Ecuador 2017-18

I've officially been bitten by the travel bug, and high altitude mountaineering seems to be the illness it has inflicted me with. After a trip to Peru and Nepal, I couldn't wait to get another expedition scheduled. So, I contacted Alejo, my one of my guides from Peru, and began a plan to lead a trip to Ecuador, his home country. We a plan in place, I quickly recruited 3 climbers. Ian, who had went with us to Peru, Keshari and Bryon. We began training in the gym and it was obvious this was going to be a strong team, even though Keshari and Bryon didn't have much mountaineering experience.

We arrived in Quito late at night, but after resting up, hit the streets the next day with Alejo for a tour of Quito and its many churches.

and don't forget the empanadas!!

The next day we began our acclimatization with a ride up the teleferico and a climb of the Pichincha volcano.

Feeling slightly acclimated, we met our second guide Camilo and we headed down to Cayambe to test ourselves with a real climb. Unfortunately, it seems we weren't quite ready. With two party members not operating at 100% we were to slow to make the summit and turned back a few hundred feet shy.

So, after our first semi-crushing defeat, we headed back to Quito to rest up, celebrate the New Year, and regroup for our new destination, Cotopaxi.

"Widows" of Anjo Viejo looking for money on New Years eve.

After a short hike, and a short sleep at the Jose Rivas refugio, we headed for the summit around midnight.