– 5,897m (19,347ft)
– Lat,Lon: 0°66’S, 78°43’W
– Summit Date: December 3, 2004
I awoke at 10 minutes past midnight. The temperature was +5°C in the refugio. Everyone was asleep, although it was 10 minutes past the scheduled wake-up time. After another ten minutes, and wondering if the summit attempt was cancelled, I decided to wake up Erich and find out what was happening. Suddenly it was action stations. However, it still took an hour to get ready, have breakfast etc.
We departed at 1:30am. The first hour and 240mts was quite straight-forward. No ice or snow, just a trail up to the glacier. Our guide – Robert – started off nice and slow, but picked up the pace as we neared the glacier. I assumed it was the old guide trick to see how well we were really coping. Anyway, time to put the crampons on and rope up. Robert had us on a very short rope, maybe 4-5mts between each other. The initial slope was easy, only having to weave around various objects, as we headed to the glacier proper. Once we were on the glacier, the poor snow condition was becoming more apparent. The snow had the consistency of grain sugar. It was not possible to get a solid footing on the stuff. So, the more the slope increased, the more we started to slip and slide. The snow storm of the previous day obviously had not frozen overnight. I was getting tired and the climb had just begun. We were also taking a very direct line (up the mountain) to minimize the avalanche danger, so the calf muscles were burning. No chance to use my favourite side step in these conditions.
At 3:15am Jens got cold feet (literally) and abandoned the climb. He was wearing leather boots and not the recommended double plastic boots like the rest of us. Uwe joined Richard , Robert and me on our rope. Uwe was strong, so no issues there.
At around 5,450mts we had our first break. It had taken 90mins, but we had covered 350mts up the glacier. It was now 4:00am in the morning. We stopped for 10 minutes for food and water. Then we pushed on, and an hour later we stopped again for food and water. We probably gained only 150mts. Robert said we were making good time – but I think we were going a little slower than desired. After this last break, the terrain got a little more technical. Normally it would be quite easy, but the current snow condition made it a little sketchy. Passed by some large crevasses and over the occasional snow bridge. Until we got to one large crevasse which was spanned by a ladder. Robert went over first on a longer rope and set a dubious snow picket anchor. In this snow, I do not think he could do any better than he did. This was the first time for Richard, Uwe and me that we crossed a crevasse on a ladder. Not a good place to fall off! It was now around 5:15am and the sky was quite bright. We were on the western slope, so no need for sunglasses or sun cream yet.
The last 45-60mins and 150mts were also very tough. Again straight up in poor snow condition. But the top was in sight and it was clear that we were going to make it. The only question was “how long and how difficult would it be?”. Topped out around 6:15am, some 4hrs 45mins since starting and 1,100mts higher. It was clear both Richard and I were exhausted. Richard unfortunately suggested we take a rest about 2mins from the top (thinking we were heading for the hill further to the East). Took summit photos and had food and water.
Going down was much easier. I was first on the rope team. We made good time until Uwe started to get tired. The sun had also appeared, and we all started to get hot (what with all our layers on). I had my very first uncontrolled slide on a mountain. Lost my footing on an icy section and slipped maybe 1m before I self arrested. I was also stopped by Richard on the rope. At the time it was a little scary, but in hindsight, there was no significant danger. The others did not even go into self arrest position. We continued after 15 seconds and I had recovered my breath. We made it down in 2hrs 15mins. But boy, we were all tired by the time we reached the refugio. After some breakfast, we departed the refugio at 10:00am for the drive back to Quito.
