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Mountain Madness
2017 12 29 PHOTO 00001549

Mid-Trip Dispatch: Antisana and Illiniza

We’re pleased to report that we’ve just heard from Mad­ness team on the Ecuador Vol­ca­noes! Jim Duck­er, Reece Jenk­ins, Mary Rid­dle, Stephen Wal­lace, and Christo­pher Zahn are hav­ing a won­der­ful time.

To accli­ma­tize, the group sum­mit­ted the three peaks of Gua-Gua Pich­in­cha, where the fore­casts for inclement weath­er proved false. Rather than the gloomy skies pre­dict­ed, the group had blue skies and sun­shine – in fact, the skies were so clear that they enjoyed spec­tac­u­lar views of Anti­sana, Cotopaxi, the Illinizas, Cayambe, and even snow-cov­ered Chimb­o­ra­zo in the distance!

The group sum­mit­ted Illiniza Norte in just two and a half hours, and spent the rest of the day relax­ing in their moun­tain hut. Ozzy, their guide, pre­pared one of his famous din­ners, and the whole team hit the hay ear­ly to pre­pare for the sum­mit attempt on Illiniza Sur. The next morn­ing, four clients and three guides com­plet­ed the tech­ni­cal route and sum­mit­ted at 9:30! (Jim was feel­ing under the weath­er, and opt­ed to stay in the hut.) The guides report­ed that every­one did well, but want to spe­cial­ly con­grat­u­late Mary, who didn’t let recent neck surgery keep her from show­ing the sum­mit who’s boss!

“We’re off to yet anoth­er cozy hacien­da to relax by the fire and re-live the excite­ment over a glass of South Amer­i­can wine and a deli­cious din­ner,” they said. ​“Just anoth­er day with Moun­tain Mad­ness along the avenue of the vol­ca­noes in Ecuador!”