| > | | | | communication problems. I thought, for example, |
| What's the furthest point on earth from its | | | | that the $11 fee for the "night" (a few hours) in |
| center? The summit of Everest? Nope. You have | | | | the hut was included in the $130 guide fee. He |
| to go to South America for this one, to the top | | | | thought I was a mountain climber. |
| of Mount Chimborazo, in Ecuador. | | | | I think he said he didn't like the papery rainsuit I |
| Climbing the glaciers to the summit of Mount | | | | was using, and he frowned at my homemade ski |
| Chimborazo in Ecuador isn't highly technical. It is | | | | mask. When he saw my insulating vest, a |
| mountaineering, but how hard can it be, | | | | feathery piece of poly batting with a hole cut in it |
| considering I went to 20,600 feet the first time I | | | | for my head, I just pretended not to understand |
| used crampons and an ice axe? Okay, I used | | | | what he was saying. |
| them once for practice, on a sledding hill near my | | | | I hadn't intended to go climb Chimborazo with |
| house. I climbed forty feet while people walked | | | | such lightweight gear, but I'd come to Ecuador on |
| by with their sleds, telling their kids to stay away | | | | a courier flight, and could bring only carry-on |
| from me. | | | | luggage. I had12 pounds in my pack to begin with, |
| It's also easier to climb when the guide drives you | | | | so by the time I put on all my clothes that night, |
| to 15,000 feet. Don't get me wrong. Climbing the | | | | the weight on my back was irrelevant. The |
| last 5,600 feet was incredibly difficult, but not for | | | | weight of my body, however, wasn't. Paco had to |
| the skill required. The air missing half of its oxygen | | | | coax me up that mountain. |
| is what had me quitting twenty times on the way | | | | Hiking On Glaciers |
| up. It just gets difficult to move up there. | | | | The glaciers start near the hut, and hiking became |
| The Chimborazo Graveyard | | | | mountaineering. I put on crampons for the second |
| The monuments near the first refuge weren't for | | | | time in my life (there was that sledding hill). During |
| climbers without skill. The graveyard is a warning | | | | one of my many breaks ("Demasiado" - too |
| of the unpredictability of all high places. | | | | many, which I pretended not to understand), I |
| Chimborazo is very high, it randomly shruggs off | | | | noticed my tiny, cheap thermometer had |
| large rocks, and has weather that changes by the | | | | bottomed out at 5 degrees fahrenheit. I wasn't |
| minute. While hiking to the second refuge, we | | | | cold, but I was exhausted at times - the times |
| could hear the rocks and pieces of ice falling | | | | when I moved. When I sat still I felt like I could |
| somewhere above. | | | | run right up that hill. |
| El Refugio Edward Whymper is an unheated hut | | | | We struggled (okay, I struggled) up Mount |
| at 16,000 feet, named after the English climber | | | | Chimborazo, hiking, climbing, jumping crevasses, |
| who first summitted the mountain. Okay, it isn't | | | | until I quit at 20,000 feet. Of course I had quit at |
| entirely unheated. There's a fireplace, and if | | | | 19,000 feet, and at 18,000 feet. Quitting had |
| somebody feels like carrying wood up to 5000 | | | | become my routine. Lying had become Paco's, so |
| meters, the fire may raise the temperature in the | | | | he told me straight-faced that the summit was |
| hut by 3 degrees. | | | | only fifty feet higher. I wanted to believe him, or |
| We had hot mugs of "mate de coca" a tea of | | | | the lack of oxygen had scrambled my brain. I |
| coca leaves, which are also used to make another | | | | started up the ice again. |
| product - one that's taken up the nose. We went | | | | The Summit of Mount Chimborazo |
| hiking for twenty minutes - my acclimatization. | | | | We stumbled onto the summit at dawn. Well, |
| We ate, and I slept for an hour before starting | | | | okay, I stumbled. Paco, who seemed slow and |
| the ascent at eleven that night. | | | | tired down at the refuge, was energetic at |
| About Mount Chimborazo | | | | 20,600 feet. Dirtbag Joe, a nineteen-year-old kid |
| Chimborazo is in Ecuador, near the Equator (100 | | | | from California with ten bucks in his pocket, |
| miles south). The elevation in the center of the | | | | borrowed equipment, and my Ramen noodles in |
| country, and the moderating effect of the | | | | his stomach, was waiting for us, smiling. |
| Humboldt Current along the coast, gives the | | | | The sky was a stunning shade of blue you can |
| country near perfect weather. A bit hot in the | | | | never see at lower elevations. Cotapaxi, a classic |
| lowlands, but spring-like in Quito (the capital) , with | | | | snow-covered volcano, was clearly visible 70 miles |
| highs in the sixties to low seventies every day of | | | | away. We enjoyed the view for a few minutes. |
| the year. Great weather almost everywhere--until | | | | Handshakes all around, and it was time to head |
| you get high enough. | | | | down. I was told you don't want to be on |
| The summit of Chimborazo is the furthest point | | | | Chimborazo when she wakes up. She wakes up |
| from the center of the Earth. Our planet bulges at | | | | at nine a.m. |
| the equator, making Mount Chimborazo even | | | | Paco kept looking at his watch and frowning. He |
| futher out there than Everest. It has the | | | | got further and further ahead, like he planned to |
| distinction of being the closest point to the sun on | | | | abandon me on the mountain. When I finally |
| the planet. Unfortunately, it's also the coldest place | | | | caught up, at the hut at nine a.m., I heard the |
| in Ecuador. | | | | rocks falling out of the ice above as the sun |
| Climbing Chimborazo | | | | warmed it. Now I understood - we really did need |
| Paco, my guide, didn't care for the lightweight part | | | | to get down by nine. A thousand feet lower my |
| of my mountain climbing adventure. He frowned | | | | mountain climbing adventure ended with a |
| at my sleeping bag, which packed up smaller than | | | | photograph that mercifully can't show my shaking |
| a football, and weighed a pound. My 13-ounce | | | | knees. |
| frameless backpack didn't impress him either. It | | | | Note: |
| did get below freezing in the hut, just as he said it | | | | To climb Mount Chimborazo, it's cheapest to wait |
| would, but I stayed warm - as I said I would. No | | | | until you get to Ecuador to make arrangements. |
| problems so far. | | | | Talk to almost any hotel manager in Riobamba, |
| Unfortunately, Paco didn't speak any English, and I | | | | and he or she will find a guide for you. It's also |
| was just learning Spanish. Since our whole group | | | | cheaper if you're part of a group. |
| consisted of him and me, we had some | | | | |