New blog of mine...

Hey all, if you'd like to follow my newer adventures visit my new blog: www.natberve.wordpress.com ! Natalie

January?

It is days like today that I am so psyched to live in a place that gets sunny 60 degree days in January! And that I get to get scared on East of Eden in the Poudre Canyon, put up by my good friend and mentor Rodney Ley! I led this climb last year, and will be working back up to it soon :)....it just never gets less scary does it? 

Bits & Pieces

The new Blue Sun "Rogue" Gaiters that I tried out on Cotopaxi, they ROCKED by the way, 0 wear and tear so far, and they added a lot of warmth.

sometimes when you have a 5 hr layover in panama, all you have time to do is go to the mall, go figure!

one of our many little hostel rooms! just imagine when we spread out all our (sopping wet) gear in this place--CHAOS!

Quito!

They said it not me...

How many mountaineers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? One, they just stand there as the world revolves around them :).

Coffee Tree, we spent QUITE a bit of (delicious) time here.

Jose Rivas Hut-- Cocoa time.

seriously, doesn't this just look like a giant pineapple? I couldn't get over it.

More Coffee Tree deliciousness. We ate them straight out of chicken empanadas, guess that is what happens when you order 4 plates in a couple hours..

mama and baby coca (cola...)

 beware, this bus has very finicky storage doors...

finicky storage door = very cranky gringas. not even ice cream could calm them down.

little peak of Banos through the fog.

Back safe and sound!

Well the Escalitas have made it full circle back to Fort Collins! Looking forward to catching up with everyone, uploading some video clips/photos and of course more climbing very soon :)

How we got to Baños

So, as usual our plans have changed approximately 1,000 times in the last few days. After much deliberation, stress and intesity (which this trip has been full of), we have come to the conclusion that the best option for us right now is to relax in Baños. We don´t want to hire a guide, and barely got into Cotopaxi without one...it is apparently very illegal, and, with only 4 days left, we are running out of time! So, we are going to spend our last few days here hanging out at the hot springs, hiking and maybe even renting some bikes.

Ok, so when we decided to go to Baños, we didn´t think it would be super difficult. Just a few bus rides....and it would have been just like that except....when we got off of one bus to catch another bus in the middle of nowhere Ecaudor....the door to the storage under the bus (where our backpacks with all of our mountaineering gear and everything) was STUCK. The bus driver tried to get us to go catch our other bus without our stuff...and we starting swearing and jumped on the bus and refused to leave until they opened the door!!! You DONT mess with a mountaineer and their backpack. We waited impatiently for one hour...got ice cream...another hour....got greasy french fries...and the final hour...we each drank a liter of Pilsener (Beer)...we chatted with local Ecuadorian girls, and watched as the bus repair people tried to clean out a pipe which they thought was blocking the air pressure for the door opening. We asked the local girls if this happened a lot, and they said...¨Yep.¨ damn. Eventually the door popped open and we hopped back on to the next bus stop and to Baños where we found a super funky hostel. What should have taken 4 hours took 10. Welcome to South America ;) Oh, and did we mention that our entire food bag was nabbed right out from under our noses? Guess we wont be enjoying that freeze dried blueberry cheese cake or the mac-n-chez we have been saving; Hope someone is happy!

The decission to let go of the big mountains has not been easy. In a way if feels like we are compromising our original goals by settling for day hikes and Pilseners, but on the other hand this whole trip has been far more than any of us were prepared for. Its hard to justify letting a giude take us up mountains, paying them to make us hot coco and fluff our sleeping bags, when we know its well without our capabilities. However, there are rules that we cannot get around, time we cannot stretch, and emotional exhaustion that has brought us to a stopping point. Its hard, feeling like we trained so hard, and invested so much time and energy into these mountains, and then have to step down. But maybe that is another great lesson in climbing, maybe it all comes back to the quote that became so real to me (Melissa) after Aconcagua: ¨One cannot always reach the summit, or the mountain loses its mystery.¨ These mountains are still so mysterious; but climbable. I am so motivated to head back home and continue to solidify myself as a climber so that next time, I can tackle these mountains with the respect they deserve. So I guess Baños isnt such a compromise; hopefully it will provide a time for reflection and decompression, and a time to smile and enjoy this beautiful country we are in. Up until this point, its been stressful, and hard. I think we are ready to kick back and just be in the moment, with each other, and still be under the watchful eye of the increadible mountains around us.

Illinizas, Here We Come!

Las Escalitas are together once again, and are off to climb Illiniza Norte and Illiniza Sur tomorrow, the 6th and 8th highest peaks in Ecuador. Wish us luck! 

Cotopaxi: take 2.

Well here is the short version; Melissa and I climbed Cotopaxi yesterday!

Here is the long version: after a few minutes of talking about climbing cayambe, mel and I knew we couldnt move on from cotopaxi without one more try. The weather looked good for wednesday night, thursday morning, so we were hopeful to see cotopaxi for the first time!

So we took a rest day, dried out all our stuff and then set off to cotopaxi; we took the metro, the bus and a pickup truck back to the base of the jose rivas hut, and did the 45 minute hike back up to the hut, again. It was super foggy, we saw foxes and this time we packed smart and didnt haul a duffle up (YES!). When we started our climb at midnight, it was clear, but windy (ice was being blown into our faces for about 2 hrs).

first sighting of cotopaxi from the hut

This time we negotiated the crevasses and semi technical ice with ease (we were scared out of our minds the first time!), and moved quickly. As we climbed, the fog rolled in and the wind picked up....one by one we saw the guides turn around with their clients...one even said, ¨it is impossible to summit right now, there is too much wind!¨. But one guide did not turn around, and we didn´t either.

The wind brought ice and snow and I wore my puffy the WHOLE climb. Prussics were iced up, as was my hair, jacket, rope, backpack...and everything else. When we finally got to the headwall there was only one other party that was there who had summitted (they were also unguided...and french). By this time the poor guided dude was totally wasted, and couldnt make it to the summit (he had been puking and slow going for quite some time)

family of foxes on the way to the jose rivas hut

And by the time we summited there was so much fog that we could only see a few feet around us...but we at least knew we were at the top! We rushed down.....exhuasted from the climb and the wind and the cold, collapsed in the hut for a few minutes and then ran down the trail to catch our truck back to the bus that would take us back to quito, where our sister escalita heather was anxiously awaiting our return!

It was a crazy day, but we did it!

We will try to post some pictures when mels camera recovers...although it died almost immediately from the cold so we only have a few pics :)

You can´t always get what you want

Attempt #1 of Cotopaxi started out well. I felt strong, and Mel and Nat are awesome. We started roping up, and I started throwing up, something that I´ve never done before on a mountain, but there´s a first time for everything...I wasn´t even pushing myself that hard, so I was pretty concerned. After that, I moved a lot slower than the group, and the unexpected intensity of the crevasse travel also slowed us down. We made a group decision to turn around below the head wall on Cotopaxi, but, as you can imagine, I also felt responsible for the group not summiting.

When we got back to Quito, I offered to let the girls climb without me, so they have a better chance for success. They will be able to climb faster this time around on Cotopaxi, which is safer for all of us. Mountaineering is about challenging yourself, taking risks and having fun. For me to be slower than the group and not climb efficiently is not an acceptable risk for the group, and feeling like you´re holding the group back and being pulled up a mountain isn´t fun.

It isn´t easy telling you all this. Sometimes failing and realizing that something isn´t right for you is just as difficult as climbing an 19,000 ft. mountain. However, knowing that I´ve tested my limits, and knowing and accepting that turning back doesn´t make me any less tough and strong is a such a gift.

Beginning to learn this lesson is opening doors for me to climb elsewhere (you can still climb below 16,000 ft., right?) I feel like this experience has freed me to explore the multitude of other opportunities in the outdoor world. The past 6 years in pursuit of high altitudes has left me with a bit of tunnel vision. Life if about being happy, and pursuing passions that you can feel good about.

I´m ready to take my energy and my passion and put it towards climbing in Colorado and at lower elevations. This is not the end; I´m just taking this in a different direction, which is pretty darn freeing.

As the Rolling Stones put it: "You can´t always get what you want. But if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need."

Thank you to everyone in my life who has been so incredibley loving and supportive of my pursuits, especially my sister Escalitas, Melissa and Natalie; my mom, Suzanne; my husband, Nick; and my mentor, Rodney. I couldn´t have gotten this far without you! What an incredible journey.

Have no fear! Las Escalitas still have a lot of climbing ahead of us! We´re headed to the Illinizas on Saturday, and did we mention that Colorado has, literally, hundreds of mountains?   

I am anxiously awaiting the return of my fellow Escalitas, and am so happy that they have another chance at success. We will update you all when they return!

Longs Peak/Keyboard of the Winds, Colorado

Oh, the joys of traveling!

This trip has reinforced the basic rule of traveling: never start with a concrete plan, because things will NOT go that way. So here we are, recreating our trip as we go!

The last few days since the Cotopaxi attempt have been long. We have asked ourselves several times: wait... what happened today? And the truth is: we have eaten, slept, sat...sipped the steri-penned water, and eaten some more. The rain has come and gone (and come again) the clouds have lingered and we have just been enjoying the rest.

Tomorrow, Natalie and I will head off to Cotopaxi for round two. We are not willing to move on without giving this mountain one more fighting chance. We are sad to be leaving Heather, it´s a tough Escalita decision, but she has plans to head to the Mitad del Mundo - the Equator, and to figure out the rest of this trip. She has shown us so much strength, wisdom and respect and we are so psyched to be sister Escalitas on this adventure...wherever it may take us!

Thus far, it looks like we will be heading to the hut of Las Illinizas later this week to attempt both Norte and Sur before we head to the hot springs in Baños and then home! We will keep you updated as our plans continue to morph....thank you all for your support, it really means a lot to us!

Cotopaxi

I think these pictures will speak for themselves, but we had an incredible experience on Cotopaxi.

The pictures we took were the only sunny moments of the entire day. It´s hard to climb mountains when you can´t see them.

Even though we got within 30 minutes of the summit, some summits just aren´t worth it without the whole team.

Las Escalitas united!

We learned so much about technical skills, intuition, and strength on this mountain.

And crevasses...lots and lots of crevasses.

We believe!

We stretched our limits, and are psyched for the upcoming challenges, both on mountains and off.

Sunny Cotopaxi! All 5 minutes of it.

Well, I think we are acclimitized!

Yesterday, we did our acclimatization hike which, due to a strange turn of events turned into a very complicated day. We decided to hike Gua Gua Pichincha instead of El Corzon because people have been getting robbed on Corazon.

What an adventure! First, our driver could not get all the way to the refugio of Gua Gua Pichincha becuase of all the mud (lodo), so we got to walk an extra 2hrs to the refugio in the rain. The refugio was locked, but we found the key and let ourselves in to strip our already soaked layers and plan the rest of our day, since it wasn´t turning out the way we´d planned. We had to make it to the gondola on the other side of the pass so that it could carry us down to a place where we could get a taxi, or walk all the way back to Quito--not happening.

We didn´t have a problem with climbing the three peaks (through the pass), despite our hand-drawn map from a store owner and local climber. We eventually figured out the trail, climbed our first 15,200 ft. peak and got onto the right ridge where we found kilometer markers....the first one said km. 1 of 14. Damn. It continued raining/snowing and we continued through the frozen mud, water and slippery rock for the next 7hrs, not stopping for more than a minute or two because if we did we got too cold.

We were at 14,000 ft.+ for about 85% of our climb and at 15,000 ft.+ various times, so the14 kilometers plus the hike to the refugio took longer than expected, and we were relieved when we finally saw the gondola at about 5pm. What an intro the the Andes! A little more than we bargained for, but still success.

We are taking today to let our gortex and layers dry (I didnt know gortex could get that wet), and tomorrow we plan on heading to the Jose Rivas hut at the base of Cotopaxi! We´ve also decided to adjust our plans and climb Cayembe after Cotopaxi, because Chimborazo has had a lot of rock fall lately. We´re learning to be flexible with our plans as we receive advice from local Ecuadorian climbers.

Less than 24hrs ago....

So we have spent a good 30+hrs traveling, including 6hrs in Panama where we took a free bus to el metro mall (a huge gringo inspired tourist attraction) and waited in a 1,000,000 degree airport. I also puked in the airport bathroom in panama, not my finest moment... but now we are all settled into our hostel in Quito! Today we got food, slept in and asked a lot of questions. We are getting ready to climb guaguapachicha instead of el corozon because a local shop owner told us it was very dangerous and he had been robbed there. So tomorrow we will do our acclimitazation peak, then come back to our hostel and if I don't puke again we will head to cotopaxi the next day! Quito is a little rainy, but nothing our hard shells can't handle!

And we're off!

Today is the day! In a few hours I will be reunited with my team at the airport and we will head to Houston and then to ECUADOR! Looks like it has all come together!

The gear has exploded and been tucked nicely into my duffle, and there is one thing that I have learned this week: Don't try to move into a new house right before leaving on a big trip... things get WAY too spread out! But i have made my list, checked it twice, and its all weighing in at 47lbs! (few!)

Ipod playlists are made, my credit card okay-ed to leave the country, all the 3 oz containers are sealed in my ziplock baggie for the airplane.... I do believe I'm ready!

Can't wait to meet my Team Escalitas at DIA in a few hours and take off! Thanks again for everyones support in getting us here where we are today! And again, if anyone wants to order an Ecalitas T-shirt, please contact us via email. We need 24 to place another order!

... a la cumbre!!

Special shout out to Rodney Ley, Jim Davidson, and our families! Y'all Rock!

It's finally time!

One side of my living room is filled with gear for Ecuador, the other has a pile destined for the Ouray Ice Fest! I was a little bummed when I realized this trip would prevent me from attending an ice clinic from one of my favorite climber chicks (Angela Hawse) in Ouray, but then I realized we were scheduled to climb Cotopaxi that day :)! So while we are mountaineering, traveling and trying to speak Spanish, the rest of our crew will be hitting up some of the best ice in the world, eating enchiladas and wandering around one of my favorite places in the world. Happy Ice Fest everyone!

As for Las Escalitas..

Today is the day! We are anxious and excited and ready and...LETS JUST GO ALREADY! I am ready to experience my first big mountaineering trip, see what all this high altitude business is about and hang with Las Ecalitas for 17 days!  We leave Fort Collins to spend a night in Houston (12hr layover :p), then just a few more planes to catch before we land in QUITO!! Nothin' like a 27hr travel time eh? Oh well, nothing I can't handle with Mel and Heather! We'll keep you all updated as much as possible, especially since I'm not sure what else to do for 12hrs in Houston, TX...besides you know, sleep and keep getting over this silly cold.

Lots of love,
Las Escalitas