Back to Chimborazo

O&R with the famous Ecuadorian mountaineer, Marco Cruz - the proprietor of La Estrella de Chimborazo

After our brief sojourn in Ambato - staying at an older house converted to a hotel (and one of the only old buildings in Ambato, the site of many powerful earthquakes over the years), eating Chinese food and watching the very disappointing Super Bowl, we headed back up to Chimborazo.  It was a bit out of our way, taking us away from Quito when we needed to get back there, but we were so struck by our last trip up, that we had to get some more.

Between resting up in Baños and our upcoming Galapagos trip, we only managed to fit in one night at La Estrella de Chimborazo, a small climbing lodge near the park entrance at 3900m.  We certainly made the most of it, though.  We arrived around noon, after a two hour drive from Ambato, past Riobamba and up toward Chimborazo National Park.  The lodge is set back from the main road, at the end of steep, narrow valley that leads up to the peak of Chimborazo.  All above treeline, the views are magnificent, and the distances deceiving.

We threw our bags in the lodge and headed up immediately on a hike to the "Cruz" or cross, always a popular hiking destination in Latin America.  To O&R's delight, we were accompanied by one of the lodge's dogs, Whymper, named for Edward Whymper, the first person to summit Chimborazo back in 1880.  Great hike, with stunning views and wildflowers, but as always, the altitude made for some tough going.

Whymper, our guide for the two days at the Lodge

View of the Lodge from the Cruz

The Cruz

We got back to the lodge by 3pm and then had a few hours to relax and look around.  The only other guests were a group of German climbers who had just descended from Chimborazo that morning - way too tired for conversation.  We had a chance to meet the owner, the prominent mountaineer and guide, Marco Cruz.  Now in his 60s, he has summited the mountain over 1000 times - at say, 1.5 days per climb, that means he has spent over 4 years on top of that mountain!  The lodge is very much his personal statement - decorated with his climbing memorabilia and awards, even some of his poetry.  With leathery skin, a thick white beard, and Alpine-style climbing knickers, he's pretty much what you would expect from a legendary mountain man.  Despite this larger-than-life appearance, he was very approachable, and we spoke with him for a while about his experiences, how the mountain has changed over the years (much less snow), the impact of the volcanic eruption earlier that week (2m high ice columns caused by hot ash melting the ice where it landed), and some of the challenges beginners might face climbing ("Don't climb with your body, climb with your heart").  He also recommended a hike for the following day.

While Yo and the kids were reading, I decided to walk up the valley to get some more time in with the mountain.  I walked up the valley through the paramo grass and had a peaceful and quiet hour and half of barefoot walking, sitting, and trying in vain to take photos that come close to capturing the grandeur and awe-inspiring character of this terrain.  I headed back to the lodge for cards and dinner, humbled by the experience in many ways.

The next day, we all set off after breakfast for a three hour hike up the mountain, with a goal of following a less-than-obvious trail over a ridge and toward some caves that were barely visible in the distance.  With two lodge dogs guiding us, we thought we couldn't get lost, and indeed we didn't.  The visibility and the lack of vegetation made that impossible.  But we did lose the trail and wound up scrambling over sand and volcanic ash for hours, going up steep ravines that would have been challenging even at sea level.  We never made it to the caves - just when we thought we were getting close, we realized that we would have to go down and up and impossibly steep ravine to get there.  But we did get a chance to see a flock of wild vicuñas (one of them up close as Whymper chased it right by us at top speed), and we had a great and exhausting high-altitude hike.

We returned to the lodge for a big lunch, and waited for our ride to take us nearly 6 hours to the Quito airport.  Not the most comfortable way to spend the afternoon, but we did manage to make the most out of our regrettably short time back on Chimborazo.  Can't wait to go back.

Ruby and I in our room at the Estrella Lodge