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Ascent of Volcán Iliniza-Pico Norte on 2011-04-06

Climber: Arne Schussler

Others in Party:

Pedro - guia

Date:

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Ascent Type:

Unsuccessful - Turned Back

Motorized Transport to Trailhead:

4x4 Vehicle

Peak:

Volcán Iliniza-Pico Norte

Location:

Ecuador

Elevation:

4670 m / 15322 ft

Ascent Trip Report

Guided climb of Iliniza Norte based from Hosteria PapaGayo in Machachi. If I had been home and woken up to this weather before a climb I would have gone back to bed. Steady hard rain with fog sometimes almost clear then 100 ft visibilty. Left at 0730 and trip to trailhead had several delays some unnecessary (gas fill-up, picking up other non-paying passengers)some unavoidable (stream crossings, heavy mud, wash-outs, vehicles ahead in difficulty). Finally 0930 parked below an undriveable patch of steep mud well short of the la Virgen parking area at about 12,300ft. Weather constantly in question with dark patches in the clouds meeting updraft from the valleys and an occasional rumble. Guide set a brisk pace which I kept up with but paid for above the parking area. Here we met a group that had already turned around with their guide talking to us about "estatico" in the area of the ridge just before the refuge which Pedro said was notorious for bad weather. We continued until about 30m short of the refuge and in the middle of a driving sleet storm at 1130 he decided to turn us.

Summary Total Data

Elevation Gain:

921 m / 3022 ft

Distance:

10.3 km / 6.4 mi

Route Conditions: