Our Ecuador expedition continues to enjoy great weather as they work their way up to their first big climb. Yesterday was spent training on the lower flanks of Cotopaxi covering fundamental skills that they’ll be using for the rest of the expedition. After a successful training day they returned to the beautiful Hacienda Los Mortinos.

Today the team packs up and drives to the start of the approach for the Illiniza group. Both Illiniza Norte and Illiniza Sur offer challenging but manageable routes for the team to select from. Today’s goal is to hike about 3 hours to the refugio between the two peaks before going to bed early in anticipation of an early morning summit bid.

Best of luck to our Ecuador team on their first big climb of the trip!

Cheers,

CTSS Team

Final prep before heading up to the snow on Cotopaxi – Photo Edgar Parra
Practicing self arrest – Photo Edgar Parra
CTSS Lead guide Robert Jantzen teaching crampon skills – Photo Edgar Parra
Team dialing efficient climbing footwork – Photo Edgar Parra