Ecuador High Altitude Expedition
February 18 to March 4, 2011
Climbers: Sam Kisson, Robert Gay, Tom O’Connell, Dennis Uhlir, Matt Donnelly Lead Guide: Benno Schlauri Assistant Guide: Ramiro Garrido
March 1, 2011 Benno called at 7:16pm Ecuador and US Eastern time with this message:
“Hello from Chimborazo!
We are now at the upper hut on the flank of Chimborazo at 16,400 feet. We have a very beautiful sunset right now. The mountain is clear and there’s no wind – truly perfect conditions.
As you know we were at Urbina last night. We had an easy morning and were able to enjoy perfect views of our mountain. It was cloudless and clear, so we saw lots of detail on the peak.
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After breakfast we decided to drive into the big town of Riobamba; it’s a nice place to look around. We visited the main square, a couple of churches, the railway station, and some people used the Internet.
It’s a pretty busy place. Good architecture, nice urban landscapes (including some palm trees!), and good people watching.
Later we drove up to the lower hut on the mountain and met the other two mountain guides on our trip there. They brought fIt got pretty cloudy during our hike up, but later it cleared off completely again. It’s very exciting for everyone to see the mountain up close!
Our team has already gone to bed because we are going to get up at 11:00pm and leave by midnight on the climb. If all goes well, it will take us about eight hours to reach the summit.
There’s only one other rope team here at the hut, so we are basically going to have the mountain entirely to ourselves. That will be an amazing feeling on this huge mountain.
OK. Time for me to go to bed too. Thanks for the messages and good wishes. We’ll call you in the morning from high on the mountain and with luck it will be from the summit. We will see! Ciao Ciao.”
