Trip Reports - 11/2000 Mountaineering Expedition to Ecuador
Oct. 31st to Nov. 16th 2002
Arrived in Quito late Thursday night and spent Friday sightseeing
in town and acclimatizing. Quito is at about 10,000ft above sea
level whereas my house is at about 3ft.!! So most of the day I felt
like I had ankle weights on.
Saturday the 2nd our team of 10 did an acclimatization climb of
Guagua Pinchincha (15,728ft). We summited and were very nearly
struck by lightning several times on our decent. It was hitting the
ridges around us. The following day we went to the town of San
Miguel de Ibarra at rested. November 4th we made an attempt on
Imbabura (15,190ft) as we approached the summit the clouds were
rushing up the ridge on either side of us. The air was literally
charged with electricity. I stopped about 200ft from the top as the
visibility closed in. One of the guides just ahead of me had his
hair stand on end TWICE. The lightning started all around us. We
began a run down a high ridge. We were above the clouds for the most
part and we could see weird fingers of lightning coursing through
the clouds BELOW us! we stayed low and made our we down.
During our decent a young farmer was working in a field near the
trail head. He took an indirect lightning strike and our driver
rushed him to the local police station where he was taken a
hospital. I understood that he recovered later.
The morning of this climb we were taking photos of the mountains
and we saw a strange plume of smoke rising miles into the sky in the
direction of Quito. It was the jungle volcano Reventador. The
eruption basically closed the city and a layer of fine ash and
pumice fell for days. Our return to Quito was like entering a war
zone.
November 6th we left Quito for Cotopaxi National Park. We set up
a base camp and watched the skies. Cotopaxi was not visible.
November 7th we attempted Ruminahui (15,492ft) and again encountered
lightning, rain, and hail only 150ft from the summit.
Later that day we drove toward the trail head of Cotopaxi and
encountered snow about 1000ft. lower than normal. The overcast and
deep snow told us we weren't going up.
We returned to Quito and dropped of a few members of our party
who had to get back to the states. (They weren't able to get out of
the country for almost a week due to airport closures)
We decided to make our way back toward Cotopaxi National Park and
attempt another peak.
Enlarge photo of Leon
 We
made our base the new Tambopaxi Refugio, and incredible lodge on
the edge of the park. On November 11th I celebrated my 37th birthday
by summited a snow covered Sincholagua (16,053ft). The approach
and climb were a marathon 14 hours! The next morning we awoke to
blue skies and an incredible view of Cotopaxi (19,347ft). we spent
the day eating, hydrating and trying to get a little sleep. At 10pm
on November 12th we left the refugio and started toward the trailhead
at 15,100 ft. We made up two ropes of 3 climbers. At 1:00am we started
out across lower slopes of Cotopaxi as the wind rose to a roar and
the snow began to fall. The next few hours were spent living in
the narrow beam of my Zoom headlamp. At about 5:00am my little
world went black. On a steep slope in my light died, no dimming,
no warning, just gone. I was able to fish into my pack and retrieve
my Tikka lamp. It took a tremendous amount of my energy and I was
ready to turn back. After a few steps upward I got a second wind
and in 40 minutes we came over a ridge and saw the last 900 ft climb
to the summit. The sun was rising and the cloudy haze surrounding
us was surreal. One of my ropemates was approaching the end of his
strength and without any regret we turned and began our decent.
As it turned out the summit was unattainable that day due to horrible
avalanche conditions only a few hundred feet above our high point.
We returned to the refugio safe and sound with an incredible
experience behind us.
Leon Watts
Adventure Outfitters
4315 El Prado
Blvd.
Tampa Florida 33629
813-832-6669
http://www.adventuretampa.com/
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