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Chimborazo conditions

PostPosted: Mon Feb 04, 2013 11:23 pm
by athom110
Has anybody recently climbed Chimborazo that can comment on its condition? I hear that there is little snow on it right now making The Castillo route dangerous for rockfall and was hoping to climb it Wednesday night with my guide Diego Cumbaijin... We just climbed Cotopaxi today and am staying in Machachi area.

Thanks!
Alex

Re: Chimborazo conditions

PostPosted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 6:22 am
by athom110
Turns out one person died on Chimborazo the night before we were going to go up... Cause is unknown but my wife didnt want to go up so soon after a fatality so we went to visit the Amazon instead.

Re: Chimborazo conditions

PostPosted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 2:03 pm
by nmook
I'm supposed to climb tonight but I think it snowed a good 3 feet on the summit and 1-2 on the way up last night, which likely means high avalanche risk. And it makes the ridge quite dangerous because you can't see anything under your feet. Haven't spoken to our guide, but we may go climb to the hut anyway and see what it's like. I'm curious to see Chimborazo under all that snow, even if we don't climb beyond the Castillo.

Hard to find a lot of info on Chimborazo these days, probably because so few climb it. And the conditions change so rapidly. The huts are supposedly closed according to SP, but they appear to still be working.

The German guy that died had a heart attack. I believe he was 52.

Re: Chimborazo conditions

PostPosted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 3:44 pm
by athom110
Re: the huts,

A friend here who has connections with the Ministry of tourism said that the workers on the Chimborazo hut dropped their tools after only 3 weeks because the engineer who had bid on the contract to refurbish had waaaay under estimated the cost and simply walked away when he finally realized the true cost. This of course isn't reported in the media here... But like you said, the huts aren't uninhabitable, thankfully.

Re: Chimborazo conditions

PostPosted: Sat Feb 09, 2013 7:35 pm
by robwray
Nmook and I are 90 minutes from the parking lot. We'll post an update later.