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edouet - Jan 13, 2004 10:59 am
Route Climbed: El Castillo Date Climbed: 10 December 2003Party made of J.MESIAS ( Ecuador, Guide ) and E.Douet (France ) .
Started from Whymper Hut at 0.05 AM .
Full moon was lighting the way, so no need to use the headlights .
Some of the parties had to go back because of the coldness, but no wind .
Reached Veintemilla Summit at 6.00A.M., and then we winded through small crevasses for 45 minutes more to get to Whymper Summit .
Way down was far more more difficult for my legs, because of the exhaustion !
Tom Fralich - Dec 30, 2003 10:41 pm
Route Climbed: El Castillo Date Climbed: December 30, 2003Climbed as a simul-solo with Paul Hudson and our jeep driver Marco Leon, reaching the Veintemilla summit in just 5.5 hours. The route seemed to be in very good shape and all crevasse bridges were very stable, so climbing unroped was no problem. A bit icy in spots, but otherwise very straightforward. The section from the Veintemilla summit to the main (Whymper) summit was heavily crevassed and the main summit was guarded by a large crevasse which was difficult to pass. Definitely a long slog.
Rockhopper - Oct 22, 2003 5:00 am
Route Climbed: Normal route Date Climbed: october 16-17, 2003I guess it just wasn't my day. After succesfully climbing 3 peaks above 5800 meter in Peru and Ecuador (including my first 6000 meter peak), I ran into some bad luck.
After a few hours of sleep in the Whymper hut, I got up at 11.00 pm to prepare for my climb. Although not ill, I wasn't feeling great. Then my guide Raul came in to tell me that he was very ill and had to return to the lower hut (so I wasn't the only one catching a cold on Cotopaxi). And last but not least weather conditions had changed. The result: 9 out of 10 climbers (including myself) had breakfast in the Whymper hut. All attempts to reach the summit had failed. Only one Spanish climber was moving up solo after his teammates decided to turn back.
Bad luck, bad conditions.......it's still a beautiful mountain to climb. I will be back......
dloring - Jun 10, 2003 8:42 pm
Route Climbed: Normal Date Climbed: May 29, 2003Great conditions. The glacier has retreated to about 17,500 and there was an easy traverse to gain the ice shelf and the glacier. The ridge had a few good-sized crevasses with snow bridges, and the Whymper summit is heavily crevassed -- no one had traversed to it in a while, it appeared. Stellar route and good weather.
mtnman455 - Jan 30, 2003 11:34 pm
Route Climbed: Normal Date Climbed: January 2003We camped just above the hut; too cheep to pay to stay. took 7.5 hours to summit. Beautiful weather. Most stars I have seen in my life. Long slog, great climb.
Zhenya77 - Jan 23, 2003 8:10 pm
Route Climbed: Normal (El Castillo) Route Date Climbed: January 4, 2003After spending more than a week on the altitude 4600-4800m we had pretty good acclimatization. All symtoms of the altitude sickness had gone. Once we arrived to the base camp we decide to do the second high camp at El Castilo Tower which should give us pretty good chances to reach the summit from there. From the Whymper Hut it took us 5 hours to travel through the nasty icy glassier covered with small imbedded pices of rock. Finally we found a little place suited only for one tent. Only 3 people made it to the high camp. Next morning two of us started our summit. It took us about 3hours to reach the summit. Unfortunatly there were alot of clouds. Thus the pictures on the summit were not that great. We went unroped on that day. It allows us to move pretty fast. I was ahead of my climbing partner by 30 min, however we were constantly in the visible region. It was a great mountain to climb. Thus we decided to spend another night at the high camp (5400 m).
brian123 - Nov 23, 2002 7:19 am
Route Climbed: normal Date Climbed: November 21, 2002Left the upper hut at 12:30 am. via the normal route, steady climbing until about 6000 meters. We post holed and slipped for the next 2 1/2 hours. That was miserable. We summited at 8:15am.
We had no views, summit was covered by thick fog. Great climb. though!!!!
Henning Lege - Jun 13, 2002 6:35 am
Route Climbed: normal (not Whymper) Date Climbed: 2-January-1998By far my best climb ever!!!
Story already told in detail in Chimborazo summit log in peakware.
I would like to add, however, that 1997/1998 might have been a very special winter, with conditions much more favourable than average.
After an El Nino with untypical high amounts of snow I did not encounter any hard ice.
Antony Walker - May 29, 2002 9:40 pm
Route Climbed: Standard Route Date Climbed: January 2000After passing through the boulder strewn desert slopes, Chimborazos huge snow plastered face above the Whymper hut was a refreshing change. Despite vertigo sleeping on the top bunk of the huge four story sleeping quarters, left at an unearthly but necessary midnight for the climb. Many parties left but one by one they seemed to turn around and on the upper slopes we were mostly alone. The conditions were perfect but mightily cold and hacking up a small ice slope you could certainly feel the cold. Being on a rope you have to go at other peoples pace rather than your own which adds to your knackeredness.
Eventually we popped up on the first summit and unroped, walked in bright sunshine to the summit proper. It was fantastic and a tear or two came to my eye as we looked down on all of Ecuador. The descent was quick but by this time the snow had began to slushify and small crevasses could be seen opening up. Great relief to be back at the hut and consume that elixor of life - a really good cup of tea!
David P. - May 23, 2002 1:46 pm
Route Climbed: Direct/Var. of Normal Date Climbed: January 1998After having spent two weeks in Ecuador, visiting, hiking, and slogging up Iliniza Norte and Cotopaxi we headed for Chimborazo. Our first attempt, we left the Whymper Hut at 11 pm and made our way over the scree/moraines on the "Normal" route up and towards the left towards the steepish rock/ice step. The temperature was very warm and we were reminded by this fact when a boulder the size of a small car went...thump... THUMP..THUMP!...then whistled over our heads as we ran for cover. I had bad feelings before we began and was very happy to head back to the hut and make another attempt the following evening, after we could find a better, safer line. The next evening we went straight up the tongue of the Thielman ( I think) Glacier in between both areas of bigger rockfall (and seracs) and easily wound our way through the not too severe icefall and across to the "Normal" route. We arrived on the Ventimilla summit around 7 am and continued on in bright sun and clear skies to the higher summit. Descent was ugly (no visibility and poor snow) and I was very happy for the wands we placed on the way up. Made it back to the hut and found a taxi and before long were sipping cool beverages (forget the name of that better Ecuadorian beer) on the edge of the Amazon.
Zeke - Jan 24, 2002 7:39 am
Route Climbed: Standard Route from Whymper Hut Date Climbed: Jan. 2001Did not reach the summit, turned around due to avalanche danger at almost 20,000ft.... very enjoyable climb and intend on returning to complete summit. Loved Ecuador and highly recomend it.
dtrichet - Nov 29, 2001 4:37 am
Route Climbed: Normal route from Whymper Hut Date Climbed: December 1998December 1998,
3 french peoples :
Eric , Christophe and I (didier) reach the summit at 10 am. departure at 1am.
Not technical climb but long with a very cold weather and important elevation (1300m)
mdostby - Apr 21, 2001 4:02 pm
Route Climbed: Standard Route from Whymper Hut Date Climbed: January 2000Did not summit. Got AMS at aprox 20,000 foot.