Pichincha Hike

So as you know we're training to climb Cotopaxi in a couple of weeks. We've been running sprints for two weeks now and yesterday was the first training climb. We climbed Pichincha. Pichincha is the volcano straight to the west of Quito. We see it every day. I love this volcano. It's the one I've been taking photos of (although I'm seriously behind on this project).

Sebas is organizing the whole thing. We just show up where and when he tells us, ready to climb. Yesterday we were to be in Plaza d'Argentina at 8:15am. Our hiking group was Sebas, us, and Edgar and his son Daniel. Edgar is the pro. He's climbed all but two volcanoes and mountains in Ecuador. ALL BUT TWO! Holy Mackerel! He's summited Cotopaxi 10 times and he's summited Chimborazo, the biggest mountain in the world, twice. His son Daniel is 12 and a trooper.

Pichincha at 8:00 in the morning while we were walking to the Plaza to meet Sebas.

We drove to the Telefirico, took it up part of the mountain and then hiked from there.

Ryan and me at the TeleferiQo lookout

Quito from the TeleferiQo lookout

The hike took us about 3 hours up and 1.5 hours down, I think. For the most part it's just a nice hike. Mostly uphill, but nothing too steep, nothing too strenuous. The last hour is the most difficult. There's about 30 minutes of hiking uphill in volcanic ash, which is a pain in the butt because for every step you take uphill you slide a little back downhill. It's just really slippery and you have to be sure of your footing and you have to just move fast. Then the last 30 minutes was an actual climb. Not a technical climb, there were no ropes and harnesses. But you're climbing over rock faces and you have to be careful of where you put your hands and feet or else you would seriously die. I found that part a little bit scary but mostly exhilarating. It's pretty stinking amazing to think of what your body is capable of doing.

Pichincha from the trail

The volcanic ash part

The ridge that we had to climb over

Sebas climbing

We summited and ate lunch. The summit is 4696 meters. Which means we only climbed around 500  meters from the TeleferiQo. And we were about 1800 meters from Quito.

The group at the summit!

The way down is always a million times worse for me. I much prefer going up than going down. I prefer my hamstrings to burn than my quads. Plus I feel much more in control going up. Going down you have to work with gravity and just go for it. Way scarier, I think!

The craziest part about the hike was the change in weather. When we started it was nice, sunny and warm. By the time we got to the top the fog was so thick you couldn't see anything. On the way down we had rain and hail. And then when we got back home to the apartment it was sunny.

One of the hailstones during the hail storm. 

We're feeling good! The plan is Illinizas next Saturday at 6am. Then maybe Cayambe and then maybe Cotopaxi. We're not quite sure. If we add one more mountain, which sounds like we will, then we'll probably have to rearrange the jungle trip. We're thinking we might be done teaching on Monday instead of Wednesday and then go during the week. Who knows? We'll figure it out as we go!

If there's one thing I love, it's being on top of a mountain! And I'm so happy that Ryan loves it too! (This was his first time!)

MULUB,
Taylor