Antisana, weathered off of Cayambe, and switching things up to give up Chimborazo for Iliniza Norte (technically an acclimatization peak), today’s climb made the trip worth it!” – Jared
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Beautiful photos by expedition climber’s  Jared and Andrew!
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Rainy week across Ecuador

Our climbing team is having a cloudy and rainy week across Ecuador so far and we all hope that conditions will get better shortly. Starting in Guachala earlier this week the team moved up towards the hut on Cayambe. Despite a smooth start to our team’s summit attempt last night on Cayambe, the weather very quickly turned shortly after roping up and starting up the glacier. Two hours into the climb up the glaciated slopes of Cayambe the clouds appeared out of nowhere and proceeded to dump wet snow on our team.  Not long after, the sky was filled with lightning and thunder.  At this point our team quickly descended back to the hut. The weather turned on our climbers when they reached around 5,000 meters.  It dumped snow most of the night causing Jared and Andrew to be a bit delayed on the departure trying to wait for the hazardous road conditions to improve. Our team is now assessing options for Chimborazo given the weather and our maximum acclimatization height to date.

Mother Nature always gets the final say.

 

Thank-you Jared for the update and pictures!

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View from the Cayambe Hut
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Snowing hard at the Cayambe Hut!
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Ecuador acclimatization climbs schedule with Pinchincha summit!

Our climbing team in Ecuador continued their acclimatization climbs outside of Quito with a successful summit of Rucu Pinchincha this afternoon. Jared and Andrew were able to beat the change in weather and are now settled in Papallacta. Our team had just started to descend in the cable car when it started to rain. Jared reports that Cayambe was clear this morning before getting clouded in, and Antisana and Cotopaxi had lenticular clouds over them. Currently low clouds are reported in the surrounding hills while raining on and off at Papallacta.

Yesterday Jared and Andrew had an easy day at Papallacta. Completing a short hike in the park up to one of the lakes in the morning.  Our team is healthy and doing well. Onward!

Thank you Jared for the awesome pics!!

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