Cotopaxi everything

  Cotopaxi, Ecuador
Sunday, June 10, 2007

I signed up for a 3 day climbing tour in Cotopaxi national park which consisted of 2 days of acclimatisation and then the night climb to the summit. Sari has been here last time she came to Ecuador so she opted to stay in Quito and shop!

On the 1st day we drove to a lodge which we were camping next to. This was probably about 3200m higher than I had ever camped before as it was at 3750m, almost 1,000m higher than Quito. We went for a 2 hour walk among the hills probably going up to about 4,000m and I was amazed by the diversity of fauna - lots of different flowers, shrubs etc although itīs too high for trees. We walked back though a pack of llamas who seemed pretty cool with us only moving away from the path as we walked right up to them. Later on we heard some mad screaming sounds from the hills, a bit like gulls but lower pitched only to see 2 llamas fighting. About an hour later we saw the same pair about 1m apart outside the lodge so we reckon they must have made up.

On the next day we drove up to the car park at 4500m below the Refugio where we would stay that īnightī. We had the 1st shock of the trip as the wind was pretty strong trying to push us back down the hill. The Refugio at 4800m was basic and chilly and I did 30 mins. practice on the glacier with the crampons and ice axe. By this time the winds had died and the clouds disappeared so I got a good view of the volcano above me. Crampons are incredible as you can walk straight down a snowy / icy 45 degree slope without slipping at all. I walked the 20 mins back to the  refugio, chatted for 15 minutes and then noticed that the ice on my boots hadnīt started melting yet!

Had dinner about 5pm and played poker using rocks nick-named as Cotopaxis until 7.30 pm before going to bed. My pajamas consisted of 1 pair socks, 1 pair thick hiking socks, long sleeve and trouser thermals, long sleeve shirt, thick fleece and of course a woolly hat and gloves ;) All of this fitted inside a silk liner sleeping bag inside a full winter sleeping bag so it would be fair to say that I was toasty for once! The howling winds outside were very off-putting however and I only managed an hour or so of sleep before we got up at midnight for breakfast?! Left just after 1am and roped up with Dominic and Freddy (guide). It would be fair to say that we set off at some pace and despite me resting every 15 mins because I was out of breath, we still managed to catch up 2 earlier groups within the 1st hour and a half or so. Fortunately the 2nd group was Paul and Segundo (guide) so I roped off with them to let Freddy and Dom fly off into the distance. Fortunately Paul was already pretty knackered so we could proceed at a much more reasonable pace.

The wind was hideous and driving icy snow into our faces. By the time we hit 5200m I was walking for about 5 minutes and then resting for 2 to get my breath back, Iīve never experienced anything quite like that. The roping was becoming a pain by this point as the guide tried to drag me up the slope ever time I wanted to rest, and I was occasionally pulled back down whenever Paul lost his balance so it felt like being in a tug of war! I was quite happy to go back down by this stage as I was dead to the world, I think I even fell asleep once whilst still walking. I had mucus running down the back of my throat, my nose was dripping and the previous days indigestion was making itīs presence felt :(   However, Paul had tried the climb about 3 weeks previous and made it to about 5300m before being forced to turn back because of dangerous snow conditions so he said that he had to beat that, and as I was roped to him then that meant me too.  That was enough to get us going again but after what seemed like an hour on all 3īs (the other hand was using the ice axe) and staring at snow about 30cm in front of my face and nothing else, I suddenly remembered that I was supposed to be enjoying this. The wind hadnīt let up and we called it a day at 5400m. Tried to change the batteries on my head torch for the descent only to remember whilst trying not to drop batteries with cumbersome gloves that re-chargeables donīt really work at freezing. Just to compound the fun as we set off I broke 1 of my crampons so we sat their freezing whilst Segundo lashed a repair. So we set off shivering but very glad to be going back down. It was still hard work but we caught up with another group going down so we werenīt the only ones suffering.

Unfortunately we lost our way slightly on the way down and ended up walking down a rocky / sandy section that was harder than walking on the snow. We both stumbled and fell but were ok. The final section seemed really hard work and I started to feel sick. By the time we got down to the refugio I had what they call a dry hangover (all the symptoms but without the fun drinking part) so I was doubly glad we turned back when we did.

I honestly canīt say that I enjoyed the climb at the time but it was a great experience never the less & I now have tons more respect for climbers too. In the end Dominic was the only 1 of about 30 that actually made it to the summit so full marks to him for making it on such a hideous day.

Our favourite expressions:
Paul: "Holy cow!"
Simon: "What the &%$# am I doing here?"