Ecuador Volcanoes 19th July 2008 Expedition News

Ecuador Volcanoes 19th July 2008 Expedition News.

The Team Leader : Chris Harling

Matthew Noades

Malcom Vodden

Carminha Flinders

Mark Flinders

Andy Gregory

Martin Gregory

8th August – The team have now returned to the UK.

2nd August – Chris has emailed from Quito: After Cayambe Andy & Martin decided to have a break and miss out Iliniza Norte. The rest of the team climbed as a group from 5am up to the refuge then climbed a very exciting ridge of snow and rock in dense cloud, giving a very alpine/Scottish feel to the atmosphere. After 2 hours of scrambling and occasional use of the rope we all reached the summit. A bout of sickness spread through the camp the next day so Mark & Carminha decided not to attempt Cotapaxi and prefered to save themselves for Chimborazo. We met back up with Andy & Martin, and at 1.30am we set off from the Cotapaxi refuge towards the summit. Everyone climbed well despite the cold conditions. We were treated to a spectacular dawn and an amazing shadow of the mountain cast over the clouds below. We all reached the summit within about 45 minutes of each other and had the top to ourselves, with great views over the country and down into the crater. Andy & Martin have now departed for the Galapagos and the rest of the team are now in Riobamba preparing for their ascent of Chimborazo tonight.

28th July – All is going well in Ecuador, the team have climbed 3 mountains so far: Fuya Fuya (4200m), the impressive volcano of Imbabura (4600m). Next the team moved up to the Cayambe refuge at 4600m, where they had a training session on the glacier. They then made a 12am start on the summit of Cayambe, Malcom Mark & Carminha decided to head back at above 5000m, but despite strong winds the rest of the team managed to reach the top at 8am. The team are now all back in Quito enjoying a sightseeing day before heading out to Iliniza.

23rd July – Chris has emailed the office to say they all arrived safely and so far everything going well. They have had a great tour of the city of Quito and visited El Mital del Mundo, where they had chance to take some photos at the equator. Yesterday was the groups first acclimatisation walk round a beautiful volcanic crater lake at c.3500m. Everyone appears to be acclimatising well and are getting used to the idea of drinking lots of water to help with the acclimatisation process.

15th July – The team will fly out to Ecuador on the 19th July.