Ecuador High Altitude Expedition:
January 7-21, 2011
Climbers: Brett Davis, Steve and Isabel Herstell
Lead Guide: Pepe Landazuri
January 13, 2011
Pepe called at 5:15 am Ecuador and US Eastern time with this update:
“Hi, good morning this is Pepe calling from Cayambe. Right now we’re just getting back to the refuge. Unfortunately, we could not summit today because the group had some headaches and it was safest to come down. We were surprised because everyone was acclimatizing so well. But things can change quickly, and it is most important to be conservative and not keep going up when you are feeling not quite right.
We left at midnight, and climbed for about 4 hours, then decided it was time to turn around. We got up to about 5,200 meters, though. Right now, it’s just after 5 am. We’ll try to get some sleep for a few hours, then wake up and go to some hot springs today that are not too far from here. Hopefully everyone will feel better after that. We’re all fine – the team’s headaches are going away, and now some more sleep will be good. Tomorrow I’ll call from the Cotopaxi area.”