Ecuadorian Andes Archives

Ecuador 2023.01.16

On the Rumiñahui Massif!

With views of Cotopaxi behind them, our team ascended Rumiñahui Massif as the next step in their acclimatization process. The weather was good, the views were great, and the team looks forward to the days ahead! Expedition leader, Estalin Suárez, checks in with todays dispatch from Ecuador:

Hello! This is Estalin calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Ecuador Volcanoes expedition.

Today we summited the central peak on the Rumiñahui Massif (4630m/15,190ft) which is 15,200 feet! We had a great day, just a little bit cloudy, but it was a nice day. We could see in the morning Cotopaxi (5897m/19,347ft) eruption – a big mushroom of ashes. Actually, we got some ash on the way up to Rumiñahui, but it was just a little bit.

Drew and Ross are very happy and they’re still motivated for the next upcoming mountains. That’s all for today! Stay tuned…

The team walking into the clouds on Rumiñahui.

Climber, Drew, leading the charge up Rumiñahui.

Climbers, Drew and Madison, taking a break on the summit ridge amongst the clouds!

Views of Cotopaxi in the distance!

Ascending the rocky slopes of Rumiñahui.

Descending back towards the valley after another successful acclimatization hike!

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 daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions. Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

January 18, 2023/0 Comments/by Garrett

Ecuador 2023.01.16

Summit on Pasochoa Volcano!

Another Madison Mountaineering expedition is underway in Ecuador! The team is wasting no time starting the acclimatization process, reaching the summit of Pasochoa Volcano on the second day of the expedition. Expedition leader, Estalin Suárez, checks in with this dispatch from Ecuador:

Hello, hello! This is Estalin calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Ecuador Volcanoes expedition – today is February 17.

We started a new expedition! Today we summited our first acclimatization peak which is Pasochoa (4200m/13,779ft) at 13,780 feet. The weather was really good! We got some sunshine and a little bit clouds, but mostly very good. At the moment we are in a really nice lodge called Los Martinoz just resting. In the afternoon we got a little bit of rain, but at the moment it is getting better!

Tomorrow we are going to the national park of Cotopaxi (5897m/19,347ft) just to do another hike for the acclimatization. Stay tuned!

Hiking along through the Ecuadorian Highlands!

On the trail towards the summit of Pasochoa!

Hands up if it’s been a good first hike in Ecuador!

Among the clouds while nearing the top of Pasochoa.

The view from the lodge at the end of a good first day!

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 daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions. Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

January 17, 2023/0 Comments/by Garrett

Ecuador 2023.01.02

Rest Day in Baños!

The team had a wonderful day exploring the beautiful city of Baños! In an effort to recover after their successful summit of Cayambe, the team returned to lower elevation to rest their bodies, eat good food, and take in the sights and sounds of this must-visit place. Expedition leader, Estalin Suárez, checks in with this dispatch after a fun and restful day in Ecuador:

Hello! This is Estalin calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Ecuador Volcanoes expedition – today is January 10.

We are at the city called Baños de Agua Santa (1820m/5,971ft) – a really nice place for rest! We came after Cayambe (5790m/18,996ft) just to recover here. It’s not as high as Quito (2850m/9,350ft) – we are at 1,800 meters about.

We spent the day doing the water pool tour. Now everybody is just resting getting ready for our main summit push, which is Chimborazo (6263m/20,549ft)!

Everything is going great with this expedition. Stay tuned!

Th team high above the river below!

Taking in the beautiful waterfalls around Baños!

Climber, Stephane Mayer, enjoying the increased oxygen at lower altitude!

The team taking a break from the alpine, and enjoying the jungle!

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:

January 10, 2023/0 Comments/by Garrett

Ecuador 2022.07.25

Cotopaxi Summit Success!!

Today our Ecuador Volcanoes team capped off the expedition with a fantastic summit climb of Ecuador’s second highest mountain, Cotopaxi (5897m/19,347ft)! Lead guide Estalin Suárez calls in with the happy news:

Hello, this is Estalin calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Ecuador Volcanoes expedition. I’m very, very happy with the news that today, July 31st, we got the summit of Cotopaxi volcano, which is 19,400 feet in elevation, with Mr. Kevin Gary!

Yesterday we started at midnight, and it took us about eight hours to reach the summit and then a little bit more than three hours down. We had an amazing, amazing view of all the volcanoes around. The weather was incredible – almost no wind, very clear, a little bit cold (but just that, it was okay). The condition of the snow was perfect. So, we had a great, great experience on the mountain. Mr. Kevin is very happy that we were able to reach the summit of Cotopaxi! With this, we finish our expedition.

Again, I’m very, very happy to announce the news of our summit success on Cotopaxi and we’re ready for the next expedition!

Okay, bye.

Alpine start on Cotopaxi

Dawn on Cotopaxi

Beautiful climbing conditions on Cotopaxi

Climbing Cotopaxi on a bluebird day

Heading up Cotopaxi

Amazing views from high on Cotopaxi

Nearing the Cotopaxi summit

Climber Kevin G. celebrates reaching the summit of Cotopaxi

Happy climbers on the summit of Cotopaxi!

Cotopaxi summit with perfect conditions

Cotopaxi from the air

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 daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions. Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

August 1, 2022/0 Comments/by Kurt

Ecuador 2022.07.25

Summits on Iliniza Norte (5126m/16,813ft)

Today our Ecuador team topped out on the 16,813 ft. (5126m) summit of Illiniza Norte as they continue their acclimatization. Here’s lead guide Estalin Suárez with a recap of the day:

Hello to everybody! This is Estalin calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Ecuador Volcanoes expedition. Today we got the summit of Iliniza Norte, which is 16,800 feet.

We got a great, great day – beautiful weather, very clear. We started very early in the morning. We could see the sun rise along the avenue of volcanoes in Ecuador. Very, very happy we got finally good weather on this expedition. Now we are at the lodge just resting after our good lunch as well and yeah!

Tomorrow we are going to just have a rest day and then get ready for the big one!

Okay, bye!!

Climber Kevin G. ready to head out

Sunrise climbing on Illiniza Norte

Sunrise on the Avenue of Volcanoes, Ecuador

Morning alpenglow

Sunning views of Ecuador’s volcanoes

Climbing on Illiniza Norte

Summit success 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 daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions. Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

July 29, 2022/0 Comments/by Kurt

Ecuador 2022.07.25

Corazon Cumbre!

Today, the team climbed another eroded and extinct volcano, “El Corazon,” located about 40 km southwest of Quito. The name Corazon means “heart” in Spanish and is said to refer to the two gullies on the north west slopes which, when seen from the distance, appear to join together in the shape of a heart. While the weather has been challenging thus far, the team has kept high spirits and looks forward to the days ahead! Lead guide, Estalin Suárez, check in with today’s dispatch:

Hello! This is Estalin calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Ecuador volcanoes expedition – today is July 27th.

We, Mr. Kevin Gary and I, climbed El Corazon volcano which is 15,700 feet. We didn’t have much luck with the weather – it was cloudy, a little bit rainy, and even some snow, which is very very weird for this mountain! We actually got a lot of snow on the way up, but it was okay! It was challenging and we had to push a little bit harder, but finally we got the summit! It was a nice climb – a little bit different with the snow. We’re still motivated. Hopefully the weather improves the next few days.

Now we’re at the lodge just resting and waiting to have dinner! Hopefully tomorrows weather will be better. Bye!

Ascending the snow covered slopes of Corazon.

Rope team navigating the challenging weather on Corazon.

Climber, Kevin Gary approaching the summit!

Cumbre!

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 daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions. Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

July 27, 2022/0 Comments/by Mike

Ecuador 2022.07.25

Ecuador Volcanoes Expedition is Underway!

Acclimatization hike in Ecuador! Dark, but beautiful skies up above!

Our Ecuador volcanoes expedition has begun! Today, the team started the acclimatization process, reaching the summit of Pasochoa at 13,779 feet. Lead guide, Estalin Suárez, check in with today’s dispatch:

Hello! This is Estalin calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Ecuador Volcanoes expedition – today is July 26th.

We just started the acclimatization process with the summit of Pasochoa volcano (4200m/13,779ft) which is 13,800 feet. So, we had a nice hike, even though the weather wasn’t that good – a little bit cloudy and we got some rain at the summit. But, it was good, it was good.

Now we are in a nice lodge just resting and getting ready for tomorrow. So, that is it for today!

Guide, Estalin and climber, Kevin on the summit of Pasochoa!

Climber, Kevin on Pasochoa.

Among the clouds during todays acclimatization hike in 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 our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions. Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

July 26, 2022/0 Comments/by Mike

Ecuador 2022.03.01

Chimborazo Summit!

Yesterday our team reached the summit of Chimborazo (6263m/20,543ft) – Ecuador’s highest peak and the closest point to the Moon and furthest from Earth’s center! Garrett, Victor (@VictorVescovo), and Estalin left their high camp on Chimborazo (5304m/17,400ft) at midnight and climbed through a mild electrical storm (lightning) to reach the summit at 6 AM on a clear morning.

They had some nice views at the top of this massive glaciated volcano, then made their way down and are now safely back in Quito. They feel very lucky as the previous week the weather and route conditions (snowstorms, deep and unstable snow) made it impossible for climbers to reach the summit of Chimborazo.

This concludes our private expedition to Ecuador, next up is our Mount Everest and Lhotse expedition in Nepal that kicks off in a couple of weeks! Stay tuned!

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:

March 11, 2022/0 Comments/by Garrett

Ecuador 2022.03.01

Cotopaxi Summit!

Victor V. and Garrett on the summit of Cotopaxi!

The Madison Mountaineering team of Victor Vescovo (@VictorVescovo), Estalin Suarez, and Garrett Madison had a great climb of Cotopaxi (5897m/19,347ft)! Despite some challenging weather conditions over the last few days their summit morning was nice with some great views from the top!

Victor’s ice axe has been with him to the top of Everest, the bottom of the ocean (Mariana Trench Challenger Deep) during his Five Deeps Expedition and now the summit of Cotopaxi. The climbers were also able to test out their Omega Speedmaster Moonwatches on the climb, the first watch worn on the Moon! Thanks to Omega for helping sponsor the climb!

The team is resting in Banos for a day before heading off to Chimborazo, Ecuador’s highest peak and the closest point to the sun. Fingers crossed for good weather and route conditions, as recent teams have turned back on their Chimborazo summit attempts due to deep snow.

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:

March 8, 2022/0 Comments/by Garrett

Ecuador 2022.03.01

Greetings from Ecuador!

Our team of Garrett Madison, Victor Vescovo (@VictorVescovo), and Estalin Suarez have begun their mountaineering program by acclimatizing on some ancient and extinct volcanoes before heading to their first objective, Cotopaxi (5897m/19,347ft)! They’ve trekked up Pashachoa, Ruminahui, and are heading to Cotopaxi tomorrow evening to make their first summit attempt. Cotopaxi is a stratovolcano, the second-highest peak in Ecuador and one of the highest active volcanoes in the world.

So far the team has enjoyed some cool and moist weather in the lush countryside.

Stay tuned as they make their way up Cotopaxi and later Chimborazo, Ecuador’s highest peak and also the furthest point from the center of the Earth.