This week was climbing time. Wednesday we (some 5 dudes and I) took a day off to climb Pichincha, some mountain with (usually) spectacular views of Quito. But hey – it was kind of clouded… ;)
But well, at times we even got to see Quito! :)
So, basically you take the "TeleferiQo" up to like 4.100m, where you get another chance to buy overpriced snacks and drinks, and then you start hiking...
Up and up and up the hill. Pretty exhausting, in my opinion, mainly because of the altitude. At least we stopped once in a while to take some pretty cool pictures.
And finally, after like three or four hours of pretty rough hiking (and climbing at times), we did it - we reached the summit! Some proud 4.696m, it is almost as high as Mont Blanc - and therefore almost as high as Europe's highest elevation! *ha*
But hey, that was just a training session. The week-end was dedicated to Cotopaxi. Some stunning 5.897m high, this hill is higher than anything you’ll find in Europe or in Africa! And, because it is so close to the equator line, it is the 3rd furthest point from the center of the Earth! Amazing. (Yap, the summit is further away than that one of Mount Everest... *g*)
Some people called it foolish to try to hike up there with no proper training. My boss told me, usually some 2 months preparation time are required to reach the top successfully.
Well. Steve Jobs always said one should stay hungry. And foolish. I’m almost always hungry here, as the food is just too delicious. So I thought I might be foolish as well. ;) (Talking of being hungry: Here's me with my roommate Estefania and a new haircut eating kui. That's ... errmm... guinea pig. And it's... well... medium delicious. But the salsa they had on those potatoes is fantastic! It's called Maní. Excellent stuff.)
Saturday morning we got all our gear, including jackets, trousers, boots, ice axes, crampons, harnesses… anything it takes to climb a glacier. And off we went. So far, we were still laughing... ^^
Little annotation at this point: The rest of the following story is highly dedicated to my beloved uncle Karl and my almost-auntie Briggie. Firstly, because their christmas present contributed a grand percentage to the money needed to afford this trip. Secondly, because they took me up to the "High Light" (*haha* Yep, that's a mountain in the Alpes), a trip I had to think of a lot while fighting that thin air up on Cotopaxi. And, last but not least, because I'm convinced he would have immediately joined if he had had the time to do so. (Like he, once upon a time, had the time to amuse my cousin Sabine with a round of rocking horse... *g*)
Cotopaxi National Park is like 3 hours by car. We reached the car park at an elevation of around 4.600m. This is where we had to put our gear on.
Then we started walking – for some 40 minutes or so, to reach the hut. First test to the lungs, as we were walking with all our gear including those big backpacks containing sleeping bags, warm clothes for the night, extra food and some kilograms of chocolate... ;)
4.800m high – as high as Europe can get. Refugio José Rivas. This is where we slept. But only after we had had an hour or so of glacial training: How to move, how to slip, how to secure oneself, how to jump crevasses… those kind of things.
At times, it was hard to concentrate on the guides' instructions, as the views were just too magnificent!
Then some light lunch and off to bed. I felt like a Navy Seal the night before he heads off into a foreign country on a secret mission. I sat there in my bunk bed, not sure what was awaiting me. Nervous. And – reading! Reading letters! My Christmas letters had arrived! Mum, Dad, Birdy & Stacey – thank you sooo much for your lovely greetings! :) They made me forget my nervousness… :) Almost... ;)
I heard, I was the only one who could properly sleep for some hours. All the others had to fight headaches and stomach problems. One lady had already left us right after the glacier training and spent the night some meters further down. Life is tough.
We had to get up at midnight. A very sophisticated toilet plan made us all go to the toilet one last time, to lose as much weight as possible before putting the harness on – which significantly complicated peeing from now on.
Time to leave. Some 40 people had left the hut already, our little group of 7 was last to leave. Well-equipped with headlamps, water, loads of chocolate and the obligatory camera we started our adventure. 5.200m was the first aim – that’s where the glacier starts.
Snow. White snow. Lots of white snow. And above us – a breathtaking, starlit sky. (Okay, I confess – it was probably more the altitude that took our breath away, but hey… *g*)
5.200m. Get the glacier started. Time to put on the crampons and to rope up. Short break. Have a sip of water. Split into teams of two. Plus guide. And go.
We had already overtaken many other climbers, but what followed now, was kind of insane. We stayed together as a group for another 200m, before we arrived at an obviously dangerous part of the climb. Our guide, in my opinion the craziest of all of them, took some more rope, told us to hurry up, and left. Just like that. And as we were tied to him, we had to follow.
And he really hurried up! In an environment, where every single step is hard work, this guy decided to run! Well, almost. But hey – my mate, a professional triathlete, and I had some problems to follow, especially as the pathway was really narrow – one false step and some some-hundred-meters-deep cravasses would be expecting us. But hey – we were tied to him. So we followed.
Only 15 minutes later both of us were close to collapse. We got a break. A long break. Some further 15 minutes or so. And it was only when we left our resting ground, as we saw the next headlights coming around the corner below us! Damn.
But that was it. We were the leaders. And our guide was convinced we’d stay ahead of everyone else. So we did. No matter, how narrow the path, no matter, how steep the climb, no matter, how deep the cravasses – this dude made the pace. He told us about a race which is held every February: Participants from all over the world try to run up Cotopaxi as fast as possible – and he did it in 1:23 hours! Another 35 minutes to get back down again – 1:58 hours is all it takes some insane people to conquer the top of Cotopaxi!
But that are professionals. Amateurs like us usually take about 6-7 hours, we were told in the beginning. The aim was to reach the top before 8am, to have enough time to get down again before the sun started melting the snow too heavily.
You won’t believe it. I didn’t believe it. We reached the top. In 4.5 hours…
The last 300m were the hardest, the steepest, the most exhausting. I literally had to pull my team mate up at times, while he ran out of water and started to consume mine. But hey – that’s what teammates are for, ey? :) (And, of course, to take cool pictures once you're up there... *g*)
The sun wasn’t up as we reached the summit – but still, the moment was overwhelming. Standing basically on top of the world, with nothing, absolutely nothing around you than a calm silence, a magnificent view towards other glacier summits and the confidence that you just achieved something you have never done in your life before – and maybe never will again. You're head pounding of exhaustion. Trying to process it all. Yet not able to... Amazing.
Unfortunately, the guide advised us not to wait for the sun to rise, as obviously the height could harm our health should we stay up there for too long. So we started descending. And it was hell: The sun came out, only 30 minutes after we had left the summit, and we wished everyone on their way up a magnificent view. We enjoyed the sun on our faces and glittering on the snow. Man, if I had had my snowboard with me… that would have become the ride of a lifetime!
But it didn’t. It became painful. Very painful. No water left in the backpack, as we had drunk it all on the way up. No energy left in the muscles, we had used all of it to reach the summit. And no motivation left in my head – why should I want to go down again? Everyone goes down again sooner or later. Reaching the summit was something extraordinary! That’s what I had come here for! Not to walk down!
Gravity helped. My teammate, more exhausted than me, slipped three times, and our guide and I had to put the last remaining energy into stopping him from vanishing into one of those crevasses. I kind of died several deaths on the way down… but somehow we made it to the refuge.
What a morning! It was around 8am, usually not even time to wake up on a Sunday, and I had already conquered the Cotopaxi! What a feeling!
The rest of the day was unspectacular. We had a sandwich and headed back to Quito. I slept all the way. We got off in Quito, I went home, and slept all afternoon. In the evening, a friend and I met up for some fast-food dinner, before I went back home to bed.
But hey – at least, the next morning I was awake again and fit enough to go to work… but that was soooo negligible! Man, I've been above Europe - and Africa! (According to my information, Kilimanjaro is 7m smaller than the Cotopaxi... *g*) It is so hard to describe this feeling in words. Anyone who has been up that high, knows what I'm talking about. Everyone, who hasn't, should definitely try it. Even if they call you foolish...
