Blogs from Chimborazo, Centre, Ecuador, South America - page 2

After our great day in Misahualli, although the jungle was not in our comfort zone, we , along with Stephanie, decided that we wanted to experience a bit more of the jungle, but this time something that was a bit more challenging, something that was not just put on as a tourist show. After exploring a few tour operators in Baños, we found one that did specialized trips into the deeper jungle. We had to go with a tour operator as to go this far into the jungle you have to obtain written permission from the chief of the tribes you wish to pass through. The guide we were using was related to the tribe we wanted to visit so he was able to gain that permisson easily for us, but as he was the only ... read more

So we got a call on Sunday morning saying there was a meeting in Gradas that morning that were supposed to attend and be ready in 10 minutes. Half an hour later we headed up, and then we (and the rest of the coomunity) waited for two hours for the leader to show up. They we had a little private meeting with him where we explained that we had been trying to do workshops but no one shows up, and we went to Visote and the people there are really interested and basically we aren´t going to spend any more money in Gradas unless we start seeing some cooperation. He said he thinks the people are mad because he told them we were comign with 5 grand and now we don´t have it and they think ... read more

I have made two attempts on Chimborazo now, and I failed both. The first one was 2 days after Cotopaxi. There had been loads of warnings and many people telling me that their planned ascents had been cancelled due to the very difficult conditions on the mountain. Tungurahua had had a strong eruption a couple of weeks before, the ash was blown onto Chimborazo, melted the snow and in subsequence made it all very icy and extremely difficult to climb. As I had already booked the trip (I wasn't too happy that the tour operator had not told me about the situation at the time of booking), I thought I should try it. So on Wednesday, 30 January, Jaime and I went to the Whymper refugio. As with Cotopaxi, you can drive up to very close ... read more

Our fabulous adventure in the freezing cold Andes… My travel buddies and I bussed it to the nearest spot to the volcano. We got off the bus in the middle of no where (when I say middle of nowhere, I mean there was one road and the closest thing to a moving object we saw were wild vicunas. After a long hike through the sandy and rocky mountains, we finally found the perfect spot to set up camp right before dark. Ian and I made dinner, while Darren and Wendy collected wood (team work: go!) We shared wine, stories and songs around the camp fire. We woke up to the breathtaking “Volcan Chimborazo”. It was one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had yet.... read more

Cast of climbers Tim (migo) Olo (Sueco) Jonny y Nick (Ingléses) Los guias Pato, Iván y Marco (Nacionales) Not to beat around the bush, prevaricate or in any other way find a way to avoid getting to the point of the message, such that it is, as to do so would serve no particular purpose other than perhaps infuriate the reader, we enjoyed success on Chimborazo in a Hinkesian manner (c.f. Alan Hinkes, British mountaineer extraordinaire). That is to say that we gave it our best shot and we got back safely. The mere matter that we only gained 5400m and not the fabled 6310m is, of course, a bit of a disappointment. Unfortunately a combination of factors rallied against us, most importantly the fact that the superficially perfect conditions (no wind, clear sky) belied (belay?) ... read more