Success in Ecuador

Climbing in Ecuador isn’t just an awesome way to climb some of the most accessible 5,000 and 6,000 meter peaks in the world, it’s also a great adventure discovering a country full of culture, great food and breathtaking landscapes.

Climbing in Ecuador isn’t just an awesome way to climb some of the most accessible 5,000 and 6,000 meter peaks in the world, it’s also a great adventure discovering a country full of culture, great food and breathtaking landscapes.

During the week of December 12-20, 2015 our team got to summit Cayambe (5790m) the third highest peak in the country. Our climbing team of Chris B., TJ B. and myself simply had a blast. With a spell of bad weather coming we were able to find the 12 hour window that allowed us to tackle the hardest climb that Chris and TJ had ever done. On the way to the summit we crossed beautifull crevasses that reminded us constantly of the seriousness of this activity and during the last couple hours the team gave their best effort to make their goal come true: summit their first big mountain outside of North America.

During our trip we also summited Rucu Pichincha (4800m). We had a fun climbing session in a gym in Quito, we visited Cuicocha (a volcanic lake at 3200m), toured around the colonial center of Quito (with some of the oldest churches and squares in South America), we bargained on the famous Otavalo handcraft maket, we visited the local food market where the team discovered some of the craziests foods they have ever seen, at the end of the trip (as usual) we recovered on the Papallacta hotsprings, and like the cherry on top of the pie that we all love, we had a tandem paragliding tour of the valleys surrounding Quito… and yeah: some wine to celebrate our success!!!

But what will stick to our minds and hearts for a long time is all the good moments we had as a team during the expedition including all the lessons we learned from the mountain while making our summit attempt on Cayambe.

See you next trip!!!

-Topo Mena