We would like to warmly thank the Blasics for joining Mountain Trip on yet another expedition, this one to climb the three highest peaks in the Andean country of Ecuador. Greg, Nick and Vanessa arrived last night into the capital city of Quito, where Mountain Trip co-owner Bill Allen and our Ecuadorian support staff met them and delivered them to their hotel in downtown Quito.
Qito has been renowned for it’s beautiful colonial architecture for hundreds of years, and was described by Simon Bolívar, the “liberator” of the northwestern corner of South America in the early 1800’s as being like a cathedral of a city. It has grown exponentially in the intervening centuries, but parts of the city still share that sentiment with modern-day visitors.
Today, the team of Greg, Nick, Vanessa, Bill and Marcelo Puruncajas (the father of long time Mountain Trip guide Pablo Puruncajas) will explore the colonial district of the city, allowing their bodies to acclimatize to the city’s 9000+ foot elevation. Over the course of the next two weeks, they will climb numerous peaks higher than 14 – 15,000′ and attempt the three highest in the country: Cayambe (19,000′), Cotopaxi (19,347′) and Chimborazo, whose 20,564 foot summit holds the distinction of being the farthest point from the center of the earth, due to a bulge at the equator.
They will visit a thriving and world famous market, luxurious hot springs, and stay at some of the country’s finest lodges. They’ll work hard while climbing, so we thought it made sense to enjoy their down time to the greatest extent possible!
We invite you to join them on their journey by following their progress on this dispatch page. Bill will send or call in updates from the field and we should have plenty of images to share from their adventure. Due to the time difference between Ecuador and our Colorado office, there will invariably be some delays in posting updates, so we ask that you please hold onto the mountaineering axiom of, “No News is Good News” should a post not appear in a daily fashion.
Enjoy!!
