Yeah this is Randall, with the Alpine Ascents group on the volcanoes in Ecuador. Today is Saturday.
Basically what we did today is we got up at 11:00, got our gear ready at Base Camp of Antisana (an 18,900 foot mountain) went to Advanced Base Camp, got there about 1:30am, and started climbing. Experienced a lot of snow, new snow, and got to 17,2 when our guide Jose Luis and Nicholas, our other guide, we stopped and they dug trenches in the snow to determine the structure of the snow for avalanches and other issues. And at 17,200 we decided (they decided and the climbers decided) that safety was the most important thing, so we turned around and descended.
We had a great climb, everybody did extremely well, and got down to Base Camp and had breakfast and then kind of packed up the tents and now we are over by another area, by Cotopaxi, where we are going to climb it in a couple of days.
So everybody is doing well, everybody is staying well and having a great time. A little rainy, low on the mountain, but our weather is looking good and supposed to improve. So stay tuned to the cybercast, we’ll be on two big mountains here in the future, so we look forward to talking and telling you all about those too.
So from everybody here in Ecuador, we wish you a very good Saturday evening, and we’ll check in tomorrow. Adios.
