Our second successful summit of the trip was of the Imbabura Volcano. Although an inactive volcano, it´s a very important one to Rachel and I, as we have spent countless hours staring at it from the sloping hills of La Luna. It has a very broad and towering presence as it sits high above Lago San Pablo and the towns of Ibarra and Otavalo.
As seen in the photo above, the day started quite clear when we entered the valley. It was a far more difficult climb compared to Fuya Fuya, as the altitude was much higher, the final ascent was completely vertical at one point and the strong winds/sleet at the summit were a bit of a surprise. The photo below is Rachel beginning the scramble up one of many false summits, and the tiniest bit of blue sky we had seen for hours disappeared in less than a couple minutes.
By the time we reached the summit it was nearly a complete white-out. And how did we know we reached the summit whilst climbing the intimidating Imbabura through thick white cloud, you ask? By the Sprite bottle on the stick, of course!
Stay tuned for more tales!
jason
posted by Donkey Crossing @ 10/12/2006 12:35:00 PM
1 Comments:
Chris, It´s all part of the adventure. We handled the sleet just fine - it was the thin air that proved more of a challenge.
We definitely miss the midwest, but I don´t think we´ll ever tire of this fabulous mountain landscape.
Stay tuned!
Rachel
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