Climbing Pichincha

This past weekend was a three day holiday here in Ecuador and a few volunteers decided to get together in Quito and attempt to climb the volcano Pichincha. I was excited to get away from work for a few days and reunite with a few of my friends.

We all met up in Quito Friday morning and checked in at The Secret Garden. I have now stayed at this hostel twice and would highly recommend it to travelers that want to save money but not sacrifice (modest) comfort and (some) security. This hostel has a great view of the Centro Historico of Quito. They have a restaurant/bar/relaxation spot on the fifth floor balcony that has magnificent views of the Quito and Pichincha.

View from The Secret Garden

On Friday we bummed around Quito and Mariscal district in anticipation of the next day’s climb. Pichincha is easily seen from most spots in Quito. It sits on the western border of the city with two towering peaks looking down over the city. The peak that we would climb, Rucu Pichincha, sits at 15,413 feet above sea level.  I should have realized that this was not going to be a cake walk.

Friday evening and night was spent at the restaurant and lounge area on the roof with many other international travelers. My friends and I had many long conversations/debates with a few of the European travelers. A Dutch man and I got into a discussion and the need to say the pledge of allegiance. He thought it was ridiculous and he was shocked when I said that in Texas schools we actually say the state pledge daily. He went on to say that he thought that sounded a lot like North Korea to him. He knew that statement was outrageous but he was simply trying to antagonize the Texan. After that speed bump was behind us we actually did have a good discussion about healthcare and the motivation to earn it rather than receive it. Points were made by a Frenchman, the Dutch guy, an English dude, and of course, me. It was all very good brain food.

The next morning we woke and enjoyed some two day old coffee on the fifth floor of our hostel. The flavor may not have been too good but at least it was warm and free. We gathered our things for the climb and set off toward the mountain. We hailed a taxi to take us to the base. From there we hopped on the teleférico, a four person gondola that takes site seers up part of the mountain. From the top of the teleférico we took a few pictures and looked around a bit. Once I saw how far we had to go my stomach dropped a bit. The gondola had taken us up only a small way on our journey to the top. We set off.

Gondola

Over the next two hours we hiked up and up and up. After every ridge we hoped to see the actual peak but we would just see another high ridge ahead of us. As we would later find out, the summit that we saw from the top of the teleférico was actually a “false summit” that really hid the much higher summit behind it. We stopped periodically to catch our breath and drink water and wonder how much further it was. We were afforded great views of Quito from this point on the mountain. As he looked over the city of Quito and the beautiful Andean landscape a friend of mine mentioned that climbing mountains makes one feel truly insignificant. It was an interesting thought and I shared that I felt almost the exact opposite. I feel more significant out in nature and being away from “everything” else. I also shared that the time I felt most insignificant was on top of the Empire State Building in NYC and seeing so many buildings and people and people in buildings. The mountains give me a place to feel both isolated from the world and yet totally in tune with it.



View of Quito before we entered the clouds

As we began the third hour of climbing the clouds rolled in. Or maybe more accurately we climbed into the clouds. Visibility was very low which may not have been a bad thing considering the how steep the mountain was if you looked down. If you can’t see it, you can’t be scared of it right? Pretty soon we left the discernible trail behind. The trail was gone and the only place to go was up. It started out in a rock scree that seemed to last forever but later would provide us the fun opportunity of “skiing” down it. We had to stop seemingly every minute or two to breathe. I was not expecting this climb to be so difficult considering that I had climbed another mountain here that was only a bit smaller. I believe the difference was the distance we had to hike to get to the start of the real climb.

View from the saddle

We made it up the rock scree and to a small saddle between the summit and another smaller peak. We rested there and talked about our options. After a bit of discussion we all knew we were going up even higher into the windy cloudy sky. The last 200 meters or so of Pichincha are a bear crawl up a pretty steep rocky incline. We scrambled up and finally made it to the top. Though there was no view to be seen due to the clouds but it was a great feeling to realize we could go no higher. We sat on the summit and ate empanadas and took a few pictures. I was freezing because I decided to wear shorts rather than jeans (lesson learned). We took in the limited oxygen for a few more minutes than decided it was time to point our noses downhill.

The descent took us about an hour and half, half the time it took us to get up there. As the adrenaline began to wear off from us summiting I began to realize how tired I was. The same thing dawned on my friends at seemingly the same time. Anytime there was a part of the trail that we could jog safely we did so to make the descent quicker. We finally made it down and hopped on the teleférico. It never felt so good to sit down.

A little "Karate Kid" on the summit

That evening we arrived at the hostel smelling to high heaven and could barely drag ourselves to the fourth floor where we were bunking. We got into the room that we were sharing with a few other travelers and laid down with a chorus of groans. As we talked about the days adventures I happened to glance over at our lockers in the room. A fellow volunteer had put all of his valuables in my locker because I had a lock. That locker had a significant amount of “goodies” in it. A smart phone, two hard drives, mp3 player, a wallet, and another volunteer’s cash. When I looked at the locker my heart stopped. Someone had broken the bottom part of the locker enough to get a hand into it. I pointed this out to my friends and began frantically searching for my key. When I finally found the key I fumbled with it to unlock the lock. Miraculously all of our things were still there. I was so relieved after this realization as well as exhausted from the climb that I laid down on the floor next to the lockers for a good twenty minutes as we all spoke about how crappy some people are.

We spent the evening in the Mariscal district that is very popular with Gringos. It felt good to relax and enjoy some good food and drink. I ate at a Mexican food restaurant that was amazing. It was so amazing that I am still sick from it! A friend of mine ate one bean off of my plate and he also became sick. If one bean made him sick, just imagine what a whole plate did to me. My host father has dubbed me “king” because of my frequent visits to the “throne”…

Probably the most accurate visual description of my emotions up high

This climb up Pichincha was much more difficult than I had anticipated. I have been running a good amount here in Latacunga to keep my cardio up and I plan on training much harder for our next climb. I hope that within the next year I will be able to climb Cotopaxi, the world’s highest active volcano which sits at 19,347 feet. Pichincha was a good tester to see how I might fare at higher elevation. I think I can… I think I can… I think I can.

Great trip with great friends