Ecuador Open for Business

[timisimaginary]

Ecuador is open for business but choose your business wisely

[desertdog]

Ecuador is open for business but choose your business wisely

We saw this story while down there. It is incorrect. No mountains were closed except Chimbo. Our team climbed Cotopaxi and I climbed Antisana. Chimbo was closed to allow for body recovery, but should be open this week. Like everywhere in the world there are avalanches and the possibility of some guides that may not be qualified. That all said, this accident, like all that happen anywhere, was a tragedy.

[desertdog]

Personally I liked Antisana more than Cimborazo and Cotopaxi. It has more of a wilderness feel and the area around the peak is really scenic. It used to be off the beaten track as well, but it seems to have gotten a lot more popular in recent years.

In my four times on Antisana over the years I have only seen one other climbing party on Antisana, so I would guess it is still somewhat off the beaten path.

Curious, of the mountains you have climbed in Ecuador, which did you think was the toughest to summit?

[curt86iroc]

Ecuador is open for business but choose your business wisely

We saw this story while down there. It is incorrect. No mountains were closed except Chimbo. Our team climbed Cotopaxi and I climbed Antisana. Chimbo was closed to allow for body recovery, but should be open this week. Like everywhere in the world there are avalanches and the possibility of some guides that may not be qualified. That all said, this accident, like all that happen anywhere, was a tragedy.

do you have more specifics on where exactly the avi was? i'm assuming it was somewhere on the steep ramp below the false summit.

[desertdog]

Ecuador is open for business but choose your business wisely

We saw this story while down there. It is incorrect. No mountains were closed except Chimbo. Our team climbed Cotopaxi and I climbed Antisana. Chimbo was closed to allow for body recovery, but should be open this week. Like everywhere in the world there are avalanches and the possibility of some guides that may not be qualified. That all said, this accident, like all that happen anywhere, was a tragedy.

do you have more specifics on where exactly the avi was? i'm assuming it was somewhere on the steep ramp below the false summit.

I believe you are correct. Apparently it was huge making recovery tough, although they did manage to recover all but three bodies. Some of my friends were involved in the recvoery and said it was horrible because many of the victims were young.

[Scott P]

Curious, of the mountains you have climbed in Ecuador, which did you think was the toughest to summit?

It was Chimborazo, but only because ash from the Tungurahua eruption turned all of the snow and glaciers on Chimborazo into bullet proof ice (covered in ash). Also due to the conditions of the lower Castillo route (ash caused the ice holding the rocks together to melt and some huge rockfalls happened), we had to climb the Whymper, but then had to retreat more than 1000 feet and traverse over (including across a near vertical ice wall) to the Castillo and reclimb the 1000 feet to that route. Usually it's not like that, but it was when we climbed it.

For Antisana we could get within a few vertical feet of the summit, but we couldn't get across the final crevasse since all of the snow bridges had melted out (it had been sunny for a month straight-which is very unusual for Ecuador). The rest of the climb was straightforward, but standing on the tip top summit was not, though we were only a few feet away.

El Altar is by far the hardest of the major peaks in Ecuador, unless you count the difficulty of dodging lava bombs on Sangay, but I haven't climbed it.

[Scott P]

do you have more specifics on where exactly the avi was? i'm assuming it was somewhere on the steep ramp below the false summit.

Yes, there.

A team of 12 was approaching a false summit when the snow slide took place.

https://gripped.com/news/climbers-die-i ... -in-nepal/

[desertdog]

Curious, of the mountains you have climbed in Ecuador, which did you think was the toughest to summit?

It was Chimborazo, but only because ash from the Tungurahua eruption turned all of the snow and glaciers on Chimborazo into bullet proof ice (covered in ash). Usually it's not like that, but it was when we climbed it.

For Antisana we could get within a few vertical feet of the summit, but we couldn't get across the final crevasse since all of the snow bridges had melted out (it had been sunny for a month straight-which is very unusual for Ecuador). The rest of the climb was straightforward, but standing on the tip top summit was not, though we were only a few feet away.

El Altar is by far the hardest of the major peaks in Ecuador, unless you count the difficulty of dodging lava bombs on Sangay, but I haven't climbed it.

I thought Chimbo was for me as well, but only because it was so long and it was icy.

I found Antisana to be not as hard as I was expecting, but we had great weather and brought plenty of gear for the crevasses. It took us a while to get through this area.

[Scott P]

I found Antisana to be not as hard as I was expecting, but we had great weather and brought plenty of gear for the crevasses.

Same here. One problem we had was leaving too early so we reached the summit (or I should say very close to it) in the dark. On the way down and when it started to get light, I was able to take a photo of the crevasse that stopped us, though obviously a close up photo would have been much better:



Maybe if it was light we could have found a way around? It was something like 15 to 50 feet (maybe more) wide with snow bridges when we were there. We went down the slope to the left and ran into a big ice cliff. Trying to pass it on the right only lead to a bunch of seracs and more huge crevasses. It was a really dry period, which was good from a weather point of view, but not from a snow condition or snow bridges point of view.

Anyway, for the trip next month we're doing Cotacachi, Imbabura, and Cayambe since I haven't done those ones.

[desertdog]

I found Antisana to be not as hard as I was expecting, but we had great weather and brought plenty of gear for the crevasses.

Same here. One problem we had was leaving too early so we reached the summit (or I should say very close to it) in the dark. On the way down and when it started to get light, I was able to take a photo of the crevasse that stopped us, though obviously a close up photo would have been much better:



Maybe if it was light we could have found a way around? It was something like 15 to 50 feet (maybe more) wide with snow bridges when we were there. We went down the slope to the left and ran into a big ice cliff. Trying to pass it on the right only lead to a bunch of seracs and more huge crevasses. It was a really dry period, which was good from a weather point of view, but not from a snow condition or snow bridges point of view.

Anyway, for the trip next month we're doing Cotacachi, Imbabura, and Cayambe since I haven't done those ones.

Wow, that looks like it has way more cracks than my climb! Cayambe is beautiful. I think you will enjoy it!

[dubsho3000]

This piqued my interest and now I'm researching a trip in January to climb Chimborazo and one or two other high glaciated peaks. If I go I'll do Rucu Pinchincha as well, and spend some time in Quito birding. My wife loves birding...

Who would you recommend for a guide for Chimborazo? I'm thinking about doing a guided trip for just that peak, or maybe one that includes an acclimatization hike. Cotopaxi doesn't seem like the best option for acclimatization, since it's nearly as high as Chimborazo, but it seems like that's the most common option in guided trips. Any recommendations? Cayambe and/or Antisana seem pretty appealing as well, although I've only started to research these peaks. I'll be solo for the high peaks. Ecuador Eco Adventures seems like an option - ASEGUIM accredited and they allow tagalongs to larger groups.

Is there a way to get acclimated properly without using a guide? Seems like it would be good to get up to 18k' before making the leap to 20k'. Either way, sounds exciting!

[curt86iroc]

This piqued my interest and now I'm researching a trip in January to climb Chimborazo and one or two other high glaciated peaks. If I go I'll do Rucu Pinchincha as well, and spend some time in Quito birding. My wife loves birding...

Who would you recommend for a guide for Chimborazo? I'm thinking about doing a guided trip for just that peak, or maybe one that includes an acclimatization hike. Cotopaxi doesn't seem like the best option for acclimatization, since it's nearly as high as Chimborazo, but it seems like that's the most common option in guided trips. Any recommendations? Cayambe and/or Antisana seem pretty appealing as well, although I've only started to research these peaks. I'll be solo for the high peaks. Ecuador Eco Adventures seems like an option - ASEGUIM accredited and they allow tagalongs to larger groups.

Is there a way to get acclimated properly without using a guide? Seems like it would be good to get up to 18k' before making the leap to 20k'. Either way, sounds exciting!

the official rule is you can't climb any glaciated peaks in ecuador without a guide. having said that, there are a lot of people who will call themselves "guides" and will gladly take your $$, but they do not hold the actual qualifications (IFMGA or ASEGUIM)