The Last Mountain

Well today was our last official climb. We attempted Antisana, which in my opinion is the most beautiful mountain we have set our eyes on yet. The pictures will give you an idea of how breathtaking it was but really you had to be there. Antisana is known for being shrouded in clouds for most of the day, so for us to drive up and have a complete view of the mountain was unreal. The mountain is surrounded by a huge amount of private property owned by a single family. You have to buy a permit in order to get through the gate. It might seem unfair that the mountain is pretty much owned by this family but it is probably a better situation than that of the other large mountains in Ecuador that are owned by the government. The property is mainly gorgeous green rolling hills with a few horses, cows, or sheep spread throughout. The first thing I noticed was the lack of trash that is so prevalent through out the rest of the country. This was by far the most beautiful area of Ecuador I have seen yet.

We spent the night forty five minutes below the glacier on the edge of the rocky moraine in our tent. We woke up at 11:30 to light winds and a light snow. We are not sure where the snow was coming from because the sky was clear of clouds. The walk to the glacier in the night was uneventful. We roped up, this time with four people as the owner of PapaGayo and Gulliver’s Travel Operations whom we have been getting to know for a while now asked if he could climb with us. The bottom section of the glacier still only had light winds but the further up we walked the more the wind picked up and along with it came a blowing sleet/snow that would melt on our clothes and backpacks and then freeze into a clear coat of ice. It was once again not the most enjoyable weather conditions.

Progress up the glacier was slow because of the many crevasses that needed to be navigated and the lack of any form of a trail. After approximately two hours of walking we all felt good. We decided to take a short break and all had a seat on the snow at around 17,000. For some reason Travis became ill and threw up during our break. He decided that he felt a little better after a short break and like a good climber continued upward and onward. After twenty more minutes the sickness came back and we had a five minute meeting to decide what to do next. Several options were thrown around, Travis did not want to keep any of us from going on, one even included cutting the rope in half and sending two up and two down. In the end I think we made the best and by far the safest decision and all headed back to the bottom of the glacier. At the bottom Michael decided to wait for the sun to come up to get some pictures and Travis and I headed back to the tent to get another hour of sleep before we packed up and headed back to PapaGayo.

Well that is my version of today’s happenings. I hope that Michael and Travis might have some more stories or photos to add later. Since Michael is downstairs conversing with a group of students from Columbia I decided that I would also throw up a few pictures of the trip for everyone to take a look at. All of these photos were taken by Michael.

Thanks for reading,
Jeremy

Travis waiting for our ride that was supposed to show up at 12:00pm. All of our Mystery Ranch packs loaded down and ready to go.

2:00pm our ride shows up. Things around here are pretty laid back.

Our first glimpse of Antisana

Antisana, breathtaking.

View from the tent.

We had clouds above us, clouds below us, and clouds at our level. When the wind comes around both sides of the mountain you can hear it "whip" back together it can be very loud. I have never heard anything like it before.
Travis putting all his gear on at the bottom of the glacier.
Me taking my gear off. Notice the ice all over my jacket.
A very nice shot of pre-dawn by Michael.
Some horses on the drive out. There were a wide varitey of birds on the property. This was some type of hawk that was soaring next to the car for a while checking us out.