Alpine Challenges for Charity

The Grand Teton

2008-08-27T07:45:00.007-06:00

I apologize for not finishing up our story earlier, The past week has been quite busy with five of the ACC climbers in Alpine Rescue Training for the county during the past four days.

I was awakened by my cell phone alarm at 2:00am. I ignored the ringing for a few short moments and then slid myself out of my sleeping bag, quickly put on my down jacket and stood, staring blankly at the back of my car for five minutes. I wanted to take some ibuprofen and go back to bed. Instead, I knocked on the front door of the car, where molly was sleeping, and started to stumble around camp muttering to people to get up. Everyone else was just as excited about day three as I was and it took me fifteen minutes to rouse everyone.

Pop tarts and Gatorade on the tailgate of my car for breakfast, threw some sandwiches and chocolate in my backpack, along with my helmet, harness, and a fleece and climbed into the back of jers jeep for the 30 min drive across the valley to the trail head. I decided to leave my down jacket behind today as I figured i didn't really need it. oops.

We met Tom Carter, Trav and Logan (who had slept at a different campsite), along with Mark Feddes at the trail head and at 3:00 am we departed from Lupine Meadows trail head, a large group of eleven climbers. As we made our way towards garnet canyon, we settled into a steady pace and slowly made our way up switchback after switchback, gaining elevation very quickly. By 5:00 am we had entered garnet canyon, crossed a rock field of huge boulders and were stopped by a stream to take a short break and put more clothes on. It had gotten quite cold and in the moonlit night we could see that there was still huge snowfields hanging down into the canyon from the base of the Middle and South Teton. We crossed through a meadow and began another series of switchbacks that would take us higher into the Glacial moraine at the base of the Middle Teton glacier.

We were into the moraine by 6:00 am and as we made our way across large piles of boulders and along sandy ridges of dirt and scree, the sun made its way down the east face of the middle Teton to meet us at the base of the Glacier. The sunshine warmed us for a few short minutes before we were back in the shade of a ridge.

From the moraine, we ascended the saddle between the Middle and Grand Teton. It is a steep and wet section of loose rock that leads up to the Exum Mountain Guides base camp. We all scrambled up and over the head wall of the saddle and stopped for another short break in the saddle, with a wonderful view down into Idaho to the west and back down Garnet canyon to the east. above us, now veiled in clouds, was the Grand Teton. Starting here, we would be scrambling and climbing up rock for over 2,oooft.

After departing from the lower saddle, our group of eleven started to spread out and disappear in the rocks and clouds above. I brought up the rear with Joe, Tom, and Lena. We slowly made our way up into the clouds above us and towards the upper saddle (the point at which the technical climbing begins).

The temperature by now was in the low 30's with a wind of 10-12 mph in exposed areas. As we climbed higher, we began to encounter frozen pools of water and icicles hanging from rocks. It was getting very cold for a guy wearing running shorts and a t-shirt!

By the time we had reached the upper saddle,we had caught up with many of the other climbers on the Grand Teton that day. There were guided parties, private parties, people climbing alone, just lots of people in general. When we arrived at the start of the technical climbing section, where I would need to rope up Tom for about 300ft, there was a line of about ten people ahead of us waiting to climb, but the rest of our climbing party was no where to be seen. They had been moving ahead of us and apparently climbed through the technical section without leaving the rope that I would need for Tom.

After waiting for 20 min. and weighing our options, a couple from Utah, climbing to celebrate their 8th anniversary, offered to let Tom rope up with them, while the rest of us soloed the route unroped. We finally started the technical section and traversed out into the west face of the Grand along the Owen-Spawlding route. It is a short traverse that requires hand over hand climbing, easy climbing, but if you loose your footing or a hand slips, it is a vertical fall for thousands of feet. I climbed first, followed by Tom and the couple from Utah. I helped them along the way and assisted them with their rope. We made slow progress behind a pair of climbers that was moving very very slowly and probably should not have been climbing by themselves. After a 30 min wait. in a very dangerous and very cold rock chimney, we finally climbed over a ledge and onto the summit slope. Above us, still hidden in clouds lay the summit, 300ft away. During our wait in the chimney, Brandon and Casey had caught up with as and after talking for a few minutes, they continued on above us.

After coiling the rope and stopping for a breath, we pushed on over the last few hundred feet to the summit and arrived on top around 11:30am. As we stood in the clouds, we watched as they started to clear and a beautiful few of the surrounding mountains and valleys opened up in front of us. We paused on the summit for about 15 minutes, enjoying the warmth of the sun and the view that had just opened up before us.

After a few photos and eating the last of our food, we bundled up in our jackets again and began our descent down into the shadowy west side of the Grand and towards the rappel that would take us back to the upper saddle. After waiting in line again for a rappel, we finally were back in the upper saddle as the clouds started to clear again, but this time for good. We took off our climbing harnesses and jackets and made a long, slow, descent down wet and slippery rocks to the lower saddle. There, we stopped and drank water and some energy gu before starting the seven mile descent back to the car.

By the time we were back at the meadows, it was late afternoon and the sun was starting to sink towards the horizon behind us. It was a beautiful and peaceful walk out. I distanced myself from Lena and Tom and made quick time through the boulder fields and along streams and waterfalls towards the last section of switchbacks that would put be back at Lupine Meadows Trail head. Waiting there for me was a huge plate of amazing spaghetti, made my the girls, and a pair of flip-flops for my tired and sore feet.

It was finished, we had done it! Three Peaks, Three Days. Everyone had survived, unharmed and alive. It felt great. We sat in the parking lot of the trail head for a short while, talked about the past three days and all that had happened. At some point, while tired, dirty, and very very sore, I heard someone say "when we do this next year......." We will have to wait and see.

Day Two, Mount Cowen

2008-08-19T20:04:00.007-06:00

My posting of our adventures on Mount Cowen was interrupted by something quite coincidental, four of us that took part in The Alpine Triple Crown were on the Alpine Rescue team sent to rescue an injured climber on Mount Cowen Sunday night. The operation started on Sunday night at 7 pm and continued until noon on Monday when we were flown off of Cowen after successfully assisting with the helicopter evacuation of an injured climber who had fallen on the route we had climbed Thursday. I am now back at my computer and can continue with our account of Mount Cowen on Thursday the 14th. for more details of the incident, visit http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2008/08/19/news/000rescue.txt

After leaving the trail head of Granite Peak, we drove to Livingston and had our second dinner of the night at Yellowstone Pizza, stocked up on odds and ends at Albertsons and drove to the Cowen trail head, arriving at approx. 10:30pm. 4o mins. later everyone else caught up with us and we were all asleep by 11:30pm.

After sleeping through our alarms set for 3:00am, we woke up at 4:45am and quickly got our packs ready for our day. Due to exhaustion from the previous day, three members of the team would not be joining us. Travis, Tom Carter, and Logan King, slept in while Joe Wagner, Ross Lynn and myself took off up the trail at a stout pace at 5:00am. By 7am, Ross and Joe had taken off ahead of me and I was lagging behind due to sharp pain in my left knee. I slowly made my way towards Elbow lake. I eventually caught up with the other two after deciding i was going to turn back. After a quick pep talk and a large dose of Ibuprofen, Ross convinced me to keep going. We concluded that it was tendinitis of the IT band, which is extremely painful but shouldn't have any long term complications if i climbed through the pain. We continued on, at a somewhat slower pace and made it to the lake three hours after leaving the trail head. From there we started the scramble up towards the summit, 3,oooft above us. Mount Cowen is made up of a number of pinnacles and towers and is referred to as a cirque. As we made our way up into the cirque of rock towers, towards the highest one, we passed stepping waterfalls, large boulder fields, steep mountain side meadows of wildflowers, and finally reached the top of the first large ledge that put us into the center of the cirque, directly at the base of Cowen and next to a frozen, glaciated lake. After seeing the lake and the surrounding terrain we knew that this was going to be the most difficult part of the climb. In order to stay on our route to the summit, we would have to cross a 200ft section of glacial ice and snow on a steep slope. If we fell during the traverse, we would slide the 400ft down into the frozen lake. We would be doing this in tennis shoes, without any ice climbing gear.

It was a tense 20 minutes, but all three of us successfully crossed the snow field and were back on route moving towards the summit, up the approach gully where the rescue took place three days later. We moved safely up the gully and while Joe and Ross climbed the South Ridge, I climbed the West Face, which was slightly easier terrain and safer with my painful knee.

We reached the summit five hours after leaving the trail head, the exact time it had taken me a year earlier, without an injured knee. We spent twenty minutes alone on the summit with a beautiful view and after a quick snack of electrolyte pills, gu, and water, started our descent.

We took a significant amount of time descending as we were being very careful down climbing the loose and dangerous gully. After getting clear of the gully and safely crossing the snow field again, we took off down and out of the cirque, passing the lake and steadily making our way back towards the trail head.

On our way out, we met Brandon and Casey, on their way up the mountain. We stopped for a few short minutes to describe the route to them and chat and then continued out.

We were back at the trail head by mid afternoon and after a quick meal of spaghetti cooked up by the girls, we loaded up in our convoy, stopped for dinner number two in Gardiner and headed to the boiling river for an hour of hot water. It felt amazing. By 7:00pm we were back on the road and all of the climbers were sound asleep as Molly and the girls drove through the park, watching the sun set and a beautiful full moon rise in front of us.

By 11:30 pm, our first car had arrived at the campsite across the valley from the Grand Teton and we were asleep at midnight, with only two hours of sleep ahead of us before we would awake for our attempt of our final mountain.

It is Finished!

2008-08-17T14:18:00.013-06:00

I am happy to announce that after 750 miles of driving, less than ten hours of sleep in three days and lots and lots of Gatorade, we have successfully summited Granite Peak, Mount Cowen, and the Grand Teton in under 72 hours! It is the first time that these three difficult mountains have been done together in such rapid succession.

Out of the nine climbers that began The Alpine Triple Crown, five of them succeeded in climbing all three peaks. Of the other four, three of them managed to summit Granite on Day one and the Grand on day three but were unable to complete Mount Cowen due to fatigue following an 18 hour day on Granite Peak. One other climber, Lena Petersen decided to fore go an attempt of Granite Peak or Mount Cowen due to unexpected medical issues earlier in the week, but joined the rest of the climbers on Friday to summit the Grand Teton. Weather conditions could not have been better and the entire trip went off without any large hang ups. It was a wonderful blessing.

Due to the speed we were traveling at and exhaustion, we were unable to stop between climbs and post blogs and photos. Following is an account of our three days of adventures along with some great photos. I will be posting the story in three instalments, one for each day.

For those of you who sponsored a climber with a donation to the homeless shelter, you will be receiving a short photo show on CD within the next month to thank you for your support. If you have not sponsored a climber and would like to still do so, we would be very grateful. Our goal was to raise $10,000 for the Homeless shelter. Currently we are only a little over $5,000 and are badly in need of donations to reach our goal. Please see the top right of this web page for donation details.

Tuesday the 12th and Wednesday the 13th Granite Peak

After weeks of training, organizing, and fundraising the day of departure had finally arrived and we packed four cars with all the necessary gear for four days on the road. Lee and Dads IGA in Belgrade was gracious enough to donate all the food necessary to feed all the climbers and the support crew for the entire trip. I cannot thank them enough, they made the trip possible. If you happen to be shopping at Lee and Dads please let them know you appreciate their support of our event. Tuesday afternoon myself and Jess Lohmeier went and picked up the food and barley fit it all in a minivan. We unloaded everything into my back patio and under the supervision of Granny Spencer, spent three hours organizing food, tents, clothing, etc. to be loaded in the vehicles.

Once we had everything somewhat ready to be loaded, Travis arrived and we loaded my Subaru outback and Travis Honda Element, along with Jers Jeep and Lenas VW to the brim. Everything from crates of Gatorade to camp stoves to climbing ropes and coolers of food were stacked in every open space, leaving barley enough room to pack people.

We drove to the Spire climbing gym at 5:30 pm and met everyone that would be joining us on our adventure. At 6:00pm our convoy of four cars was on the road, headed towards the Beartooth Mountains. It had begun!

The first car arrived at our campsite in the village of Alpine at about 9:00 pm and we unpacked and started preparing for the start of our climb that would begin in a few short hours. The remainder of the team had arrived by 10:00 pm and after loading our packs with sandwich's, energy gu, rain jackets and water, we went to bed with the alarm set for midnight, a mere two hours away.

I awoke at 12:02 am, the first one up, and was greeted by a wonderful moon rising above the towers of rock surrounding the basin we were camped in. The moon was only two days away from being full and as our adventure continued, it would grow larger each night and provide us with light during our early morning approaches.

I got water boiling for oatmeal, woke everyone else and slipped into my shorts, running shoes and down jacket. Within 20 minutes everyone was fed, geared up and in the car for a short drive to the trail head. After some last minute touches such as sun screen and a swig of water, we left the trail at 12:45 am, Six climbers in all. Brandon Smith and Casey Ambrose would be arriving late from Bozeman and would not begin the climb until much later that morning. They became known as the PM crew, due to their late starts.

As we started the long 15 mile approach to Granite peak, our group of climbers started to spread out along the trail, each climber settling into their own pace and "zoning out" as they followed the blue circle of light cast by their headlight on the trail ahead of them. Two hours into the approach, I found myself with Joe Wagner, Ross Lynn and Jer Sinnema cresting the edge of Froze to Death Plateau and stopping for a minute to watch as falling star after falling star arced across the crystal clear sky above us. We were catching the last part of a meteor shower that had been going on for the past two days. We were now at the point in the approach where we would leave the trail and have to navigate across five miles of boulder fields to reach the start of Granite Peaks East Ridge. We made excellent time and were have way across the plateau in three hours. Jers amazing navigation skills saved us as I started to get disoriented in the darkness on a rock strewn plateau that stretches 3 miles wide and 7 miles long. He get us pointed in the right direction and by 5:30 am we were only a short distance from the beginning of the East Ridge. The temperature had dropped to below freezing on the plateau and the wind had picked up to a steady 10mph breeze. Dressed in running shorts and light weight t-shirts, we were forced to keep moving at a fast pace in order to stay warm. We finally stopped for a short break just as the sun started to warm the eastern sky behind us and turn the horizon into a gradient that went from orange to red to blue to black.

At this point, Jer stopped to wait for the next party of climbers and Ross, Joe, and myself pushed on into the growing alpine light. We descended 1,000ft into the saddle that separates Granite peak from Tempest mountain and stopped once again for a brief minute as the full view of Granites North Face came into view in front of us. It was stunning and terrifying all at once. Such a massive, intimidating piece of rock that rises over 2,500ft from a basin far below us to the summit block still thousands of feet above us.

We shed our jackets as we started the technical climbing and the sun started to warm us. Above us lay just under 2,000ft of climbing which we would do un-roped in order to maintain our speed. In the mountains, speed is safety. We had to be off the summit as soon as possible to avoid bad weather that would most likely be moving later that morning.

We moved quickly up from the saddle along the East ridge,the North face and Avalanche Lake far below us on our right and mountains, snow, and rock as far as our eye could see on our left. We soon reached what is referred to as the Snow Bridge, a section of snow 40 ft wide that has to be crossed in order to continue the climb. The Snow Bridge is considered by some to be the crux of the climb. If you slip during the 40 ft, you are in for a 2,000ft slide over snow, ice and rock that has been the cause of many injuries and serious rescues on Granite Peak. Needless to say, we crossed safely and continued up towards the summit. As we climbed higher, the sun worked its way down the ridge above us and illuminated our route in a brilliant orange light that felt wonderful on our backs.

We soon arrived at the hardest section of rock climbing only 200ft below the summit. We were at an elevation of 12,500ft and every time we stopped to catch our breath, our ears were ringing and we were heaving due to the lack of oxygen.

We had ascended over 7,000ft since leaving the trail head that morning. (the recommended rate of assent to aclamatize is 1,000ft a day!) With a few deep breaths we pushed on, climbed the last 200ft of technical climbing, passed another climbing party of four, and summited at 7:55. 6 hours and 10 minutes after leaving the trail head!

It felt amazing.

After 20 minutes on the summit, we started our descent. We moved quickly, stopping only briefly when we passed the rest of our climbing team on their way up from the saddle towards the snow bridge. They were feeling good but moving at a slower pace than us. After sharing a quick snack with them, we continued on, climbed the 1000ft back up to Froze to death Plateau where we glanced quickly behind us for one last look at the beautiful mountain we had just climbed. From there we crossed the five miles of rocks and boulders on the Froze to Death Plateau and descended almost non-stop, the 13 miles back to the trail head, jogging the last four miles or so. We were back at the car 11 hours and 56 minutes after leaving! An amazing time considering most people take at least two days to climb it with some taking as long as five days!

We stood in a glacial creek for almost an hour, letting our legs and feet have a wonderful ice bath and then promptly fell asleep to wait for the next team of climbers and for our amazing support girls to cook us dinner.

The remaining climbers returned 6 hours later after dealing with snow and rain on the Plateau and moving slower due to altitude. All in all, it was a huge day that was very successful. Brandon and Casey both succeeded in summiting as well, all though they were a few hours behind everyone else and luckily had good enough weather to summit later that afternoon. Day number one, eight climbers summit ed Granite Peak!

I will pick up here with the account of Mount Cowen.

On the Move

2008-08-14T17:20:00.002-06:00

Hey everyone,

We don't have enough time in between mountains to write up all that is happening on the climbs but after tomorrow's climb and recuperation we should have some good stories and photos up on the blog. Everyone is safe, doing well, and looking forward to the next climb up the Grand Teton.

~ACC

What's Next?

2008-06-22T22:03:00.002-06:00

Hello again,

You might have noticed that alpinechallenges.org is not working. We have made a few changes and as for now this will be our main page until further notice.

ACC is in the process of starting another adventure/fundraiser. The big idea right now is to climb three mountains (The Grand Teton, Cowen, Granite Peak) in three consecutive days. The money is going to be raised for the new homeless shelter in Bozeman.

So many people liked the idea of what we did last yeah in Ecuador that we have had many requests from other climbers in the community to join us. Our goal is to have three teams of three people complete the three peak challenge.

We have set the three climbing days in August on the 13th, 14th, and 15th.

The idea is set and now we are in the organizing stage trying to figure out logistics and gather donations.

Also...
Some may have heard that an alumni of the MSU Media and Theater Arts program heard about our trip to Ecuador and created a short documentary on the trip. She has been working hard since we have gotten back and has just recently given us the final copy. She donated all of her time and equipment to provide us with an amazing short film to use in spreading the word. We are working right now to put the film on the Internet so check back soon for a link.

Headed Home.

2008-01-12T05:04:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

This will be the last blog that I write from Ecuador. I am leaving for the airport in an hour and headed back to LAX. Jer and Trav are coming later on a flight this afternoon. Thank you all very much for your support, your prayers, and your many donations you made for this cause. It was a grand adventure.

God Bless and Love Always,
Michael

2008-01-10T09:39:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

I apologize for the lack of a blog for the past couple of days, things have been a bit hectic as we finished up climbing and traveled back to Quito.
As Trav mentioned in his short blog, For the past week the three of us have been working as mountain guides for Gulliver’s Travels, a tour company out of Quito that owns PapaGayo. After our climb on Antisana with Eran, the owner, he offered us work for a few days guiding. Yesterday Jer and I guided on Cotopaxi, Jers client was Yoav, the manager of PapaGayo, who had no climbing experience and had yet to climb Cotopaxi. I had a 20 year old Colombian girl, and a Brazilian man on my rope team. We were part of a larger group of 12, but about an hour into the climb, we were on our own and I found myself guiding a rope team of three at 18,000ft. It was sweet! We did not reach the summit because both of my clients were having trouble with the altitude, but we still had a wonderful morning with an amazing sunrise. Jer, however, did an AMAZING job. He guided Yoav to the summit, and passed over 5 other climbing parties on the way there, getting to the top as the second summit team. I am very very proud of him.
After guiding on Iliniza Norte last a few days ago I got offered a job to stay here, live at PapaGayo, and continue guiding for the next three months……… mom ah, can you call MSU and see if they can refund my tuition payment for this semester?
We are now all back in Quito getting ready for our departure home on Saturday, (Yes I am coming home, guiding will have to wait for a while). The next two days will be spent packing, exploring some of Quito we have yet to see and making sure everything is ready for our trip home.
Below are a few photos from the past couple of days. I will try to post more when I have time.

God Bless and Love Always,
Michael

The Guides for Iliniza Norte, Trav and I served as lead guides and Yoav an Marco as assistants.

Trav, on Norte, in the snow and rain, getting 10 clients off the mountain asap.

One of our clients, on a dangerous section of the route.

The climbing party on the way into Cotopaxi.

Enjoying one of my very few beatiful mornings on a mountain, above the clouds.

Myself and my two clients, Alei and Antonio.

Jer and Yoav on the descent from the Summit!

Guiding

2008-01-08T15:47:00.000-07:00

So the last few days we are spending in Ecuador are being well spent. I guided four people up a smaller mountain close to were we are staying while Mike and Jer are up on Cotopaxi guiding right now. About 3 days ago Mike and I went and guided a bunch of crazy Columbians up Iliniza Norte. We had to turn around about 200 ft from the top do to weather. It was hailing and the spin drifts were making it hard for people to not slip and fall off the mountain. I'm heading into Quito tonight while Mike and Jer will meet up with me tomorrow after the climb.

The Last Mountain

2008-01-05T17:56:00.000-07:00

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.

Who Is This Man!?

2008-01-02T13:21:00.000-07:00

Well Michael pretty much already gave you the rundown of our climb of Illiniza Sur. Things went very well. The one thing that I wanted to add was how amazing Michael has been performing on the mountains. He did an amazing job today finding the route up Sur after a quick scout the night before and reading and memorizing lots of beta in the guidebooks.

Then much to our surprise after returning to the hut after Sur Michael decided he had not had enough punishment for the day and decided to run up Norte while Travis and I rested in the hut. He did the round trip in an hour and ten minutes. I am pretty sure he is superhuman… or just crazy.

Travis also did very well on the climb today and we look forward to having us with him for our attempt on Antisana.

Thank you all very much for the late night prayers while we are climbing.

Jeremy

2008-01-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

I am happy to tell you that we have just returned from our first, completely successful climb. We had perfect weather, all three of us made it to the top, it was the most technically demanding climb we have done, and it all went off without a hitch.
God is Good!

Last week when we hiked into the climbing Refugio, the snow conditions were terrible and the avalanche risk was far too great for us to have a go at the climb. We had scouted the route from the summit of a nearby peak and saw two large avalanche slides across the route we were planning on climbing. That was enough to send us home.
Yesterday afternoon we left Papagayo to attempt Iliniza Sur for the second time. Over the past 3 days we had received six or seven hours of sunshine, which was hopefully enough to harden up the snow and reduce the danger of a slide. We were hoping that if Tuesday continued to be sunny, conditions would remain stable and we would be good to go. As we drove towards the Ilinizas however, it started to rain, hard. By the time we were on the mountain road leading to the trailhead there was a foot of water running down both sides of the road. After a wild and wet ride that lasted an hour and a half we somehow managed to make it to “La Virgin”, or the trailhead parking lot where there is a shine to the Virgin Mary. As we sat in the truck watching it pour outside, we tried to decide if we wanted to make the two hour hike into the Refugio, only to spend the night and walk back out in the rain the next day. We had decided to return to Papagayo when a group of climbers came around the corner on their way down from Iliniza Norte. The guide leading the group talked to us for a few minutes and told us that even though there had been lots of rain, the conditions on Sur were actually quite good and that we stood a very good chance of reaching the summit. We decided to give it a go, shouldered our packs and took off into the rain.
When we reached the Refugio two hours later, we were all soaked to the bone. The weather had not improved any and we had pretty low expectations for the following day. We joined a group of ten Germans in the Refugio and waited our turn to use the kitchen. After waiting for hours, the two Ecuadorian ladies cooking for the guided German group were nice enough to serve the three of us all a very nice dinner, which saved us a lot of cooking and cleaning. We went to bed early with the alarm set for one am.
When we awoke and stepped outside we were greeted with a star-speckled sky, the only clouds visible were far below us in the valley floor. Amazing! We quickly threw our gear in our packs, turned on our headlamps and started off into the rocky glacier moraine. After 30 min. of navigating through heaps of gravel and boulders, we took a break on a high point looking towards the start of the climbing route that leads to the summit of Iliniza Sur. Ahead of us lay 2,000ft of ice climbing, route finding, hidden crevasses, and hopefully a clear, sunny summit. We put on our crampons, tied into our rope and pushed on.
We moved very quickly, navigating well in the dark, and before we knew it we were 500ft below the summit. All that was left was a large crevasse to cross and a 400ft headwall of steep snow and ice to climb. It was only 3:30 am and we still had two hours until the sun would rise. We took a long break and made the last push for the summit. We reached the top at 4:45 am. The sky was still clear and we could see the glow of village lights for miles around. We bundled up in our down jackets and waited for sunrise. We had ended up on enough summits in with no view at all; we were determined see the sun rise on this one. After an hour of shivering and foot stomping, we got to witness an amazing show of colors as the sun started to crest the edge of the earth in the far distance. Cotopaxi, Cayambe, Antisana, and many other mountains stood above the clouds as dark silhouettes against the gathering light.
Finally we had success, all three of us on top of a 17,200ft mountain, with beautiful weather. We snapped as many pictures as we could before leaving the summit at 6:05 am, to avoid putting ourselves on the lower glacier when the sun would start causing the snow to slide. Our descent was fast and uneventful, we were back at the Refugio at 7:15am, very happy and content with what was our most enjoyable, challenging, and exciting climb thus far.
For all of you who made an Iliniza Sur donation of $200, thank you very much. There were lots of you and we appreciate your generosity and desire to help the people o Sudan.

For now we are resting up back at Papagayo. We are hoping the weather continues to be as nice as it was this morning for our attempt of Antisana on Saturday morning. At this point, it looks like Antisana will be our 6th and last climb. We were still playing around with the idea of attempting Chimborazo, but this recent news article will probably be the deciding factor in not trying to climb Chimbo. Tungarahua is very near Chimbo and the ash that is spewing from this volcano is makeing condions on Chimbo somewhat dangerous. Time will tell.

December 28, 2007
Ash and steam spewing from Tungarahua volcano.
Authorities in Ecuador ordered the evacuation of 1,200 people living around Tungurahua volcano after the mountain began producing nearly constant activity.
People from 10 villages were sent to sleep in shelters and were allowed to tend their crops only during daylight hours.
Volcanic tremors rattled windows miles away as the mountain emitted an intense glow from its crater and spewed a plume of fine ash.
Tungurahua, or “throat of fire” in the indigenous Quichua language, has been active since 1999.
An August 2006 eruption severely damaged or destroyed nearly 5,000 homes. Ash spewed from the mountain covered some 475,000 acres (197,000 hectares) of farmland.

Below are some of the Pictures of our amazing climb this morning.
Enjoy.

Trav, at the trailhead. More rain.. you have all seen lots of these kinds of pictures already, nothing new.

Jer, approaching the Refugio, the rain had turned to wet snow at this elevation.

1:30 am, leaving the Refugio with amazing weather.

Jer, on the summit, digging shelter in the snow to wait for sunrise.

The ACC team, on the summit, together.

The ACC flag, hard to make out in the early morning light.
The sun rising over the avenue of Volcanos. Down climbing the route on the descent.
Early morning view of Iliniza Norte, dusted in new snow.
Our route, in red, from the Refugio to the summit. 3 hours total. Fast!

Thanks again for all your support, we have one mountain left to climb and then its a few days of rest before we return home to good ol Montana.

God Bless and Love Always,

Michael

2008-01-01T05:07:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

Happy New Years!

Below are pictures of our climb of Volcán Rumiñahui Sur that we did yesterday as well as our game plan for the remaining two weeks here in Ecuador.

View of Rumiñahui from the pasture in front of Papagayo, A sunny sunrise finally!

The route we took yesterday, assended via the ridge on the left and descended down the face on the right. A long day, with no trails and lots of falling rock.

Trav making his way up the south ridge.

Down climbing on very very loose rock.
View of the ridge line from the summit of Sur as the clouds cleared after a short snowstorm.

All three ACC climbers, together on a summit, with good weather and our summit flag!!

Amazing.

Jer, making his way through waist deep grass on the descent

Travis and Jer finishing the hike out tothe lake. All in all, about a 9 mile day.

As I mentioned in an earlier blog, we have changed our climbing plans around a little bit. After discussing it a lot between the three of us we have decided to forgo our attempt on Chimborazo, the highest mountain in Ecuador ($1000 sponsorship, for those of you who sponsored us). We did so for a couple of reasons.
First, conditions on the mountain for the past few weeks have not been good for climbing. We were in touch we a group of climbers from Colorado who attempted it last week and they did not even start the climb due to safety concerns. Weather has not improved any since than and conditions are still not reasonable, a near by active volcano has been depositing ash on the slopes of Chimborazo as well, only making the conditions worse.
Second, As you all know, Travis has not been able to handle high elevations well and has shown signs of Acute Mountain Sickness when we have climbed above 16,000ft. For our last two big climbs, Cotopaxi and Cayambe, he has not been able to join us, but has been stuck sitting at camp waiting for our return. As you can imagine, this does not help his spirits at all. Even though Jer and I made it to the top of these mountains, we were not doing it as the ACC team and it didn’t feel right. This being the case, we have decided to forgo our attempt of Chimborazo and focus instead on some of the smaller mountains that Travis can climb with us. Our climb of Rumiñahui Sur took us to 15,400ft and all three of us felt very good on the summit. Now that Travis has spent at least 4 days above 15,000ft, he should better acclimatized and ready to try something a little bit taller. This afternoon we are leaving to attempt Iliniza Sur, for the second time. It has an elevation of 17,200ft and is a technically more demanding climb than Chimborazo is. It is a beautiful mountain and one that many people sponsored us for ($200 sponsorship). We are looking forward to climbing it and hoping that the snow conditions on the mountain have improved.
After we attempt Iliniza Sur, we will return to Papagayo for another day of rest and leave to attempt our last mountain, Antisana, on the 4th. Once we return from Antisana on the 5th or 6th, we will have six days left until our return home. If all goes well on the next two mountains, we will have climbed six peaks above 15,000ft here in Ecuador. Considering the weather conditions which have made climbing very difficult, it will not be a bad finish at all. We will spend the last six days here, cleaning and packing our gear for the trip home, catching up on some much needed rest, and taking some time to explore some parts of Ecuador that we have not had the chance to do yet.

Hope you all had a wonderful New Years,

Keep your comments coming; they are always very encouraging to us.

God Bless and Love Always,

Michael

New Year (Almost)

2007-12-31T16:20:00.000-07:00

Well today we climbed a smaller peak in Cotopaxi National Park. There was no snow involved and we didn’t start climbing until 9am so it was a nice change. There are three peaks on the one mountain and we were planning on walking the ridge to get each peak, it didn’t work out as planned. The rock that we were scrambling on kept breaking off in our hands and under our feet. So after only traversing for a quarter mile we ended up slipping and sliding down a scree field and then bushwhacking through some very tall grass and shrubs. Things could have gone better but we did get the south peak before we ran out of time and had to get down to catch our ride at 5pm. Weather half way cooperated with us as well. We only had to climb in the clouds for around an hour. I think I may have even gotten a slight sunburn on the back of my neck!

All of us felt pretty good for the climb. Once again Travis and I seem to be Michael’s ball and chain always slowing him down. We even try to make him carry most of the gear but it doesn’t seem to do much. He probably would have been able to summit the North peak as well but Travis and I were ready to head down.

Tonight there is supposed to be a BBQ at PapaGayo and then we were invited to ride into Quito to celebrate there. I am not exactly sure what we will all end up doing. I hope everyone at home has been enjoying the holiday seasons as it is almost over.

Thanks once again for all the prayers and thoughts. Michael should have some more good pictures of today if I can poke and prod him into writing a blog tonight.

~Jeremy

Since Michael put up some of my most flattering pictures on the last post I thought I would

return the favor ;o)

Where we go from here.

2007-12-30T19:47:00.001-07:00

We are now back at papagayo. After evaluating our situation and thinking about our plans for the next two weeks, this is what we have decided.

As you all know, weather has been very bad since we have been here and has made some of our climbing a bit difficult. You also all know that Travis has not been having a good time dealing with high altitude climbing. Here is our change of plans for the moment.

We came to Ecuador not to break records, or climb as high as we possibly could, we came to Ecuador to climb as three friends, to enjoy ourselves, to challenge ourselves, and to provide an adventure, for all of you following us, to live vicariously through. This being the goal and focus of our trip, we have decided to forgo our attempt on Chimborazo, the highest mountain in Ecuador. Not only has the weather put this mountain in poor condition for climbing, but it is also well out of the reach of Travis due to his altitude problems. We have already climbed to over 19,000ft on Cotopaxi and to just under 19,000ft on Cayambe. Travis could not join us for either of these climbs. Rather than having jer and I continue to climb while trav sits at camp or at the Refugio, we are going to change our schedule.

Tomorrow we will attempt a three peak traverse of rumihaui (sp), which is a rock mountain, with all three peaks just over 15,000ft. This is a challenging, exciting climb that Travis can join us for because of its lower elevation. After that we will celebrate New Years Eve at Papagayo and in the first week of January we will attempt Illiniza sur, an ice climb that should be doable for Travis as well, and last of all we will attempt Antisana as our last climb on the 4th of Jan.

We will have more details on these plans in the next blog, for now we are getting to bed to prepare for our climb tomorrow.

God Bless and Love Always,

Michael

2007-12-30T17:34:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

I apologize for the delay in getting this last blog up, the past few days have been a bit hectic.

I last left you with a blog from Quito as we were about to depart for the north to the mountain of Cayambe. Since then we have had many adventures. Here is the latest update.

Thursday afternoon we were picked up at Posada Del Maple in Quito by Eran, the Israeli owner of Gulliver’s Travels, a guide agency in Quito. Last week we decided to hire one company to take care of all of our transportation for the rest of the trip. It was expensive, but a wise decision. We drove north with Eran for about four hours, stopping for lunch along the way and then driving 1 ½ from the town of Cayambe, into the highlands to the climbing Refugio at the base of Cayambe, the mountain. The road was intense, switchbacks up a 1000 ft face, with water running off everywhere and washing out the road bed. Usually vehicles cannot make it all the way to the Refugio, but Eran managed to get us there.
It is a beautiful Refugio, three floors, kitchens, wood stoves, a large bunk loft, and a hut keeper, Sergio, who fit the part of “mountain hut keeper” perfectly. We unloaded our gear and put our our sleeping bags for the night and then headed up the glacier to scout the route for the next days climb. Jer and I entered the Glacier from the wrong location and found ourselves in a field of crevasses that never ended. We backtracked and eventually found the correct route near sunset; we made a quick trip up the glacier to get a feel for what we would be doing at midnight, in the dark. We returned to the Refugio and had a very luxurious dinner of a just cooked Chicken, Pasta, Gouda cheese, potatoes, etc. (it was nice being able to drive right to the Refugio). We got to bed early to prepare for the next morning. Jer and I woke up at 11 pm, organized our packs and had a quick snack before we left at midnight, along with one German lady and her guide, and a group of seven very ill-equipped, very old, Ecuadorians. Because we did not know the route up Cayambe very well, we chose to stay behind the guide and his German client. We climbed the rock fin behind the Refugio and were on the glacier by 1 am. Our pace caused us to soon overtake the guide and after talking with him shortly about avalanche conditions, which he had been checking often, he decided to turn around with his client. He felt that their pace would be to slow and place them on the mountain as the sun came up, which could be fatal. He gave us a quick summary of the route and told us that with our pace, we should be fine.
We continued up the glacier with perfect weather. We had a crystal clear sky above us and a field of clouds blanketing the valley below us, no wind, and a bright moon. We made good time and were high on the mountain by 3 am. As we climbed jer started to feel quite sick, his condition worsening as we gained elevation. His signs and symptoms were not suggesting altitude sickeness, but something more along the lines of a food sickness or head cold, either way it was making the climbing difficult. By 4 am, jer was having trouble moving more than 30 steps at a time and a storm had moved in quickly, giving us lots of snow and visibility of less than 50 ft. With not many options for turning back until the sun rose, we pushed on, taking 30 steeps at a time, resting for 2 minutes and doing it again. We made very slow progress. At 5 am our GPS indicated that we were less than 800 ft from the summit. We made our way through a crevasse field, and climbed a steep ice wall between two seracs. We could see the summit above us, less than 200 ft away. We took another break and made our final push for the summit. It was 6 am and the sun was just starting to provide a glow through the whiteout. As we crested the final bulge of snow, we found ourselves inches from a 60ft drop into a crevasse that was full of massive blocks of fallen ice. Across the crevasse and 50 ft above us we could see the summit block, a shady outline through the snow. By this point Jer could barely stand up on his own and we had reached our deadline turn around time of 6 am to avoid avalanche conditions on the lower mountain. We were on the volcano rim, all that was left to climb was a 50 ft block of ice, weather conditions were terrible, physically, we were both drained, and avalanche safety was demanding we turn around. We snapped a few quick photos of the summit flag and turned around to start our slow journey off the mountain. As we made our way back along our route, conditions only got worse, instead of helping us see better, the sunrise had only turned the environment around us into a white zone, we could not judge distances, slope of the snow, direction, it was not cool. We started to navigate our way down with our GPS which had recorded our route up the mountain, but it could only get us within 30ft or so of our actual foot steeps. Ten minutes into our decent as Jer was leading ahead of me, I watched him disappear to his waist, He had fallen through a layer of snow into a crevasse, I put tension on the rope and luckily he managed to lift himself out easily onto the other side. We peered into the hole he had created in the snow and saw that the crevasse was 60 or 70 ft deep, but only about 3 ft wide. If it had been any wider, we could have had a crevasse rescue to deal with. Jer kept me tight on the rope and as I jumped the crevasse and we continued, very carefully on our trip down the mountain. We returned to the Refugio without any other mishaps and soon fell asleep, to wait for our ride at 11 am.
While we did not technically summit Cayambe, we still were very successful and made it to within 50 ft of the true summit. Considering both other climbing parties had turned around hours below us, we did very well, managing our own route finding, dealing with altitude, being prepared for hidden crevasses and making good judgment calls concerning how far we pushed ourselves.
From Cayambe, we were picked up by another employee of Gulliver’s and driven, in the back of a pickup, two hours to the town of Otovalo, a famous market town three hours north of Quito. We spent Friday night there and spent Saturday morning in the market, doing some late Christmas shopping and exploring all the many stalls, booths, and food vendors that went on for street after street after street. Due to time, I will try to post another blog devoted to our day in Otovalo in the near future.

Below are a few pictures from our adventures on Cayambe, the bad weather condions and difficult time we had on the mountain made for very few good photos, but here is what we got. Enjoy.

God Bless and Love Always,

Michael

One of Cayambes many glaciers near the Refugio.

The Refugio, hidden in with the rock on the left hand side.

If I may be so bold as to comment on my own photo, an Amazing photo of jer scouting the route the night before our climb.

Jer, at 4 am, feeling terrible.

Doesn't it look like we are having fun.....

6 am, as close to the summit as we could possibly get, close enough for ACC purposes anyways.

On the descent, feeling better and taking a break in the snowstorm.

Sergio, the keeper of the Refugio.
Our trip out of the mountans, along a very rugged "road".

Off we go again.

2007-12-27T07:39:00.000-07:00

We returned to Quito yesterday afternoon to do laundry, stock up on food and catch our breath. The weather here is nice for the moment, but it is still supposted to rain for the next two weeks in all the mountain areas. Things are looking gloomy. Both Trav and I have gotten sick from something we ate and are enjoying a day of travelers diaerra. We are leaving in a few hours to drive north to the Volcano of Cayambe. With the way weather is, we may just be spending the night in the Refugio and returning to Quito, but we are hoping there is a break in the rain and we can go for the summit tommorow morning. If everything goes as planned, we should be back in Quito Saturday afternoon.
The rest of our trip is looking very bleak, all the mountains we planned to climb are not in any condition to be climbed at the moment. Unless the weather improves significantally, we might be changing our plans for the remanider of the trip.
I apologize for the spelling, I am in a rush, on a spanish keyboard and on a computer without spell check.

God Bless and Love Always,

Michael

2007-12-25T18:29:00.000-07:00

Well, due to yet more bad weather, we got out of the mountains earlier than planned and are back at Hosteria Papagayo for Christmas night. Here are some photos from the past two days of climbing.

Jer, on the way to Number 2

Jer and Trav on the approach hike, with our Mystery Ranch Packs, that Rock!

The Mystery Ranch Backpack hall of Fame.

Jer and his NiceFrame pack, hauling 50lbs at 14,500ft like its no big deal.

Trav and his Big Sky Pack, loaded down with the climbing gear.

Michael and his Super Sky pack.. and all his lifes possesions strapped on.

Trav on the approach hike.. in the rain... again

Christmas tree in the Ilinizas mountain Refugio.

Not quite the same as home but we do what we can.

The Ilinizas Mountain Refugio in the early morning mist

Trav and Jer leaving the Refugio to begin the climb.

Me, after a 25min run at 15,000ft. Oy

crossing loose scree and snow below the summit.

Christmas Morning Summit, with the ACC summit Flag!!

The summit Cross on Iliniza Norte, crusted with ice from the nights storm.

A break in the clouds gave us an amazing Christmas morning view above the clouds, and a glimpse of Iliniza Sur.

Jer, having a Christmas Morning ponder above the clouds.

On the trip out, in the back of a pickup truck.. in the rain... again.

Hope you all enjoy our Christmas day climbing photos.

Merry Merry Christmas to all of you.

Pray that the rain stops and we can continue climbing

God Bless and Love Always,

Michael

2007-12-25T14:36:00.001-07:00

The climb went off almost without a hich, much to Mike´s regret forgot the summit flag at the hut about 15 minutes up the climb. Mike blazed back down and was back with us in 20ish minutes. In the mean time the ¨Mountain Goat Jer¨ shouldered Mike´s pack and continued on.
The last part of the climb was alot of fun we had steep snow and a nice little rock scramble at the top. After we reached the top I thought it was time to sit, but the Sherpa and Mountain Goat took off to ¨look around¨. As I laid on the ground hoping to have my heart slow down from red line to an idle a couple of other groups started to arrive at the top.
After a couple of quick summit photo´s we headed down and out.
Over all I´d say the sufferfest went very well.

2007-12-25T14:36:00.000-07:00

Number Two

2007-12-25T13:01:00.000-07:00

Christmas was a little different this year when we woke up on rock hard beds with ten other people in a room that was 30´x20´ with sleeping bags that were wet from condensation dripping from the cinder block celing of the refuge. But all three of us got our Christmas present when we made it to the summit of Iliniza Norte mid morning. For the entire climb and the first ten minutes on the summit the visiblity was 30 to 50 feet, but after hanging around a while longer praying that it would clear up our prayers were answered. We had a spectacular view of Iliniza Sur, Cotopaxi, and the valley below for around ten minuites before a cloud enveloped the mountain once again. But the few moments of clear skies were all we needed to lift our spirits.

We planned on climbing Sur tomorrow but after talking to several guides decided that the snow was to soft and thus avalanche prone to attempt a summit so soon after fresh snow fall. While we had clear skies we did notice one very large avalanche that had covered part of the normal route up Sur. We hope to come back at a later date when conditions are better.

Michael should be putting up more pictures once again within the next 24 hours.

Merry Christmas to all,
Jeremy

2007-12-24T05:54:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

Following is four excerpts from my climbing journal, kept while on the mountain. Hope you enjoy. It was quite the adventure.

Photos of our prepping for and trip to camp.

Packing for Cotopaxi, we sure know how to trash a room fast.

Entering Cotopaxi Nat'l Park.

The drive through the Park, along a very rough and winding dirt road.

Rain.... lots and lots of rain.

Gearing up at the trailhead... in the rain.

The approach hike, with a rare glimpse through the clouds, of the valley below.

Setting up the tent in the sleet.

Climbing Journal
December 21st, 2007
7:30 pm
Cotopaxi Base Camp
We arrived at the trailhead toady at noon. Weather conditions were bleak. It had been snowing/raining on and off since we had entered the park an hour earlier. Wind was approx. 5mph and there was a very low cloud cover that was making visibility less than 500 ft. It took us 35 min. to ascend 1,000ft to the climbers refugio (hut) where we stopped for 30 min. to talk to some people we met there.
We then continued for another 10 min to camp in a small gully over a ridge from the refugio. We set up camp in the rain and Jer and Trav immediately crawled inside the tent and fell asleep. We were dealing well with altitude, but it was still taking its toll on us. Our elevation at camp was 14,800ft. At 4:00pm we started making dinner and boiling water for tea. Dinner tonight consisted of cooked carrots, pasta Bolognese and toast.
After doing dishes, I took my camera and climbed up a ridge 500ft above camp. The clouds were starting to clear for a minute and I ended up getting a beautiful sunset, above the clouds! At 6:30pm I made my way back to camp and organized myself for bed. A coyote was prowling around camp when I returned, so I moved all our food inside the tent. It is now 7:45pm and we are going to try to get some sleep. Jer and Trav feel slightly ill due to the altitude so we are working on drinking lots of water and getting as much rest as we can for the next 28 hours before we make our summit attempt tomorrow at midnight.

Normal view from our tent window, fog and snow.

Jer and Trav, tent bound.

December 22nd, 2007
11:26 am
Cotopaxi Base Camp

Last night we got very little sleep. A 15-20 mph wind picked up as the clouds started to clear after dark and the flapping and fluttering of the tent combined with the altitude made for a rough night. We went to bed at 7:30pm and woke up at 6:30 am, in all we probably didnt get more than three hours of sleep. Listening to someone sleep at high altitude is a bit strange. They will breathe normally for two or three min. and then take one or two fast, gasping breaths, and then return to normal.
At 6:30 am we brewed up some hot tang and stretched out a bit, then laid back down for another hour or so. (Everything moves slower at high altitude) At 7:30 am we started getting ready to climb above camp onto the glacier to help our bodies adjust to elevation. Weather at this point was still approx. 20 deg. and snowing lightly.
We left camp at 8:30am and ascended to a crevasse approx. 1,000ft above camp. We took a break there. All three of us felt very good, strong, breathing well and healthy, a good change from the night before. At this point, Trav returned to camp to watch our gear and Jer and I continued another 500ft up the glacier. We took cover under an overhanging crevasse and sent out a SPOT signal. Wind was 15-20mph and we had blowing snow and spindrift. After resting for 20 min. we descended back to camp and purified water for the day, had a breakfast of granola and yogurt and went back to sleep. If everything goes as planned and the weather is good, we will go for a summit attempt at in 12 hours.

Jer, sending out a SPOT signal.

Coyote, watching our camp from the ridge.

December 22nd, 2007
7:14 pm
Cotopaxi Base Camp

In five hours we make our summit bid. As of now, everything is looking good. Travis and Jer got some much needed sleep this afternoon. Weather has been on and off. We were tent bound most of the afternoon from before noon until after 4:30pm. Late afternoon the skies cleared, the sun came out, and God blessed us with a wonderful evening. We ate an early dinner at 5:00pm, purified all the water for the climb and prepared for the morning.
The plan is as follows,
Wake up at 11:30pm, brew up tea, eat a quick snack, and leave by 12:30am. I am going to take lead on the rope; we are taking one summit pack, which we will share between us, two liters of water, thermos of hot water, down jackets, med kit, and lots of energy goo. If everything goes well, we will summit sometime between 7:00 and 8:00 am. We all feel strong and prepared. It is now up to weather and the higher altitudes to determine if we succeed.

A rare view as the skies clear the afternoon before our summit bid.

Jer making dinner during a few beautiful, clear hours.

Trav, watching the clouds move across the valley below us.

The summit of Cotopaxi, seen through the mist as the sun goes down and the weather starts to change again.

December 23rd, 2007
10:12 am
Cotopaxi Base Camp

We are back to camp after a successful summit of Cotopaxi! God is good. We managed to sleep through two alarms last night and woke up at midnight. We got dressed, brewed up, prepped our packs and left camp at 1:00am. 15min. out of camp, Trav started feeling very sick with a headache that was getting much worse. We were close enough to camp that he could return safely alone, and he did so. Jer and I continued on, roped up and put our crampons on at 1:45 am and started up the glacier. We were the first rope team of 5 that we going for the summit that morning, we were in the lead, 20 people followed behind us, a line of headlamps in the darkness far below us.
Weather conditions, approx. 10 deg. light snow and gusting winds up to 20mph. We settled into our slow pace and made very good time. At 4:00am with heavier snow and visibility at less than 40ft, we lost the route due to the windblown snow. We took a 20min. break in an overhanging crevasse and waited for another team to catch up, hopefully with someone who knew the route.
After two more attempts to find the route on our own and an hour of waiting, at 5:00 am a team of four arrived at our location and started across a traverse into the darkness, we followed very carefully. As faint light started to illuminate the mountain at 5:30 am we could see that we were 300ft above the route on a ridge that was un-climbable above us, due to a large 70ft ice wall. At this point, two of the climbers that we had been following (who put is in the wrong place), approached us and asked if they could rope up with us. They spoke no English and for some reason were at 17,000ft with no rope or proper equipment. Considering the situation, we decided it would be best to help them. We tied them in on our rope and began a tricky traverse across a rock band and snow slope towards the upper part of the main route. The two climbers now on our rope were slowing our progress quite a bit, and we were moving very slowly now. One other rope team of two passed on the far side of the slope. We took over two hours to climb the last 1,500ft of headwall to the crater rim. By the time we reached the summit, Jer was practically hauling the two climbers behind us. We reached the summit at 7:45 am. We had ten minutes of sunlight and views through the clouds before fog rolled in again and visibility was back to 200ft or so. We snapped our summit photos and began our rapid decent, trying to manage the two Ecuadorian climbers still, which was making things very challenging. As soon as we reached safe ground, we untied from the rope, backpacked it and said farewell to our two “friends”, we glissaded (controlled slide) down the glacier from 17,000ft to 15,000ft in about 15 min. and arrived back at camp in one hour, fifteen minutes after leaving the summit! Eight Hours round trip!!
We are now taking a short rest before packing up and heading out to catch a ride back to Papagayo. It is still raining…

Jer, in the early hours of the morning, making his way through the snow at 16,000ft.

Michael, route finding in the fog.

God is good. 7:45 am, on the summit of Cotopaxi.

Jer, on the decent, looking at a massive crevasse we had passed in the night. With light now, we could see inside. It could eat a school bus whole. 60 ft wide, 150 ft deep, 1/2 mile long.

We are now sorting and cleaning gear and taking off to attempt the Ilinizas this afternoon, For once, we awoke to sunshine outside; hopefully it lasts for quite a while.

Since we will be climbing on Christmas, I will not get a chance to write a blog on the 25th. It is very strange being in a foreign country, alone on Christmas; I would have to say it is going to end up being one of the worst parts of a great trip. Such is the life of adventure I suppose. We all wish we could be at home celebrating with you, but know that we send our love and you will be in our thoughts as we climb Christmas morning.
I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas and may God Bless you.

Love Always,

Michael

A parting photo, Pretty beautiful world we live in!

(see the tent in the bottom right corner)

Ups and Downs

2007-12-23T15:15:00.000-07:00

Well I see that some of you have been watching the SPOT and noticed that we did in fact reach our first summit, Cotopaxi at 19347 ft, with the exception of Travis who became very ill when we woke up at 12am and ended up loosing his breakfast along with his strength.

I had my fair share of throwing up and dizzy spells for the first 24 hours. I threw up after only 3 hours at our tent site and thought I was down for the count. I was hardly able to stand up to go to the bathroom with out almost fainting and would stumble back to the tent in the darkness often falling over and collapsing on my sleeping bag completely out of breath from the twenty foot walk. I later found out that I was standing up to fast and needed to take several minutes to change positions from lying down to standing up while taking very deep breaths. After a miserable first day I figured out how to function at altitude (very slowly) while my body did its share of adapting to the lack of oxygen and felt good this morning for the climb.

Remember that we were living for 48 hours at or above the same elevation of Mount Rainer (14,410 ft) the highest any of us had ever been before, and that was only for a few minutes. Michael faired the best and was fine except for a few headaches so he became the pack mule and leader of the climb, hauling the camera, water, coats, ect. up to the top.

There are many good pictures and a few good stories to go along with this climb but will have to wait for a few hours. We are in the process of stripping everything down and drying our equipment out (yes it did rain/snow most of the time) and are also trying to recuperate as we plan on trying to climb the Illinizas tomorrow depending on how well Travis feels in the morning. Be looking out for Michael’s blog with pictures and hopefully some stories if time allows.

~Jeremy

Rain Rain Go Away

2007-12-20T22:19:00.000-07:00

So as most of you probably have figured out it is still raining here which is preventing us from getting to three of the four mountains near us. The only one that is possible to reach right now is Cotopaxi, it is the second tallest mountain in Ecuador at 19,347 feet. This mountain is very popular to climb and is well within our abilities. The only problem that we might run into is our lack of acclimatization. We plan on spending two days at the refuge (instead of the normal one day) at 15,750 feet to try and adjust to the altitude and then make our summit push in the wee hours of the third morning.

If everything goes as planed we will be without communication other then the SPOT for the next three days. All of your prayers are greatly appreciated. Hopefully we will be back with good news and great pictures in three days.

Untill then.
ACC

2007-12-20T15:23:00.000-07:00

Pray for the rain to stop... Other than that we will decide tonight if we try and climb norte or try cotopaxi, alot if riding on the weather. The roads to alot of these mountains are dirt so with all the rain it makes it very difficult to say the least if not impossible to drive. The place we are staying for the next little bit is amazing, great food, great people and lots of dogs to play with.
Tonight we are going to try the rain go away dance around the fire place so hopefully that works.

Some Recent Photos

2007-12-20T15:13:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

We spent yesterday taking care of some last minute details around Quito as well as getting in a few hours of climbing at an outdoor climbing wall. Last night was spent packing for the next leg of the trip into the Sierra. We got up early this morning and walked four blocks, in the pouring rain with all our gear, to meet a bus that took us to our “base of operations” for the next week or so, Hosteria PapaGayo. It is a beautifully restored Hacienda over 100 years old, surrounded by the green rolling hills of farmland near the village of Machachi. It location places us with in an hours drive of four of the mountains we are planning on climbing. The weather is still terrible, raining on and off, lots of cloud cover, completely unsuitable for climbing. We spent the afternoon getting settled at PapaGayo and exploring the surrounding hills in the rain. Here are some photos of our most recent adventures, Enjoy!

The courtyard of our Hotel in Quito.

Our room at the Posada del Maple, the tiny dormer in the roof was our best view.

Travis pulling hard on the stone wall of a building we found.

Michael climbing at the outdoor wall in Quito.

Travis wearing his Mystery Ranch pack, headed out into Quito.

Waiting for the bus in the rain, ah the fun of dirt cheap traveling.

The PapaGayo Hotel.

The backyard of Hosteria Papagayo. Beautiful

Muddy farm road near Papagayo.

A mini-Donkey eating on the side of the road.

Looking over the countryside through the mist and fog.

A farmer headed home, disappearing into the fog.

2007-12-19T19:50:00.000-07:00

(hopefully this isn't like the last blog I tried to write.)
Well today was another day in Quito Jer and myself went out to get some supplies for the next week. After that we caught up with Mike and went in search of the something to climb. After about 20 minutes of walking we arrived at a outdoor climbing gym. It was very cool. It also had a building to buy climbing stuff,(it was closed...sad) the interesting thing is the whole building was made out of granite type rock and cement. So the whole building was climbable at the highest pt. it was about 20 feet tall. definately going to be in my house plans. Tomorrow we leave to start climbing so hopefully the weather is good, and we shall be off.

Day three on the Equator

2007-12-19T09:15:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

I am writing to you from The Magic Bean coffee shop in the Marsical district of Quito. Its one of many expat hang outs in the Marsical, with free Wi-fi and strawberry pancakes I could just as easily be sitting at a cafe in Bozeman, except for the chaos of traffic and people on the street in front of me. The Marsical is a maze of small one way streets, lots of traffic, people, street vendors, hostels, and cafes. It is quite the sensory overload. After a heavy rain storm last night it is one of those misty mornings when everything smells fresh and looks clean. From our hotel window this morning, you could see the fog covering most of the city and creating eerie Silhouettes of apartment buildings in the distance.

Now that I finally have an laptop internet connection and a cozy place to write from, I can post pictures and write in detail about the events of the past few days.

On Monday we spent the day taking care of various errands. After registering at the US Embassy and getting maps from the Ecuadorian Military office, we spent the afternoon wandering Old Town.
Old Town is the main city center of Quito; it is the area that contains all the colonial architecture, financial offices, etc. You could wander Old town for a week and not see the same thing twice. Being the altitude junkies that we are, after three hours of walking, we left the beaten path and headed up a number of steep cobblestone roads until we were high on the side of a hill, looking over all of Quito and the statue of La Virgen in the distance.

Late Monday afternoon we made our way back to the Marsical, it was a 30 min walk from the Old town to The Marsical and after arriving back at our hotel, Posada Del Maple, we went to dinner around the corner at a very good Ecuadorian restaurant. For our first day, it went pretty well.

Yesterday, Tuesday, we traveled south to visit Luis, a 12 year old boy that my mom and I sponsor through World Vision. We were picked up by Monica Alban at 8 am and started our drive south along the Panamericana highway. As we left Quito, the heavy fog started to clear and the countryside opened up around us. We drove for three hours, with a stop for breakfast, and arrived in Pelileo around noon. Before meeting Luis, we got to meet with the director of the World Vision office in Pelileo, The office takes care of over 2,500 children throughout the region in 80 different communities. They provide them with health care, scholarships for school, counseling and spiritual guidance. After a short wait, we met with Luis, who was at first very shy, as where we. All our talking was done through Monica’s translating, which was amazing, but still made for interesting conversation. After 15 minutes of talking, the entire office staff and all of us, eleven in all, piled into two cars and drove to World Visions agricultural development farm. At the farm, World Vision raises chickens, and guinea pigs, and a small crop of alfalfa, The members of the community do all the work, and in the process, learn sustainable agricultural skills which they can then take home and apply on their own. All the profits of the farm go to the community, specifically to health care for the children and the other projects that I mentioned above. I was very impressed by their system of development. It was well organized, community based, finically feasible, and is completely dependent on the “sweat equity” of the people being helped. World Vision is really doing a good job of creating a sustainable and viable economic system for the people of Pelileo. After getting a tour of the farm, we got out the futbol that we bought for Luis and started a game of keep away. All the shyness disappeared on both sides and we had a blast. The resident farm dog joined in and after 30 min of play, we were all exhausted and smiling. Its amazing how something as simple as a soccer ball can tear down any cultural or social walls that exist between people. For the first hour of our visit, things were somewhat awkward and tense, but after 30 min of playing with a soccer ball, all walls were gone and everyone was very comfortable, making jokes and laughing a lot. It was pretty cool.

Our drive back to Quito was amazing as well. The sun was shining now and I spent most of the time with my head out the window looking through the lens of my camera. We stopped for a late lunch in Latacunga and ate at a very good meal of pork, tostadas, potatoes, and much more. It was excellent and only 4 dollars.

Last night we spent packing for our departure tomorrow to the Hosteria Papagayo, where we will be basing ourselves for the next week or so to climb near Cotopaxi nat’l park. As of now, the weather in Quito is not very good for climbing, but we are hoping that as we get out into the Sierra, things will improve, as they did yesterday in Palileo. The “troops are getting restless” and we are all ready to shoulder our packs and head out into the hinterland, where we are most comfortable.

Hope this message finds you all well,

God Bless and Love Always,

Michael

Quick Update

2007-12-18T19:48:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to quickly let everyone know that the World Vision visit went off with out a hitch. We got to see and experince so much more than we were expecting. Hopefully tomorrow we will be finding a way to put some pictures up on the blog to show you all how much fun we are having down here. Michael will also be writing more about the visit tomorrow.

Getting Lost

2007-12-18T05:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a few goals that we wanted to accomplish 1. registering with the US Embassy 2. Buying detailed topo maps of the mountains we will be climbing 3. find a grocery store were we can load up with supplies before leaving Quito 4. Find the South American Explorer's Club 5. Explore the city. We were successful in all our goals. We walked around 8 miles and spent 5 hours walking around. We were following a map in our lonely planet guide book in order to find the buildings and we could get to the general area but then would end up wondering around for several minutes to find our destination. Sometimes we would end up walking right past the building several times, but it is all part of the adventure. We were very worried about theft while walking in the city when we left in the morning but after a few hours we all were less worried, still on our toes but more comfortable. For the most part we stuck to the main streets but did hike up a very steep street in order to get a better view of the city. By the end of the day we were all very tired. Walking around in a city of two million people is a lot more work then walking in Bozeman. A lot of times it is like a big game of frogger trying to avoid buses, cars, motorcycles, and people.

Today we are visiting a World Vision child that Michael and Caroline have been sponsoring in Ecuador. And they are going to be picking us up in 5 minutes so I must be off.

Until next time.

Everyone Is Here.

2007-12-16T21:54:00.000-07:00

After a long layover in Atlanta and a nice flight to Quito, I have caught up with jer a trav.
For those of you who know me well, you already know that I am never happier than when I am walking out the doors of an airport, into a place I have never been to before, getting bombarded by new and unique sights, sounds, and smells. My arrival into Quito tonight left nothing to be desired.
Our flight dropped through the clouds and suddenly the view out my window went from blackness to a masterpiece of a million lights and glowing patches of fog. After an uneventful trip through customs I spent 20 min digging through moutains of bags to find all my climbing gear safe and secure in my three large duffels. After collecting my baggage I managed to find the sign with my name on it amongst 200 others and meet the man driving me to our hotel. We made our way through the massive crowd that surrounded the exit doors and stepped out into a warm but very rainy night that reminded me of my many wet arrivals into Christchurch, New Zealand. The trip to the hotel took about 15 min as we flew down empty streets in the drizzle of rain. I arrived here at Posada del Maple at 11 pm and after hauling my bags up three flights of stairs and down the very narrow hallway that leads to our room, we are now all settled and ready to begin our adventures tommorow.

I am sure I will be in touch very soon.

God Bless and Love Always,
Michael

2/3 of the Team Arrives

2007-12-16T20:30:00.000-07:00

Hello from Quito Ecuador!

As Michael indicated Travis and I made it through security, connecting flights, customs, and a ride to the hostel with no problems at all. All of our luggage arrived with us as well. God is good! Michael should be showing up at the hostel any minute now. The first thing we found out after arriving at the hostel is that we really need to work on our Spanish. Some of the people that we have been talking too speak broken english just as we speak broken spanish. So far we have been able to check in at the hostel and get some really good dinner with out to much confusion. Travis knows some popular words and phrases for travelers, but the people here speak so fast that we have a hard time picking out the words we know. Even writing this post is challenging. The letters are in their normal place on the keyboard but all the symbols are located in different places and there are spanish letters such as ñ. Travis and I still haven't found out where the @ key is (I had to copy it from google) to sign into emails and our blog.

Travis and myself went on a short walk around the hostel to find food and found out how nice we have it in Bozeman. The streets and side walks are all very run down here and even the nice tourist hotel, the Marriot, is pretty old and in need of repairs. Another very different thing is all of the private armed gaurds that are posted at the nicer restaurants and shopping centers.

I tried sending SPOTs from the airports but apparently none of them made it out from the windows I was sitting next to. I will go outside (in the rain) in little bit and send one off from the hostel we will be staying at for the next three days. Thank you all very much for the many prayers for our saftey while travelling.

Untill next time.
Jeremy

In Transit

2007-12-16T13:36:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

Due to a mess up by the shuttle company that took us to LAX last night, I missed my flight to Bogota and I am now sitting in Atlanta waiting for my non-stop flight to Quito. I had to catch the redeye flight at 1 am last night to ATL which put me in here at 8 am this morning, after catching up on sleep on an airport floor, I got to have lunch with a good friend who lives here in ATL, Steve Isaf.
Its going to be quite the round about way getting to Quito.
I left jer and Trav in LAX last night, checked into their flight and safely though security. I have not heard from them yet, but as I write this they should be settling into our hotel in Quito. My flight arrives tonight at 9:45pm and I will find my way to the hotel to meet up with them.
This will be our last update from the US. In a few short hours I will be off into the unknown.
Hope to talk to you all again soon.

God Bless and Love Always,

Michael

2007-12-12T14:55:00.000-07:00

The adventure has begun!!
Jer and Travis left Bozeman today at 2 pm to begin the drive south to Los Angles.
The past week has been full of last minute preparations, and "controlled chaos", at the last minute the baggage allowance for the South American airlines we are flying changed and we were stuck having to find 6 smaller bags and repack our gear. Mystery Ranch backpacks saved the day!! At the last minute they sent us south with three awesome duffel's that are the perfect size for the baggage restrictions. Mystery Ranch Rocks!
I will be in Bozeman until Friday, taking exams and taking care of any loose ends we have to deal with.
keep an eye on the blog page, things are going to get alot more exciting in the next few days!!

God Bless and Love Always,

Michael

Four days to go!!

2007-12-10T18:42:00.000-07:00

We are four days away from leaving, packing gear, checking reservations, re-packing gear and finalizing details. On the fund raising front we are very close to our goal of $15,000 and with a number of checks still in the mail, we are sure to reach our goal by the end of the week. Very very cool.
We gave a talk at Manhattan Christian School last week that was a great success. The school will be watching us on this blog while we are off on our adventures in Ecuador.

Thanks for all of your support,

God Bless and Love Always,

Michael

To Much Clutter

2007-11-30T11:22:00.000-07:00

Well it works. I can't control the e-mail that SPOT sends out except for the first line of text. Seeing as how we will probably send out a couple of these a day I am going to create a separate Blog just for the SPOT. That should keep things a little more neat and organized. Here is the new blog. http://accspot.blogspot.com/

OK Unit Number: 0-7349272

2007-11-30T11:16:00.001-07:00

Everything is fine. Check out where we are now.
Unit Number: 0-7349272
Latitude: 45.7778
Longitude: -111.2681
Nearest Town from unit Location: W Cedar Meadows Ln, Amsterdam, MT, US
Distance to the nearest town: 0 km(s)
Time in GMT the message was sent: 11/30/2007 18:17:02

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=45.7778,-111.2681&ie=UTF8&z=12&om=1

SPOT

2007-11-30T09:33:00.000-07:00

After researching for a while (and a lot of help from Michael's Mom) we have decided against the satellite phone because of cost. Instead we found this cool new gadget called SPOT. It is a personal locating beacon that will send out emails or txt messages to anyone we put on a list. There are three different functions on the unit. A check in button, which is hopefully the only thing we will ever need, and also a help button and 911 button. The help sends out a message to contacts that we specifically list, and the 911 button sends a signal to the SPOT center in TX were they decide from the location whom they should call in.

The reason I am telling everyone this is I found a way to have the unit send an email to the blog so everyone can check out were we are when we press the check in button. I am going to be testing it out for the next couple days. All you need to do (hopefully) is click on the link and it should bring you right to Google maps with our exact location.

15 days until departure!

Three weeks to go

2007-11-27T09:21:00.000-07:00

Our departure to Ecuador is getting closer by the minute. We have less than three weeks to go before I depart Bozeman on the 14th to catch up with Jer and Trav in LA. We have all our gear purchased , hotels booked, climbing routes selected, and are almost ready to go. All we have to do is some packing, and re-packing until we can fit everything in our bags.
On the fund raising front we have raised approx. $12,000 and have $3,000 to go before we reach our goal of $15,000 for the people of Darfur, Sudan. With the success we have had so far, I have no doubt that we will reach that goal before we leave for South America, or soon after.

God Bless and Love Always,

Michael

Over 2/3 of the way there!

2007-11-20T14:34:00.000-07:00

As of Monday the 20th of November we have raised over $11,000 for the suffering people of Darfur. It is an amazing accomplishment and we give all the glory to God!!

To all of you who have donated so far, Thank you!

God Bless and Love Always,
Michael

Small Turnout BIG Hearts

2007-11-15T11:32:00.000-07:00

Last night ACC gave a presentation at the Amsterdam-Churchill Bank on Darfur and explained what we are doing in Ecuador. It wasn't a huge turn out but everyone who came were very supporting and gave generously. We raised just under $1,000.00 for the displaced people of Darfur! Thanks so very much to everyone who showed their support.

If time allows we hope to do one more presentation for the people of Bozeman.

Welcome!

2007-11-13T16:26:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, and welcome to our new blog. This is were you will find all the updates while we are climbing in Ecuador. We will be leaving for Ecuador on the 15th of December so start checking for updates then.

The ACC Team