Travel Destination: Ecuador - Climbing Mount Chimborazo
Chimborazo is in Ecuador, not far from the Equator (100 miles south). The elevation in the center of the country, and the moderating effect of the Humboldt Current, which runs along the west side of South America, gives the country near perfect weather. A bit hot along the coast and lowlands, but spring–like in Quito (the capital) , with daily highs in the sixties to low seventies year–round. Wonderful weather almost everywhere–until you get high enough.
Chimborazo, at it’s peak, is the furthest point from the center of the Earth. Our planet bulges at the equator, making Mount Chimborazo even futher out there than Everest. It has the distinction of being the closest point to the sun on the planet, and yet still the coldest place in Ecuador.
Travel Destination: Ecuador - Climbing Mount Chimborazo: Climbing Chimborazo
Paco, my guide, didn’t like the lightweight part of this mountain climbing adventure. He frowned when he saw my sleeping bag, which packed up smaller than a football, and weighed a pound. My frameless backpack didn’t seem to impress him either (13 ounces). In any case, although it did get below freezing in the hut, just as he said it would, I stayed warm–as I said I would. No problems so far.
Unfortunately, Paco didn’t speak a word of English, and I was just learning Spanish. Since our whole group consisted of him and me, we did have some communication problems. I thought, for example, that the $11 fee for the “night” (a few hours) in the hut was included in the $130 guide fee. He thought that I was a mountain climber.
I think he was saying that he didn’t like the papery rainsuit I was using as a shell, and he frowned at my homemade 1–ounce ski mask. When he saw me putting on my insulating vest, a feathery piece of poly batting with a hole cut in it for my head…well, I just pretended not to understand what he was saying.
I hadn’t intended to go climb up Mount Chimborazo with such lightweight gear, but I had come to Ecuador on a courier flight, and could bring only carry-on luggage. Since I had only 12 pounds in the pack to begin with, by the time I put on all my clothes that night, the weight on my back was irrelevant. The weight of my body, however, wasn’t irrelevant. Paco had to coax me up that mountain.
Travel Destination: Ecuador - Climbing Mount Chimborazo: Hiking On Glaciers