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- Nov 18, 2010
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Summit of Antisana and Cotopaxi reached!
Cotopaxi top; taking a break on Antisana bottom photo
Latest installment from Ecuador from Amber:
Saturday morning, Nov. 28th at 8:40 am, After 7 hours and forty minutes of climbing the direct route up the western face of Antisana, Oswaldo, Hunter and Andy reached the summit of Antisana. The conitions were perfect: hard packed snow, clear skies with high clouds which protected our boys a bit from sunburn, and ice bridges which carried them safely from one side of the crevasses to the other.
It was a long day: 11 hours climbing in total. The thouroughly exhausted guys arrived back in the late afternoon to Rumiloma where their baths had been drawn, the hot water bottles were tucked under the down comforters at the ends of their beds, and the waiters were ready to deliver room service. Way to rough it guys…
They snuggled in for a well deserved rest and we dont expect to see them until the afternoon.
Another fabulous summit for the Mountain Madness team. Congratulations guys!!! Next up Cotopaxi.
At 6:40 Nov. 30th Ossy, Andy and Hunter succesfully summitted Cotopaxi after an astonishingly rapid assent of 4 hours and 40 minutes. The weather was perfect and they made an equally speedy descent in just over an hour and a half. After Antisana, I suppose they were in perfect shape to tackle the worlds highest active volcano. The group decided against attempting Chimborazo this time, after reports of severely icy conditions. They opted instead for Cotopaxi.
After the unsuccesful attempt on Illiniza Sur — it appears that the guys were not anxious to tackle black-ice again so soon. They obviously made the right choice as they had ideal weather and conditions on Cotopaxi and were treated to spectacular views of its crater and the other mountains along the avenue of the volcanoes. Perhaps they were choosing which to climb on their next trip to Ecuador?
They are heading back to Quito and Rumiloma for a celebration dinner complete with a few bottles of our best Chilean wine and another sumptuous meal cooked up by our chef-cita. Tomorrow its off to the bullfights. Just another day in the life of a mountain madness adventurer here on the Equator…