Trekking around Chimborazo

My friend, Jeff Capella, and I decided to go for a little walk around Chimborazo, Ecuador’s highest peak at nearly 21,000 feet. Chimborazo is an extinct volcano with beautiful glacier at the top. Our goal was not to summit it, but rather, walk around it for four days taking in the beautiful vistas and viewing the different flora and fauna that live there. Our destination on day four would take us to nearly 18,000 feet.

Day 1 – I got on a bus in Banos at 8:45 in the morning in order to meet my companions at 10:00 in Ambato, a city about 1 hour from Banos. Our meeting point was simply “the entrance to Ambato.” I was told that it was by the “Mercado Mayorista.” I was a little anxious about the vagueness of the meeting point. But, like clockwork, I arrived at about 10:00 precisely as my friends arrived. I heard a car honking, and there they were. We drove about 45 minutes to an old train station, now a hostel, in the pueblo of Urbina. We were met by the owner and two young men named Julio and Luis. Also present was a friendly dog named Max. Diego, our guide, Jeff, and I left with our day packs while Julio and Luis loaded our gear onto horses in order to meet us at a refugio later in the day. We departed at about 11,000 feet and walked about 5 hours to the refugio at about 14,000 feet. The day was truly beautiful and I was not very tired when we reached our destination. Max had accompanied us all day. He was in heaven chasing, but never catching, rabbits. The refugio was rustic with a thatched roof, a fireplace, and a compost toilet. It was in a location where we had stunning views of volcanoes in all directions. Tungurahua was very active, and we could see fire shooting from its cone and hear tremendous eruptions. Luis and Julio cooked us one of the best meals I have had during our entire time in Ecuador. We played a card game called quarenta and then retired for the night.

Day 2 – After a restless night and an early breakfast of granola, yogurt, bread, fruit, and coffee, Diego, Jeff, and I departed at about 8:30 for a 6 hour trek that would take us to about 15,000 feet to the north side of Chimborazo. Max came with us again. Luis and Julio prepared the horses with our gear to meet us at the next refugio. Luis made this journey alone, and his brother returned home. The morning was perfect. Chimborazo loomed powerfully above us in all its glory. The temperature was cool and the sky was clear. We hiked for about an hour and we all got hot. We removed our jackets and continued on in only t-shirts. All the while we listened to Tungurahua belching and erupting in the background. Soon, our beautiful day disappeared. Hail began to fall from the sky while thunder and lightning replaced quiet sunshine. We put on our rain gear and continued on. The storm passed, but we trudged on in wet conditions for the remainder of the day. We descended into a lush green valley, and the refugio was within sight. We also encountered herds of vicunas, a wild relative of the llama. The dominant male would send out a bird like call to his group to alert them of our presence. The lush green valley was called “little pillow.” It was soft, but had little puddles of water everywhere. Diego made sure to tell us to follow in his footsteps as the little puddles were up to 8 feet deep. They would be hard to get out of, as well as cold, if we were to fall in. Max spent the day chasing rabbits, ducks, and vicunas. Alas, he never caught a thing. When we reached the refugio, Luis was already there and had hot coffee waiting for us. I was wet and a little tired, but ready for day three. We were visited by an indigenous woman and two of her children. She had walked from her home a good distance away to collect the fees for our stay. Luis left our gear with us and departed with the two horses and Max. Max somehow knew that he would not accompany us the next day. We ate a delicious dinner, played some quarenta, and retired for the evening at about 7:30. This refugio had no heat, so it was a chilly/cold night.

Day 3 – Another restless night was followed by another early breakfast. When we awoke, it was raining lightly. Diego pointed to where we were to trek for the day and told us it was snowing there. We discussed changing our plan, but decided that snow would be better than rain. Diego said we would ascend to about 16,000 feet and spend the rest of the day hiking at that altitude. Our maximum altitude would about 16,500 feet. I thought we would get to 16,000 feet and walk on a fairly flat trail around the volcano. I was so wrong! It took us about 1 hour to get to our trekking altitude, and indeed it was snowing. Instead of a fairly flat hiking trail, we spent the next 6 hours ascending and descending numerous ridges and valleys. The snow had accumulated to about 5 inches. The views, well, there were none. Visibility was very limited. We stopped for a snack and I was already pretty tired. I felt like we had been on the mountain for at least 4 hours, over half way to the next refugio. The actual time was only 11:00. We had 4 and one half hours left! As the snow accumulated, good footing became difficult. Descending was almost as hard as ascending. My heart and lungs were working hard. My legs began to feel tired and rubbery. Another rest for lunch, only 3 hours left. Another snack rest, only 2 hours left. I was trudging slowly, but still progressing. At times, Jeff and Diego were well ahead of me and out of sight. My heart and lungs settled down and I got into a slow walking rhythm, one foot in front of the other, following Jeff and Diego’s tracks. I stopped once and looked around. It was very beautiful, 16,000 feet high in snowy conditions on a mountain, but I asked myself what a farm boy from Iowa was doing on this volcano in South America. All I could do was slosh on. I caught up with Jeff and Diego, actually, they stopped and waited for me, and we only had 1 hour left. I told Jeff I certainly had an hour left in me and he responded, “Good, because I’m not carrying you.” At this point, my heart and lungs felt good, but my legs were very tired. Despite the altitude and snow, I was working so hard that I was sweating like a pig. Finally, the refugio was within sight. The last 20 minutes were across a plateau, and it was the only time I felt cold. The wind and snow were blowing hard across the open land. I reached the refugio and entered a warm abode with hot coffee waiting for me. I took my jacket off and steam came off my back. I put on dry clothes and drank my coffee. I felt tired, but proud of what I had just done. After some discussion, we decided to cancel day four. The weather didn’t look like it was changing, and we thought another day with no views in snow and wet would be brutal and little fun. I surprised my family by returning to Banos a day early. As I told them about my experience, I realized how fantastic it was. My friend, Paul Pena, put it this way, “Wow, sounds cool and awful at the same time.” The trek was unbelievable, with parts of day 3 being awful indeed.