South America and South Africa

Cotopaxi (5,897 m/19,347 ft) is the second highest mountain in Ecuador and an active volcano 17 miles south of Quito. When I was talking to my friend Nicole in Cologne that I am thinking about climbing it she gave me the contact details of her friend Aru Veloz, whose father and brother are mountain guides in Riobamba, close to Chimborazo (6,270 m) the highest mountain in Ecuador. When I decided to do the climb with the Veloz family I wasn’t aware that Enrique Velos (Aru’s and Ivo’s father) is “Mister Chimborazo”, who climbed that mountain more than 550 times until today.

When the taxi spat me out at their address I expected a shop with mountaineering equipment etc. but there was only a big wooden door with a sign “Veloz Coronado – Mountain Guides”. After I rang the bell an elderly woman with hair rollers in her hair opened the door. After I tried to explain in English what I want and that I was already in contact with Ivo I was invited into the room next to the door. She called Ivo on the phone and we agreed a plan how to approach the climb to Cotopaxi incl. an acclimatization climb on Chimborazo at 5,000 m which I would do on my own. Meanwhile a white poodle with pink ribbon loops around (I guess) her ears and another mountain guide came and eventually also Enrique Veloz, who was really helpful when the details (transport, overnight stay in the Refugio Whymper, food, etc.) of my acclimization climb were discussed, all in Spanish. Ryan, Kevin and Nic from Colorado, also customers of Veloz Coronado who wanted to climb Chimborazo later that night, showed up and helped with the translation. Don Enrique promised to order the taxi to bring me there and pick me up the next day so that I could buy food, pack my stuff, change clothes, have lunch etc. He was even waiting in the taxi when I boarded it ensuring that I know that everything is in good order.

On the 30 miles ride to Chimborazo (now without Don Enrique) we were passing beautiful landscapes, farmland in the hilly terrain, and the closer we came to the mountain more and more desert. Vicunyas, the wild ancestors of the alpakas,were watching us curiously when we approached our destination. I deboarded the cab at the Barrel Refugio and started my 200 m climb to the Whymper Refugio. After I set up my night’s lodging I made a short acclimatization hike of maybe 150 m until the weather finally deteriorated. Meanwhile the three guys from Colorado arrived in the refugio and we played card games and I was also invited for dinner. Everyone went to bed early, them to prepare for their tour which would start at 23:00 in the night, I because it was freezing cold. The whole night I couldn’t sleep due to the wind, the altitude and the headache, which is a common sympton when one is not fully acclimatized. Since Ryan, Kevin and Nic couldn’t get to the peak that night as the wind was causing a rockslide shortly before they were approaching that part of the climb we met again the next morning. The taxi showed up in time and later that day I agreed with Enrique the next steps.

Update:

In the end I was not able to climb Cotopaxi because, at least I guess so, I was not acclimatized enough. My guide Santiago was very encouraging and motivating but I simply was not able to do it. He is the very last to blame. Most of the other climbers could not make it either as there was a crevasse which most of them did not climb in the night. (Since the snow gets too soft during daytime increasing the risk of avalanches substancially the climb starts around 11 p.m. and the cut off time to reach the summit is 8 a.m.). When I went back to the parking lot I learned from another climber, who climbed Kilimanjaro in Tanzania (5,896 m) before, that the barometric pressure on 5,000 m on Cotopaxi was 540 hpa, i.e. as low as on the summit of Kilimanjaro when he climbed it.