Our Ecuador Volcanoes team is in a position for their attempt at the summit of Ecuador’s highest mountain, Chimborazo!  Lead guide, Estalin Suárez has the day’s audio expedition dispatch:

Hello, this is Estalin calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Ecuador Volcanoes expedition.

Yesterday we went up to the high camp, which is at 17,400 ft., more or less.  We did this hike just to acclimitize and also to load some gear to the high camp.  We had a really great day and then after we went to our lodge at the bottom of Chimborazo.

Today is January 8th.  We are again at the high camp on Chimborazo.  Our plan is to get up at 11:00 PM and to start the summit push at midnight.  Dan and Jason are feeling pretty well and now they are resting after dinner for a couple of hours.

We are going to give a try for the summit of Chimborazo, the highest mountain in Ecuador.  That’s all for now.  The weather looks pretty good at the moment.  So, yeah!

I’ll keep in touch.  Bye!

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 our guide’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

• @MadisonMtng
• @e_suarezvalladolid
• @GarrettMadison1

Today our Ecuador Volcanoes team climbed up to the Nuevos Horizontes refuge (aka the Illiniza Hut) on Illiniza to get into position for their summit attempt of Illiniza Norte early tomorrow morning.  Lead guide, Estalin Suárez has the day’s audio expedition dispatch:

Hello, this is Estalin calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Ecuador Volcanoes expedition.

Today is the 5th of January and we hiked up to the hut of Illiniza, which the altitude is about 15,000 feet. So, Dan and Jason are feeling pretty good, so we did about 3 hours up to the hut and now we are just resting, waiting for dinner, and getting ready for tomorrow to push to the summit of Illiniza Norte.

Okay, bye!

At the trailhead and ready to head up to Nuevos Horizontes Refuge, the high hut on Illinizas

On the way up to Nuevos Horizontes Refuge

Day one on Illiniza Norte

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 our guide’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

• @MadisonMtng
• @e_suarezvalladolid
• @GarrettMadison1

Our team members arrived in Quito, Ecuador on Sunday and today started hiking Ecuador volcanoes to begin the acclimatization process and ready themselves for the big expedition objective of Chimborazo (6263m/20,549ft), the highest summit in Ecuador and one of the highest active volcanoes in the world.  Today they gained 700 meters of elevation by summiting the extinct volcano, Pasochoa.  Here’s lead guide, Estalin Suárez with a recap of the day:

Hello this is Estalin calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Ecuador Volcanoes expedition. Today is January 3rd and we hit our first acclimatization summit which was Pasochoa Volcano with an altitude of 13,780 feet.

We had a really, really beautiful day, sunny, blue skies and almost no clouds. Yeah, really a beautiful day. We made it in about 3 hours up and down. Daniel and Jason felt pretty well with that first hike at that altitude, so yeah, it was a great day.

Now we are just at the lodge waiting for some dinner and having some rest and getting ready for tomorrow and the next climb, so bye!

Hiking up Pasochoa

Descending Pasochoa

Descending Pasochoa

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 our guide’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

• @MadisonMtng
• @e_suarezvalladolid
• @GarrettMadison1

Our Ecuador Volcanoes knocked off another volcano summit – Illiniza Norte (5126m/16,818ft) – as they continued acclimatizing and getting ready for Cotopaxi!  Lead guide, Estalin Suárez has the day’s audio expedition dispatch:

Hello, this is Estalin calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Ecuador Volcanoes expedition.  Today is December 8th.

We just summit today Illiniza Norte, which is 16,800 ft.  We had a clear morning, but just before we reached the summit we got some clouds.  But anyways, we summitted.  Carter and Saskia are feeling pretty good and very motovated to keep climbing and focusing on Cotopaxi.

Now we are at the Chuquiragua Lodge just resting.  Tomorrow we are going to drive to the Cotopaxi lodge and just have one day rest before the Cotopaxi attempt.

I’ll keep in touch!  Bye!

Hiking up Illiniza Norte

Climbers Carter B. and Saskia J. nearing the summit of Illiniza Norte

Climbers Carter B. and Saskia J. on the summit of Illiniza Norte

Guide Estalin Suárez and climbers Carter B. and Saskia J. on the summit of Illiniza Norte

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 our guide’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

• @MadisonMtng
• @e_suarezvalladolid
• @GarrettMadison1

Our team members arrived in Quito, Ecuador on Saturday and today started hiking Ecuador volcanoes to begin the acclimatization process and ready themselves for the big expedition objective of Cotopaxi (5897m/19,347ft), the second-highest summit in Ecuador and one of the highest active volcanoes in the world.  Today they gained 700 meters of elevation by summiting the extinct volcano, Pasochoa.  Here’s lead guide, Estalin Suárez with a recap of the day:

Hello, this is Estalin calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Ecuador Volcanoes expedtion.  Today is December 5th.

We just started with our acclimatization process with a summit of Pasochoa volcano, which is 13,700 ft. (4200m).  We got a really nice day, really nice hike, we were walking for around 4 hours, and now we are at the Chuquiragua Lodge at the bottom of the Ilinizas area.  We are just resting and getting ready for tomorrow.

So, okay, bye!

Hiking Pasochoa

Climbers heading up Pasochoa

Nearing the summit of Pasochoa

Guide Estalin Suárez and climbers Carter B. and Saskia J. on the summit of Pasochoa

Climbers Carter B. and Saskia J. on the summit of Pasochoa

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 our guide’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

• @MadisonMtng
• @e_suarezvalladolid
• @GarrettMadison1