Chimborazo, Touching the Stars
Yet another climb. The Chimborazo is not a random mountain. At 6300 m (more or less as they are still arguing about the real number 🤪), it’s the highest mountain of Equator. But, surprise! Due to the shape of the earth (sorry it’s not flat), the Chimborazo is the furthest point to the center of the earth. Hence, the closest to the sky. How to resist then and not climb it 😉.
Down There
After long days in bus and having stopped at a few cities on the way (more on that for another story), we reached the base of the mountain: Riobamba. As the whole Equator, it’s a peaceful place. The main activity is the nearby Chimborazo National Park where you can go on day trips for hiking, biking or just sightseeing.
We spent a day in town to relax and walk around.
The Tour
When shopping for tours to the summit, you have tons of options. But they all operate the same way. Guides are independents (so you can end up with the same guys although you used another agency), they provide the equipment and most importantly they all go the same route. This last point is important because it means you will stop at the Carrel refuge — at 4850 m. This refuge is operated by Andean Adventures. So, logically, the way to go is with them. Because in the end everyone ends up with them 🤷♂️. That’s the reason they are the cheapest as well at $270 per person (if you’re 2). It’s sad to read on internet that they have quite bad reviews. BUT, go read it, people who wrote where just not prepared.
Why? Well it’s a 6000 m for a start. So they cannot babysit you like any normal hike. When you read that people had concern about the information they received about acclimatization, you’re just like: “come on, don’t be ridiculous it’s a 6000! If you have no idea about acclimatization, you’re just being silly”. So yes, you need to know how you personally deal with that. Plus they offer you an extra night at the refuge to help.
The tour was just great 👍. Good people, knowledgeable, skilled and aware about the danger. Plus, the refuge is top. There are beds, the food is good (good quality, huge plates), it’s hot… The highlight was the hot chocolate with marshmallows inside 😋.
Up There
After two days chilling there it’s time to go. The weather had been quite okay, although rainy/snowy every afternoon. The program is the same for everyone, the hike start at 10 pm (yes, yes…) with the hope that you get on top for sunrise. You want my 2 cents? It’s totally dumb. I would prefer to see the sunset instead, thus do the 7–8 hours of walk during the day and the 3 hours back during the night… 🧐. But no choice.
The afternoon before hiking, it snowed quite a lot. From the refuge we were already walking on snow, ark. Although the sky was clear and there was no wind 👍. Up to ~5000 m, we did not need the crampons. It was nice. Afterwards it was another story. I would say that for a first time walking on ice with crampons, it was hard 😅. The terrain was half icy, half rocky which was a pain. Super slippery, dangerous. But after ~5300 m (the spot where you can camp), it’s just snow and ice. With the fresh snow, it was tough! I did not really suffer from the altitude, it was more the effort itself after midnight that killed me. There is even a small wall to climb. Not difficult per se, but with the crampons it is.
Around 5900 m we were exhausted and decided to stop the ascension 😓. The thing is that there is not really any possibility to take a good rest, otherwise you freeze. So after 6 hours 🙅♂️. I would easily say that it was the most challenging hike I’ve done so far. The Nyiragongo was a peace of cake in comparison, as we could rest properly.
We went down with another route, the corridor. It’s normally not used anymore due to the risk of falling rocks. But due to the heavy snow it was okay to go down there. It took us around 3 hours. It was a bit complicated for me as my knee was still hurting. Luckily I had bought a knee guard.
Down to Earth
Ark, we did not top! Still, we got closer than ever to the stars. We just missed a few meters as well to hit the 6000 m mark. But you have to know when it’s time to turn around. Next time 😉.
