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.
I went with Moggley in 2005 and had a great time. Like many in the mountaineering community, the Swedish? owner is slightly eccentric but he ran a good business and offered a lot of flexibility.
I had very similar plans to yourself. I acclimatised on a 4,000m hill, scrambled up Illniza Norte for further acclimatisation before attempting Cotopaxi. This is a fairly standard way to acclimatise and should leave you in good shape for Cotopaxi. You will see a lot of people from Banos etc with no acclimatisation basically dying at the Cotopaxi Hut.
Once I climbed Cotopaxi, I attempted Chimborazo. I was quite intimidated by this mountain and the night prior to ascent, I shared the hut with a trio of german uber-athletes. The funny thing was due to my acclimatisation, I passed them and summit-ed and they had to turn around. So am saying, if you feel good on Cotopaxi, definitely speak to your guide about a shot on Chimborazo, If not, try Cayambe.
I didnt use Diamox on this trip but have on others. Every person is different but after 8 days at altitude and following the recommended acclimatisation schedule you should be in reasonably good shape to climb Cotopaxi. (Listen to your body though, dont rely on other peoples experiences too much)
I think if you are having problems sleeping at night or feel uncomfortable you may want to take half a pill to help you sleep. If you want further information on AMS, I can point you in the direction of some reputable online resources as there are a lot of myths perpetuated on the web.
I think Ecuador is an excellent place to start out as novices. The mountains are relatively close to Quito and infrastructure is fairly good. December might be an 'iffy' time weather wise, you may want to ask Moggley etc about that although from memory July and January are the more stable periods so you might be ok. The rest of the Andes is basically out I think (specifically Peru and Bolivia) so Apart from southern Argentina /Chile I think your best bet is Ecuador. (Not sure about the Mexican 5km mountains)