Our Ecuador team saw great success yesterday climbing Illiniza Sur and Illiniza Norte!

After hiking to the Illiniza Hut on Thursday afternoon each climber selected their preferred objective, Illiniza Sur or Illiniza Norte, packed their bags and went to bed as early as the busy mountain hut allowed. Each of the objectives hold very different yet wonderfully challenging routes.

Our Illiniza Sur team woke at midnight and departed the hut at 1:00AM. From the hut to the base of the climb is about 45 minutes of hiking over rocky trail until a short rock scramble is performed leading onto the glacier. Current conditions have led to around 200 meters of exposed glacier ice ranging from 35 to 70 degrees where often would be found steep snow and about 50-60 meters of 60-70 degree ice. Despite the more icy conditions the Illiniza Sur climbers dug deep and summited just after sunrise.

Our Illiniza Norte climbers woke up slightly later, around 4:00AM, and departed the hut around 5:00AM. The Norte route is typically a 4th class rock scramble all the way up the ridge so the recent dry conditions haven’t affected its character as drastically as on Illiniza Sur. After working their way through 1,200 feet of challenging ridge scrambles they reached the summit and were treated to a fantastic panorama of the Ecuadorian Andes.

Once all climbers had returned to the hut the team packed up and descended back to the bus for a short drive to the famous Hacienda La Cienega. Built at the end of the 1600s, Hacienda La Cienega is a beautiful step back in time and ideal location for some well earned rest and relaxation.

Today the team will continue resting at La Cienega for another night before moving up to the Cayambe Hut tomorrow afternoon in preparation for their Sunday night/Monday morning summit climb of Cayambe.

Congratulations to our team! Best of luck as they prepare for Cayambe and beyond.

Cheers,

CTSS Team