Saturday
: Swooooossshhhh... from 4800m to 2800m, speeding down a volcano on a mountain bike. Conditions could not have been better, with fantastic weather offering stunning views of the surrounding snowcapped volcanos and the andes landscape. Just awesome. And not a bad luck in sight, not even a flat tire. And Riobamba is growing on the boys. A taxi to downtown is only 80 cents, good restaurants after all with more gambas and steaks. For only 3 bucks. The boys start to know their way around!
Sunday morning: Mountains here they come. Finally! Breakfast and gearing up for a 2-day trip. A 4WD is ready to take them to the refuge where they sleep tonight. Probably a couple of hours drive. Tomorrow is the first attempt for a summit, leaving the refuge at 3 am. Climb up is estimated to approx 4 hours, so tomorrow morning when I've dropped the kids at school, they strap on their crampons and should be standing on Carihuairazo, 5018m, at 1pm our time. Here a short description, a little contradictory to Brams vision of a walk in the park : "
Carihuairazo lies to the north east of its much vaster neighbour Chimborazo. Depending on conditions the final summit on the ridge can be difficult or impossible (and the penultimate summit may be less than straightforward). The normal route to Carihuairazo Maxima (5,018m) starts from a camping spot at ~4,600m, reaching the main ridge either via the SW-ridge or from West via the glacier, followed by a difficult technical climb to reach the summit tower." Carihuairazo's Glacier has lost an important part of its mass during the last decade as a result of global warming and ash covers caused by the recent volcanic activity of its eastern neighbour Tungurahua. Carihuairazo is considered inactive though. Have a safe summit push. We wait for more news. Stay tuned...
Saturday: Swooooossshhhh... from 4800m to 2800m, speeding down a volcano on a mountain bike. Conditions could not have been better, with fantastic weather offering stunning views of the surrounding snowcapped volcanos and the andes landscape. Just awesome. And not a bad luck in sight, not even a flat tire. And Riobamba is growing on the boys. A taxi to downtown is only 80 cents, good restaurants after all with more gambas and steaks. For only 3 bucks. The boys start to know their way around!
Sunday morning: Mountains here they come. Finally! Breakfast and gearing up for a 2-day trip. A 4WD is ready to take them to the refuge where they sleep tonight. Probably a couple of hours drive. Tomorrow is the first attempt for a summit, leaving the refuge at 3 am. Climb up is estimated to approx 4 hours, so tomorrow morning when I've dropped the kids at school, they strap on their crampons and should be standing on Carihuairazo, 5018m, at 1pm our time. Here a short description, a little contradictory to Brams vision of a walk in the park : "Carihuairazo lies to the north east of its much vaster neighbour Chimborazo. Depending on conditions the final summit on the ridge can be difficult or impossible (and the penultimate summit may be less than straightforward). The normal route to Carihuairazo Maxima (5,018m) starts from a camping spot at ~4,600m, reaching the main ridge either via the SW-ridge or from West via the glacier, followed by a difficult technical climb to reach the summit tower." Carihuairazo's Glacier has lost an important part of its mass during the last decade as a result of global warming and ash covers caused by the recent volcanic activity of its eastern neighbour Tungurahua. Carihuairazo is considered inactive though. Have a safe summit push. We wait for more news. Stay tuned... 
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