| The climb up the glaciers to the summit of Mount | | | | fee. He thought that I was a mountain climber. |
| Chimborazo in Ecuador isn't considered highly | | | | I think he was saying that he didn't like the |
| technical. Technically, it is mountaineering, but how | | | | papery rainsuit I was using as a shell, and he |
| hard could it be, considering that I went to 20,600 | | | | frowned at my homemade 1--ounce ski mask. |
| feet the first time I used crampons and an ice | | | | When he saw me putting on my insulating vest, a |
| axe? Okay, I had used them once for practice, | | | | feathery piece of poly batting with a hole cut in it |
| on a sledding hill near my house. I climbed almost | | | | for my head...well, I just pretended not to |
| forty feet while people walked by with their sleds, | | | | understand what he was saying. |
| warning their kids to stay away from me. | | | | I hadn't intended to go climb up Mount |
| Driving Up Mount Chimborazo | | | | Chimborazo with such lightweight gear, but I had |
| It is easier to climb a mountain when the guide | | | | come to Ecuador on a courier flight, and could |
| drives you to 15,000 feet. Don't get me wrong. | | | | bring only carry-on luggage. Since I had only 12 |
| Climbing that last 5,600 feet was one of the most | | | | pounds in the pack to begin with, by the time I |
| difficult things I've done, but not for the skill | | | | put on all my clothes that night, the weight on my |
| required. The fact that the air was missing half of | | | | back was irrelevant. The weight of my body, |
| its oxygen is what had me quitting twenty or | | | | however, wasn't irrelevant. Paco had to coax me |
| thirty times on the way up Chimborazo. It just | | | | up that mountain. |
| gets difficult to move up there. | | | | Hiking On Glaciers |
| The Graveyard | | | | The glaciers start a short walk from the hut, and |
| The little monuments near the first refuge | | | | hiking soon became mountaineering. I put on |
| weren't for climbers without skill. The graveyard is | | | | crampons for the second time in my life (there |
| a testament to the unpredictability of all high | | | | was that sledding hill). During one of my many |
| places. Chimborazo is very high, it randomly drops | | | | breaks ("Demasiado" - too many, which I |
| large rocks on you, and has weather that | | | | pretended not to understand when Paco explained |
| changes by the minute. Even as we were hiking | | | | in Spanish), I noticed that the tiny, cheap |
| to the second refuge, we could hear the rocks | | | | thermometer I carried had bottomed out at 5 |
| and pieces of ice falling somewhere above. | | | | degrees fahrenheit. I wasn't cold, but I was |
| El Refugio Edward Whymper is a simple, unheated | | | | exhausted at times--the times when I moved. |
| hut at 16,000 feet, named after the English | | | | When I sat still I felt like I could run right up that |
| climber who first made it to the summit of the | | | | mountain. |
| mountain. Okay, it isn't entirely unheated. There is | | | | We struggled (okay, I struggled) up Mount |
| a fireplace, and when somebody feels like carrying | | | | Chimborazo, hiking, climbing, jumping over |
| wood up to 5000 meters, the fire might raise the | | | | crevasses, until I finally quit at 20,000 feet. Of |
| temperature in the hut by 3 degrees. | | | | course I had quit at 19,000 feet, and at 18,000 |
| We had "mate de coca" a tea made of coca | | | | feet. Quitting had become my routine. Lying had |
| leaves, which are also known for another product | | | | become Paco's, so he told me straight--faced that |
| made from them--one that is taken up the nose. | | | | the summit was just fifty feet higher. Maybe I |
| Then we went hiking for a short while. That was | | | | wanted to believe him, or maybe the lack of |
| my acclimatization. We ate, and I slept for at | | | | oxygen had scrambled my brain. In any case, I |
| least an hour before starting the ascent at eleven | | | | started up the ice again. |
| that night. | | | | On Top Of Mount Chimborazo |
| A Little About Mount Chimborazo | | | | We stumbled onto the summit at dawn. Well, |
| Chimborazo is in Ecuador, not far from the | | | | okay, I stumbled. Paco, who seemed somewhat |
| Equator (100 miles south). The elevation in the | | | | frail down at the refuge, was in his element at |
| center of the country, and the moderating effect | | | | 20,600 feet. Dirtbag Joe, the nineteen-year-old kid |
| of the Humboldt Current, which runs along the | | | | from California with ten dollars in his pocket, |
| west side of South America, gives the country | | | | borrowed equipment, and my Ramen noodles in |
| near perfect weather. A bit hot along the coast | | | | his stomach, was waiting for us with a smile. |
| and lowlands, but spring--like in Quito (the capital) , | | | | The sky was a stunning shade of blue that you |
| with daily highs in the sixties to low seventies | | | | actually can never see at lower elevations. |
| year--round. Wonderful weather almost | | | | Cotapaxi, a classic snow-covered volcano to the |
| everywhere--until you get high enough. | | | | north, was clearly visible 70 or 80 miles away. |
| Chimborazo, at it's peak, is the furthest point | | | | Handshakes all around, and it was time to get off |
| from the center of the Earth. Our planet bulges at | | | | the mountain. I was told you don't want to be on |
| the equator, making Mount Chimborazo even | | | | Mount Chimborazo when she wakes up. She |
| futher out there than Everest. It has the | | | | wakes up at nine a.m. |
| distinction of being the closest point to the sun on | | | | Paco kept looking at his watch and frowning. He |
| the planet, and yet still the coldest place in | | | | told me to hurry, then he got further and further |
| Ecuador. | | | | ahead. I thought he was going to abandon me on |
| Climbing Chimborazo | | | | the mountain. When I finally caught up to him at |
| Paco, my guide, didn't like the lightweight part of | | | | the hut at nine a.m., I began to hear the rocks fall |
| this mountain climbing adventure. He frowned | | | | out of the ice above as the sun warmed it. Now I |
| when he saw my sleeping bag, which packed up | | | | understood his concern with time. We really did |
| smaller than a football, and weighed a pound. My | | | | need to get down to the refuge by nine. A |
| frameless backpack didn't seem to impress him | | | | thousand feet lower and my mountain climbing |
| either (13 ounces). In any case, although it did get | | | | adventure ended with a photograph that |
| below freezing in the hut, just as he said it would, | | | | mercifully doesn't show my shaking knees. |
| I stayed warm--as I said I would. No problems so | | | | NOTES: |
| far. | | | | If you want to climb Mount Chimborazo, it is |
| Unfortunately, Paco didn't speak a word of English, | | | | cheapest to wait until you get to Ecuador to |
| and I was just learning Spanish. Since our whole | | | | make arrangements. Talk to almost any hotel |
| group consisted of him and me, we did have | | | | owner or manager in Riobamba, and he or she will |
| some communication problems. I thought, for | | | | find a guide for you. It will be cheaper if you are |
| example, that the $11 fee for the "night" (a few | | | | part of a group, of course. |
| hours) in the hut was included in the $130 guide | | | | |