Relaxing in Baños

For those of you who don't speak Spanish, Baños means "baths," as in, nice hot water...we were joined by Rodrigo's daughter Domenica and did the classic tourist circuit: a soak in the mineral water followed by a trip to the waterfalls below town. A big pizza lunch and dinner and we are ready to go again!

Cotopaxi summit

We certainly didn't climb this mountain for the view this time...we were well coated in rime ice and spent only about five minutes on the summit before heading down to dry out!

Cotopaxi dawn

Dawn found us about a thousand feet below the summit. The pictures don't show you the wind. More photos coming...

Approaching Cotopaxi

We came to Cotopaxi with beautiful weather, which soon changed to very, very windy.

A night at La Cienega

A group photo taken at La Cienega, a beautiful hacienda near Cotopaxi where we spent an evening relaxing after climbing Illiniza Norte.

One more of Illiniza Norte

Illiniza Norte (right) and Sur (left) from a meadow on the way up.

Illiniza Norte

Some pictures from our climb of Illiniza Norte:

Cotopaxi on a rare clear day

Starting out on the south ridge of Illiniza Norte

Pasochoa

After a rest day in Quito we did a short hike up Pasochoa, a volcanic caldera just south of town.

A few shots from Imbabura

We just came down from Imbabura. We had fantastic weather (cloudy on top, of course) and a good time. It was a big hike--about 4,000 vertical feet and we are not completely acclimatized so we are pretty tired today, but we are taking a day off tomorrow and should recover fine!

The morning brought great views of Cayambe to the southeast

Doug climbing the last stretch of steep paramo before we reach the crater rim.

More shots from Imbabura

A few more shots from our climb of Imbabura:

Fuya Fuya

We climbed Fuya Fuya, a great acclimatization hike at about 14,000 feet elevation with beautiful views of the Lagunas de Mojanda below. The weather moved in on the summit but we had great views on the way up and down.

Close quarters in Rodrigo's Land Cruiser


Climbing above the lake

Adding a layer after reaching the ridge

A bit of scrambling on the way to the true summit

Descending through sun-dappled meadows

Rucu Pinchincha acclimatization hike

Today we climbed a subsidiary summit on Rucu Pinchincha, a volcanic peak right outside Quito. It is great for acclimatization because you can take a gondola up to about 13,000 feet and then hike for a while.

The entire group did great and we really enjoyed being able to descend to the Quito nightlife without too much trouble...coming down in the gondola is really kind on the knees!

Hiking the ridge above the gondola

The exciting third-class east ridge of Rucu Pinchincha

Looking down on Quito from around 14,000 feet

Everyone on the summit of our acclimatization climb

First day with the full group in Quito

The full group was in town by the night of the 12th so we started our day with a tour of Quito. I managed to negotiate with a driver for a trip to the "Middle of the World" (a monument to the Equator). I didn't realize until we were done negotiating that I had rented a 20+ passenger bus!

Mike, Doug, Marty, and Dick enjoy the spacious confines of our rented bus.

Checking out the view from the balcony of the Vigen de Quito

Chimborazo-Carihuairazo backpacking

Genya and I spent a few days backpacking through the rainy, misty paramo under the glaciers of Mts. Chimborazo and Carihuairazo. We did not see much of the mountains but did manage a little view of Carihuairazo in the morning. It was good acclimatization though and great to be out!