Ecuador School and Volcanoes Expedition together for Caymabe summit tonight

The Moun­tain Mad­ness Ecuador Climb­ing School Expe­di­tion has moved from the cities to the moun­tains and will attempt their first big peak tonight.

Here’s Tino’s lates report:

The team is now joined by our Vol­ca­noes Expe­di­tion climbers that have been accli­ma­tiz­ing while the school team was get­ting instruc­tion. We’ve been busy every­day, but we still are not exact­ly rough­ing it yet. We have moved from hotel to hacien­da to hut and along the way enjoyed rich cul­ture, great food and awe­some atom­sphere here in Ecuador.

After a day hike accli­ma­tiz­ing on Rucu Pich­in­cha, an extinct vol­cano tow­er­ing at an ele­va­tion of over 15,000 ft above Quito, our team moved out of Quito and deep­er into the high­lands of Ecuador. First stop along the way, the mar­ket in Otava­lo, known as one of the world’s largest open air mar­kets.

On the way to Cayambe, our first moun­tain objec­tive of the trip and site of the climb­ing school, we stayed at the his­toric Hacien­das Pin­caqui and Guacha­la before head­ing up to the moun­tain hut, sit­u­at­ed at 15,200 ft. After 4 days of glac­i­er school cov­er­ing skills from basic self arrest to com­plex pul­ley sys­tems for crevasse res­cue, as well as ice climb­ing, the team was ready for a show­er and some thick­er air.

We head­ed back down to Guacha­la, where we have met the rest of the Moun­tain Mad­ness team join­ing us for the Vol­ca­noes Expe­di­tion. Much need­ed rest was had in the com­fort of the hacien­da and we are prepar­ing to head back up to Cayambe for the sum­mit attempt tonight. Weath­er seems to be work­ing in our favor as, after near­ly a week of wet and windy con­di­tions, the clouds are clear­ing and winds sub­sid­ing. Wish us luck!