by ndavy » Sat Aug 29, 2009 6:15 pm
by radson » Sat Aug 29, 2009 6:51 pm
ndavy wrote:My wife and I are considering heading to Ecuador, or maybe somewhere else if there is a better place South America, to do some climbing in December. Both of us have done some hiking in the mountains (Rockies, Alps, Cascades and Appalachians) but neither of us have done any real mountaineering. We'd like to do a few days of basic instruction/acclimatization before trying to climb Cotopaxi and possibly Chimborazo. Do any of you know anything about the Moggely guide service? Would 8 days of acclimatization from sea level be enough to climb over 19,000 ft? 11 days from sea level to climb over 20,000ft? Would taking Diamox help/make it feasible? Do you think we would be able to pick up enough skills climbing Cotopaxi and doing a few days of instruction and other acclimitization climbs to make it up Chimborazo or is it too ambitious for relative novices? Any other recommended guide services in Ecuador? Should we look somewhere else in the Andes to start out? We'd like to keep things fairly cheap as our resources aren't unlimited and we only have around two weeks of time. Thanks for all of your help.
by eferesen » Sat Aug 29, 2009 10:33 pm
by Woodie Hopper » Sun Aug 30, 2009 3:51 am
eferesen wrote:Moggely has an excellent service. I had a guide called Patrico and he was excellent and spoke excellent english.
I did Rucu Pichincha the first day I was there. Granted that I live at 2100 meters. Are you planning on doing Illiniza Norte? 8 days of acclimatization is enough for Cotopaxi assuming you are staying in Quito (2800 meters or so) and have done several acclimatization climbs (Rucu). You can take a taxi to Teleferico and ride up to about 4000 meters and hike up Rucu. (http://www.in-quito.com/teleferico-quit ... ferico.htm)
I attempted Cotopaxi on the 5th day I was there after doing 2 (Illiniza and Rucu) other peaks and was not able to summit Cotopaxi. Exhausted!!! I was warned by summitpost members that the schedule was aggressive but I had already bought my ticket by then.
On a different note (personal preference) the Cordillera Blanca (Peru) was way more fun. It is an actual mountain range is second to none, however the climbing season is from May to September.
by CBakwin » Sun Aug 30, 2009 1:46 pm
by ndavy » Tue Sep 01, 2009 1:13 pm
by Haliku » Tue Sep 01, 2009 2:34 pm
ndavy wrote: Acclimatization of course seems to be the key factor...
ndavy wrote: We have about 4 months before we'll attempt the climb. We are both busy so we are probably going to be limited to about 4 hour long workouts a week, with a few longer hikes thrown in about two months out.
ndavy wrote:The final month (actually from about 5 weeks out to 1 week out) we'll be able to get in some longer hikes, hopefully in the Appalachain mountains and not just on rolling hills. Do you have any advice as to benchmarks in our training, how heavy a pack to prep with for these mountains, balancing cardio and strength training? Also how long and exhausting of a summit day should we expect assuming we are acclimatized as proposed and in say good enough shape to do a 10 - 12 mile day hike in the Appalachain mountains with 20lb (for her) and 45lb packs?
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