Mountain Man, etc.

This past weekend, as many of you know, I climbed Volcan Cotapaxi. I´ll try to recount our journey.

I suppose it started back in December on the night we found out our placements at 10,000 Villages. Nick and I found that we were both placed in Ecuador and when we had a moment together he said "We´re climbing a mountain...you in?" My reply, promptly, was "Oh yes. We are climbing a mountain!" Fast forward to about a month ago, here, and we talked more about climbing a mountain. We had designs on Cayambe as it is always looming above us everyday. Our talk seemed to stir another Intercordian to want to climb as well. And so, our tandem became a trio; joined by Maria.

Maria lives in Saskatchewan, is of East Indian descent, and is the shortest member of our group. She is also, perhaps, the most tenacious. As most people we talked to said, climbing mountains requires heart...we had no doubt Maria had heart. As well, because Maria will not be travelling after our placements are finished, this would be her only chance to get to the top of a mountain.

We consulted both the guidebooks that Maria and Nick had and they seemed to suggest that Cayambe was not a good first climb. There are many crevasses and so, its supposed to be more dangerous. We settled on Cotapaxi instead; which was described in Nick´s book as "A tough uphill slog." Maria did most of the arranging and found us a company that set up climbs, in Quito. It was suggested to do an acclimatization program, which would take five days. Five days we did not have (not to mention the extra costs) and besides, we had been living above Cayambe (the city) for nearly two months now and so we figured we were in good shape for the climb. Just to make sure though, we decided to take a truck up to the Cayambe climber´s refugio last Wednesday to see how our bodies handled the extra altitude. Our breath was a little shorter, but we were ok. We also did a little bit of climbing on the rocks there and handled it well.

Thursday, we all (that is, more than just Nick and Maria and I) headed to Quito for Canada Day. The place to meet up with other Canadians on this special day, apparently. We stayed at a hostal near "Plaza Foch" in New Town. Plaza Foch is probably one of the swankiest places in Quito or really, in Ecuador. It was very much like being in a different world. Anyways, off of the plaza area there are a few streets with many different restaurants. We went to a place called Tomato, an Italian restaurant, that night for dinner. I do not know what I ate, but it had zucchini, cheese and pasta in it and it was so so good. Like, top three meals ever good. And only $4.60 (plus taxes and service fees, but....)! It was a good day/night.

The next day (Friday) the others left to return back to Cayambe and Nick, Maria and I were left alone in Quito. We needed to still pay so, after lunch we headed to the tour company. Meanwhile, of course, was one of the best soccer games of the World Cup going on. Ghana and Uruguay. We saw the first half of the game and then we were on our way during the second half. All the way we were peeking in to restaurants and bars and other shops to see what was happening. When we got to the office, one of the workers was watching the game on his computer so we were kept up to date on the score. When we were done paying we went with him to try on gear and to get gloves and sunglasses. We ended up headed to a shop to rent sunglasses and buy gloves (for in our mittens). The shop had a tv going with the game and we all watched the last minutes of extra time with much anticipation. It should be said, I suppose, that Ecuadorians seemed to be cheering for Uruguay...while Nick and I were cheering for Ghana (we have a friend there from the King´s Intercordia program). Everywhere around, most noticeably across the street, people were stopped and watching the crazy scramble, the penalty kick for Ghana and then penalties afterwards. It was such a crazy "whole world watching" moment. Unfortunately, poor Ghana.

After, we went and bought snacks for the climb...too many snacks, jaja. Probably enough to climb the mountain twice, but at least we were prepared. And then we went out for dinner, again to Tomato, but for pizza. It was a pretty quiet dinner and we had progressively more morbid conversations. Perhaps the feeling of the dread of the mountain was hanging over us, or the feeling of the sublimity of it, I don´t know. In any case, there was a lot of death conversation. We went to bed around nine, I think. I slept well, Maria slept worse, and Nick was up a lot with diarrhea and puking.

Saturday morning we went to a restaurant for breakfast and ate omelettes and hearty home fries. We then met up with our guide at 9:30 and discovered we were being joined by another climber- a man from Brasil, named Guillarmo. Since the climb he has been dubbed Gollum. We came up with nicknames for each other beforehand- Nick was Rambo (he has been wearing a bandana...and his host family calls him that because of the bandana), I was Mountain Man (mostly because of my beard and the hill I climb all the time and, well, Nick has been calling me that for a long time), and Maria was Frodo. Nick and I made....too many Lord of the Rings references. So, we saddled Maria with Frodo. We took our left over pizza with us and began the drive to the mountain in the truck of our guide, Segundo, at 10:30.

It was a long drive, made longer by our stop on the way at Segundo´s house to get his gear in another community. As well, he had to stop at a store to pick up food for our meals at the refugio. On the way we continued with our Lord of the Rings jokes. Nick remembered his idea (sadly too late) that we should buy a ring for the top of the mountain (Cotapaxi is the highest active volcanoe in the world, remember)...to throw in. Eventually we reached the entrance to Cotapaxi Park and could see the mountain looming over us, despite being mostly covered with clouds. The land here was mostly flat, a large valley land between mountain ranges. There were wild horses around, eating the lichen that grows on the rocks. There is not much more plant life near the mountain. Eventually we reached the parking lot below the refuge. We then had to climb with all our gear up to the refuge, where we, and all the other climbers, would make our base. It was a long climb up and fairly tough because of the weight of everything. I was glad I had eaten some pizza in the truck as it was 2 or 3 by the time we reached the refuge.

We were met by our other guide, Marcos, and he took us upstairs and showed us where to put our sleeping bags and gear. In about ten minutes he came and told us that lunch was ready. We went downstairs and ate bread with cheese, jam or butter; potato chips (homemade style); and tea. It was a decent meal, perhaps made moreso as we hadn´t eaten much since breakfast. After lunch we suited up into our climbing pants and boots and took our cramp-ons and ice-axe outside for training. This was at 4 or so. We learned how to put our cramp-ons on and then took them off. We climbed a little ways up from the refuge after this, learning different techniques and how to use our ice-axe to help walking. Then we went down, learning how to go down. We didn´t get any experience on ice or snow.

After getting our gear back inside we promptly had dinner. This was soup and tea, which we all ate, and then a plate of rice, fried chicken, papas fritas and a little salad. We did not eat much of the plate. Maria and I tried to share one, but we only ate a little rice and a few fries. No appetite. This was probably due to the higher altitude, as it reduces appetite usually. Guillarmo promptly left the table and went to bed. Not a good sign as sleepiness is another indication of altitude sickness. Nick and I also wanted to sleep, but with prompting from Maria, agreed to get our bags and gatorade ready for the climb. This was a very good decision as, later, it was much colder (and it would have been unpleasant), but we also discovered we had bought one too few batteries for our head lamps. Luckily this was promptly solved by our guide. Segundo asked another guide if he had an extra battery. Like magic, there was one in his hand offered to us. Amazing. We were soon ready and then in bed (a row of bottom bunks in our mummy bags, me on the outside, then Maria, then Nick, then the already sleeping Guillarmo) at 7. We were going to be woken at midnight for "breakfast" and then begin the climb at 1 AM.

And that is what happened...basically. Most of the other climbers woke at 11 (which woke us as well) to get their gear ready and to get going. The next hour was slightly dozey, but right at 12, Carlos whispered "Ok chicos, vamos!" Nick was quickly out to go to the washroom and came in saying it was snowing! It was like a blizzard out there, I discovered, when I went out to pee. We all had some headache and so, took some ibuprofen. Then we had breakfast. I ate yoghurt with cocoa puffs and drank tea. After went up and put on my boots and snakes (snow covers for boots and lower legs) and carried down my cramp-ons, ice-axe, back-pack (my big hiking one), and harness. I was told to put my cramp-ons in my back-pack, so I did that. After, Segundo helped me put my harness on. Then my balaclava went on, and on top, my toque that I bought in Otavalo for two dollars. Then came my small gloves and mitts and I was ready.

We assembled outside the refugio: Marcos in front, then Maria, then Guillarmo, then Nick, then me, then Segundo. Nick said "Race you to the top!" and we began. The first part of the climb is from the refugio to where the glacier begins. We were told this part should take about an hour, and, in total to the top (the summit), seven hours. This part was fairly easy and Marcos lead us at a good easy pace. It was just dirt and rock at this part. Red dirt and rock. Red because, well, it came out of the volcanoe! Nick and I both, when asked how we were feeling, said we were good, but very warm and sweating. I think the guides found that funny. Nick and I commented to each other a bunch saying, "This is definitely the coolest thing I´ve ever done!" And, well, there is no way to describe how cool it is to be on the side of a mountain in the middle of the night looking out at the stars or distant Quito all the while climbing up and up and up.

There were a couple times though, where Nick turned around to me and said "I´m freaking out a bit, I think he´s going to fall on me." Not a good sign. Eventually, about 50 minutes in, Maria asked to stop for a drink of water. When she was done, then Guillarmo said he wanted some too. Nick and I said we were still hot. Then Marcos called Segundo up to talk. Two minutes later Nick and I were told to follow Segundo and we left the others behind. We didn´t know what was going on really, only that we had to get going with Segundo. Unfortunately, this is where it got bad for Maria, because she was stuck with struggling Guillarmo. They followed us, but by the time they reached the glacier, it was clear there was no way Guillarmo could make it to the top. He was going to try to make it back down on his own, but five minutes or so of Maria and Marcos going for it on the glacier and Guillarmo was calling up to Marcos saying he could not find the path down. So, they had to go down to help him back. This was around 4 now, and so, it was too late for Maria to be able to get up. Poor Maria.

Of course, Nick and I did not know any of this had been happening. Instead, we were racing ahead up the hill. Segundo´s pace was much quicker. We passed a number of people and reached the area by the glacier. Here we put our cramp-ons on, had a snack and drink, and attached the rope to our harnesses. Segundo led, I followed, and Nick came after me. We then started on the glacier. And we scrambled up the first part. Fast. Nick and I did not know what we were doing yet and our footing was an issue. Especially me, losing my plant a few times and being held in position by Segundo. He kept saying, "Don´t worry," "Don´t be afraid," "Its no problem." Haha, it seemed like one. So, we kept going, passing people, scrambling up the ice (and I mean up the ice) until we reached a spot that was more snowy. The path became, well, a path, at this point and we continued on. We kept motoring up, passing more and more groups (once, two groups at one time). I don´t remember how many breaks we took during this part, but not too many. Eventually we reached a point where Segundo told us no one else had been yet. We were ahead of everyone! I turned around to Nick and I don´t know if we sid anything, but our looks said "This is the most ridiculous thing ever. No way we are ahead of the pros!" But we were, and the path was less defined now. It had been covered with drifts.

We passed many crevasses during that part and later. One spot we had to jump about a foot and a half across. Another had a little bridge across...where we were told to "Run quickly." There were other little precarious climbs right next to a 50 foot or more fall. And they say the crevasses are more dangerous on Cayambe. I don´t know what that means. Wow. Segundo told us though, that Cayambe isn´t actually more dangerous or harder, just different.

We kept on, after a short break at the spot where we learned we were ahead of everyone. My stomach was now beginning to feel a bit upset, so I had less food than I would have liked to have. Nick´s was too. We had also been gassing our way up the mountain so far (I mean that in terms of speed as well as farts), and this began to be an issue for me here. That is, I realized I was going to have to go to the bathroom on the way. But not yet. As I was saying, we kept on. The climbs got steeper and longer and we began to feel the weight of our back-packs and the strain in our legs. Compounded with the feeling in my stomach and bowels, it was getting tougher. There were parts where we would look up and not see anything above us and think that this must be it, no more to go. At the top of that climb though, we would see more to climb. And at the same angle. Other parts were just as steep, but the path narrowed to one foot in front of the other, the steep incline on the one side (which gave little space for pick-axe support) and a steep fall to the other side. And, of course, crevasses scattered around. At one of these spots, Nick pointed and said "Death." Very true.

We took more breaks here, but ate very little and drank less than before as well. We had a halloween size snickers bar at some point (earlier), which was awesome for energy. You could feel the difference. But anyway, during one climb I could feel my bowels working and told Segundo I needed the baños when possible. He told me in ten minutes it would be flatter, so we settled for that. There was no way I could have gone where we were though...except in my pants. Time was flying the whole climb, so I don´t know if it was actually ten minutes, it seemed more like three, but we reached a spot where I could go. I was unhooked from the rope and told to go over closer to the crevasse. They turned off their head lamps. I kept mine on though; I needed to see. I got the harness off as much as I could and then pulled my two pairs of pants as well as underwear down. They didn´t go down very far. Reminded me of the few times I´ve had to go while at hockey practice and trying to keep my goalie pads on while doing so. Anyway, it turned into a not-exactly-squat. It was...cold, but felt good at the same time. I kicked some snow over and on we went. More steep climbs, and more breaks. We were getting exhausted. Nick and I would just sort of fall against the side of the hill and sit there until we had to get up. We weren´t taking our back-packs off. Segundo kept telling us that we were going to get there first and that were were making good time, we were strong, we were going to get to the top. Only 100 metres more. It would take 45 minutes. So close. We kept on, it felt like a race. The pace was still the same, only breaks were more often. It was windy (it had actually been windy for a long time which made breathing even more difficult); very, very windy. There were parts where it would blow our step off of the path. The tiredness made it more difficult to fight the blow. And then we stopped again. Nick asked how much farther. Fifteen metres. Two minutes. Vamos. Vamos. Vamos. We all said it. No question. Let´s go. And we seemed to run up. It was hard, but then, it was so easy at the same time. And we made it...to the top...to the summit...of a mountain...of a volcanoe...of the highest active volcanoe...in the world!

We ran to the middle of the area there, got our backpacks off and planted our ice-axes in the snow. We made it! We undid the rope and Nick collapsed on the snow and made a snow angel. I turned around and looked all over. Nick got up and we all had a big hug. Nick got out his little camera to take a video. He asked me what I thought of being at the top of the highest active volcanoe in the world. I didn´t say anything. I just smiled, completely dumbfounded. It was so cold there. The sky was full of clouds. The sun was just beginning to rise. We looked at the time. It was around 6. We climbed up there in 5 hours! We couldn´t see into the crater; bit of disappointment. The sun was coming out. We could see mountains off in the distance. We were all above the clouds. That ocean of clouds you see when you are in a plane, 45 minutes after take-off. We were possibly the people at the highest point on earth at that point. Loco! Hopefully we would see Maria on our way down. She had to get to this point as well. I took some pictures. The camera was cold. It was freezing. I shot on auto, no way to adjust settings in that weather. And then we went down. It was faster, and brighter. We passed all the people we passed before. No Maria. We went past the crevasses again and got a better look at them. Death, for sure. Still no Maria. We were off the ice after scrambling down what we first scrambled up. Nick was leading here. Pathfinding was a lot of pressure, but he managed it well. I had to catch him a bit once, but nothing like how I was caught the night before. We were exhausted the whole way. Cramp-ons were off, and I took some pictures of that mountain we were seeing before. Beautiful. And then we were going down in the deep soft dirt. Falling from exhaustion, or going too fast, or just the looseness of the dirt. Lots of fun. Then into a groove and I was racing down. Nick tried to keep up, but his stomach was in bad shape now...as well as his bowels. He decided he couldn´t go in the light. And then we were close to the refuge and I could see someone looking up the hill from the front door. We got closer and I knew it was Maria. I felt terrible for her, and teared up a little. Kept skating down and could see she was smiling at us. Man, she was tough. She told me we were early; expected at 9, but it was around 8. I apologized. She didn´t understand what I meant. I was sorry she wasn´t able to get to the top. We knew it wasn´t because she couldn´t cut it. It was the other guy. She wanted to hear about it all though, and it was tough to tell her because of her experience. She fought back tears to tell us about what happened with her, and I was on the verge of them to hear it. I still feel sad about it.

But that was it. We left at 9:30, not much of a rest. I didn´t finish my tea as I went to pack and change and by the time that was finished we were leaving. The ride back to Quito was a little awkward as Guillarmo knew Maria was not pleased (and hence, neither were we), but it was obvious as well that he was truly sorry for what happened. It was just a sad thing that happened. And at the same time, a very happy thing. I told my host family, upon return, that I was both very happy and very sad. I think that is how this will be remembered.

That is basically what happened.