Icy conditions on Illiniza. Antisana next up.

Sat­ur­day Novem­ber 28- — Update — - ​“Ecuador’s next Top Climbers”

Good morn­ing all,

The three guys, Hunter, Andy and Ossy, made an attempt on Illiniza Sur in the ear­ly hours of Thanks­giv­ing Thurs­day. After more than 6 hours of front-point­ing and very slow progress up a very icy, and tech­ni­cal­ly chal­leng­ing glac­i­er, Ossy turned the group around before the sun had a chance to warm things up too much. As the sun ris­es high­er in the Equa­to­r­i­al sky, the ever-present dan­ger of rock­fall on this moun­tain increas­es. The glac­i­er warms up and stones of all sizes are released from its icy grasp and tum­ble down the moun­tain. You def­i­nite­ly don’t want to be in their path… Hence, Illiniza in such icy con­di­tions isn’t ide­al. It was a beau­ti­ful morn­ing and Hunter as well as Andy were in good form as they descend­ed. They spent the rest of Thurs­day relax­ing in a cozy lit­tle hacien­da. Not a turkey in sight, not to men­tion all the trim­mings, but, rumor has it, there was a nice spit-roast­ed guinea pig on offer…

Yes­ter­day after­noon the group head­ed to Anti­sana- the most beau­ti­ful Ecuado­ri­an moun­tain of all accord­ing to Ossy. Owing to its’ loca­tion, and the fact that the entire moun­tain is pri­vate­ly owned, Anti­sana is one of the most sel­dom climbed Ecuado­ri­an Vol­ca­noes. How lucky these three ‑to be the only humans for miles attempt­ing to sum­mit the guides’ favorite moun­tain. They made camp in the shad­ow of Anti­sana and pre­pared for an ear­ly morn­ing assault today, Sat­ur­day. The climbers are all strong, and the con­di­tions appear to be favor­able. Stay tuned.…