Exceptional weather to kick off Ecuador season

The win­ter Ecuador climb­ing sea­son was kicked off with a Moun­tain Mad­ness expe­di­tion of Anti­sana and Illiniza Sur. For those of you who have climbed in Ecuador before, you may have expe­ri­enced cloudy and stormy con­di­tions on the Ecuado­ri­an vol­ca­noes. How­ev­er, this team was lucky enough to have views of the avenue of vol­ca­noes from the sum­mit of Ill­niza Sur and Norte! The clients were strong on both climbs and blown away by the beau­ty of the region. 

On the approach to Illiniza Norte. Oswal­do Freire photo

Stun­ning views from the sum­mit of Illiniza Norte. Oswal­do Freire photo

On the sum­mit! Oswal­do Freire photo

Unfor­tu­nate­ly the weath­er on Anti­sana turned the team around at 5300 meters. The final moun­tain obje­cive was the infa­mous Chimb­o­ra­zo. The weath­er was unusu­al­ly excep­tion­al for the sum­mit attempt, how­ev­er exhaus­tion from the pre­vi­ous objec­tives turned most of the team around at 5800 meters. Con­grat­u­la­tions to Bar­bara S. and Hen­ry for reach­ing the summit! 

Ascend­ing Illiniza Sur. Oswal­do Freir photo

Sum­mit of Ill­niza Sur. Oswal­do Freire photo

The first Ecuador Moun­taineer­ing School has com­plet­ed their glac­i­er moun­taineer­ing course and is head­ing in tot he moun­tains for their main objec­tives. Cross your fin­gers that they get equal­ly favor­able weath­er conditions!