Cotopaxi info

I was pretty tired last night and the muse wasn´t upon me to give a more detailed account. I have some time here in baños now while I await Kelly´s departure from eco-truly park. The plan now is to get in one of those thermal pools tomorrow and arrange a bike trip through the jungle or a climb up chimborazo the highest volcano (although inactive) in the world it tops cotopaxi by about 150 meters. My guide from cotopaxi took some photos on the climb and expect those by sunday!
We all met on thursday the fifteenth at Sur Trek, an agency in Quito. I met; Boris, my Guide, Guierrmo, a panamanian climber, and Raphael. Raphael is a stout 55 year old guide who has represented ecuador on the summit of Everest twice! He also greets every woman he meets exclaiming, ¨Mi Amor¨! We outfitted and from Quito drove to the Parque Nacional Cotopaxi. The terrain is stark and the vegetation brittle. Grasses and sage dominate the land scape. Deep cravasses wind their way up these volcanos while volcanic gravel and rock cover the edges of glaciers covering cotopaxi itself. Cotopaxi is the very center of the park and it is as they say a perfect cone rising 5897 meters above plains and volcanic lagoons. There are many other great mountains, which I can´t remember their names, in view from the parking area to hike to the refugio Jose Ribas. At this point Rafael, Guillermo, and I are making up commercials for sorojchi´s, an altitude sickness preventative. Boris played it cool but occaisionally asks about the US. He live in Colorado for several years I later foundout. The hike up to the refuge is a short one but we encountered intense sun, snow, and grip your elbows and lower your head gusts of wind on the way up. Once we arrived to the refugio the mountain could be seen clearly, this was a highlight even for the guides as clouds tend to cover the summit most of the time. We spent the afternoon drinking tea and talking with climbers from France, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, and of course the US was representing with the all the B.S.ing! I met a canadian who summited Everest in 04 who was writing a book on acute mountain sickness. Later that night his wife was brought down from the refuge for a dramatic decrease in bloodpressure, but he assured everyone that she couldn´t possibly have suffered any kind of pulmonary edima. While they packed her belongings rapidly a bag containing my rain pants and a base layer was thrown in with the mix. We awoke at midnight ate and I franticly ran around tearing apart closets and cabinets in order to find some rain pants to borrow. I eventually found a pair of blue and yellow pants in a shed by the out house. Most of the climbers left at one I was next to last to leave. The first big climb is Rompe Corazon(heart break) its a steep long climb up the glacial field that lasts two hours normally. Boris and I passed the big group of climbers mid way up and sat for a break alone at the end as we passed the others near the top. At this point I could see such amazingly bright and densly clustered stars that it made me dizzy looking at them. The stars appear to be closer together near the equator. We made a long traverse to the north facing ridge at ate chcolate and cookies while looking down on the clouds that had a great effect of greyish green offset by the moon. I was begining to get in a good rhythim and feeling very solid. The ridge leads to a short glacial field that gives way to steep walls and cravasses that encompass the rim. On the way up it was difficult to think about anything but where to put my foot next and when to inhale.Talk about zenned out my mind hasn´t ever been at peace like that. We crossed a huge crevasse maybe fifty or sixty feet deep and began to make our last push to the summit. The final push was arduous we had to stop and make steps and do an Ice anchor at one point because the day before had been clear and the snow moved with relative ease, even with crampons we were sliding backward. The other climbers made their way up fairly close to us and Boris asked if we should get them to help us make steps. I said I wanted to be first and get there by sunrise. Well, the sun rose ten minutes before we summited and I´m really glad because the clouds had not yet covered us and I looked out over billowing yellow , orange, and pink clouds with every possible combination of the hues refracting off the ice covered rim. Every time I moved my head I felt my cheek stinging and discovered that my hair had frozen, so naturally I put it in my mouth, (I guess one of the many ways I still resemble myself at two) and it broke off. I summited at seven twenty eight and stood quietly surrounded by wind of an incredible force and luminous clouds. We were first to summit, we wited for the next party to arrive before desending so we could doble up our anchoring equipment. After a descent that I tortured Boris by racing ahead on the glacial field and suddenly stopping for extreme crampon skiing on we sat back drank hot tea and hiked back to the car. I arrived in quito about noon and realized that it was done, it had felt as if I were experiencing the climb vicariosly before but in quito it felt real and I can´t describe that feeling. When I returned to Resedencial Sucre the guys there threw a party to congratulate the climb and we broke out the sony handy cam and made a real commercial for Sorojchi´s. Now I sit writing to all of you in Baños doing what any sane red blooded American would do by visiting the thermal pools. I´m ready to get back with Kelly ASAP and continue this adventure. The Rouse clan, thanks for the kind words you make me a little jealous of you all for reuniting while I´m away, I love you all, did I read that emily is preggers?! Tell Poppie Hi for me. Everyone keep the comments and correspondance coming, it does me well to read it all.
M