These be Mountains
For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.
~Leonardo Da Vinci, mountain man
This post is about mountains. If you’d like to skip directly to the photos, follow this link – http://picasaweb.google.com/jvorse/ – and click on any album that looks mountainous. Otherwise, here’s a brief recap of a series of climbs we did just before Christmas. The pictures get better as the post continues, so read on!
Pasachoa
Pasachoa:
To prepare for greater heights, Jen, two friends and I climbed Pasachoa Volcano, about an hour and a half south of Quito. After a bus ride and getting overcharged by the guard at the reserve entrance, the four of us climbed through a
wet, 
tropical bamboo forest (though still huffing from the 9,000’ air) before emerging into paramo – a high altitude Andean ecosystem of mainly tufted grasses, shrubs and a few small trees. We walked up a ridge with panoramic views of surrounding mountains and valleys, and made it to around 12,500 feet before getting chased down by thunder. Oh well. Fun hike.
Corazón:
Means “heart” in Spanish – the day’s first cruel irony.
Corazón from the highway
The same group of four plus our housemate Matt rented a 4×4 and a guide/driver to conquer this 15,718 foot peak two hours south of Quito. The early morning clouds cleared as we turned off the highway, but after 10 minutes of bouncing over dirt roads we struck a mud puddle from which there was no escape. We pushed, pulled and skidded while our bald tires shot spumes of water, until finally a circa-1970 pickup
Mud 1 - Car 0
arrived on the scene, and with the help of a chain borrowed from a local tractor, towed us out of the mud.
We kept up the hill on a spiderweb of slick trails, but each in succession vanquished our not-so-mighty jeep, and we soon found ourselves stuck in the furrows of a potato field. 
More waiting ensued, another tractor nudged us free with the help of a six-foot log, we continued up the hill, got stuck again, pushed the car free, got stuck again, jumped on the fenders, dug grooves for our decrepit tires, filled said grooves with sticks, grass and crushed potatoes, pushed the car in vain, decided to turn around, contemplated our failure over a muddy lunch on a beautiful hillside, and finally walked up a hill to ask the owners of the previous tractor if they wouldn’t mind giving us a push.
Tractor, log, car -- in which we admit defeat
Around an hour later a tractor filled with potatoes and potato farmers rumbled down the hill, and after a nudge with another log and a series of jokes about our egg-bald tires, we slid our way down the mountain and back to Quito, appropriately in the rain.
Illinizas Norte:
16,818 feet, climbed with my housemate, Matt. As a first order of business we checked the tires on our ride. They had actual treads so we were good to go, and we left Quito with our guide, Wassa, to spend the night near the mountain and climb early the next morning. We arranged our gear and hurried to bed, and after a 2:30 wakeup and a short drive, we started hiking a little after 4:00.
Illinizas in the A.M.
The moon slid between clouds so we switched on our headlamps in the dark, and the sparse paramo gradually turned to fields of rock and shale, and the climb began in earnest. My lungs felt small as we trudged up hills of sand, and Wassa noted we’d passed 15,000 feet. I checked off the milestone in my head – the highest I’d ever climbed. A little before dawn with my fingers getting numb, we reached the caretaker’s hut and warmed up with anise tea and a small stove.
Illinizas Norte
A few hundred meters up the clouds settled and the surrounding peaks began to fade. We climbed a pitch of red sand and rock, then hiked up a narrow ridge with steep drops and great views down either side. For the first time, I really noticed the altitude. Each step was slow, my breathing short, and my head and equilibrium seemed just a little off.
The fun part
Our group roped together as snow started to mix in with the rock, and we managed a steep traverse on a section known affectionately as the “paso de muerte.” The last 45 minutes was an awesome mixed scramble up rock, dirt and snow, and I felt the altitude symptoms lift as my adrenaline kicked in. We pulled our way up a few more boulders, and finally
Matt and I on the summit
made it to Illinizas’ cramped, jagged summit at 16,818.’ It was damn cold but we could see the glaciated peak of Illinizas Sur a few miles away, so we celebrated with chocolate bars and a few pictures before carefully picking our way down.
Illinizas Sur from the summit of Illinizas Norte
Cotopaxi:
At 19,347, feet Cotopaxi is Ecuador’s second highest peak, as well as the world’s second highest active volcano (Hi Mom!). It’s size, glaciers, and
Cotopaxi from Illinizas
perfect cone shape make it a truly gorgeous mountain, and a popular one with climbers. Matt and I and three other friends decided to try our luck, so we set out with guides from Quito late one Sunday morning. After a few hours’ drive we made it to Cotopaxi National Park, where the paramo was littered with boulders to authenticate the volcano’s past. We drove to around 14,500 feet and hiked half an hour to Cotopaxi’s refuge, unable to see the massif behind a cloak of heavy clouds.
At the refuge we made tea, cooked dinner, and generally tried (failed) to stay warm before heading to bed at 7:30 for a midnight wakeup and climb. We strapped on our gear by headlamp, and ventured outside at 1:00 to look up at a 
sky full with stars and the summit, glaciers and folds of the mountain silvery under a full moon. We soon switched off our headlamps to climb by moonlight, and kicked our way one slow step at a time up Cotopaxi’s long snow fields and occasional ice bridges. At first all I could think of was the absence of oxygen, but as we climbed higher I found a rhythm between breathing and my steps, and felt something between an athlete’s zone and a walking meditation.
just below the summit
A little before 6:00 our steep slope decreased to a slight hill, and I could see mountains in front of me crested by a rising sun. Adjectives at this point are a bit inadequate, so enjoy the pictures…
Cotopaxi summit, 5:55 AM
Sunrise 1
Sunrise 2
Sunrise 3
Cotopaxi's crater -- notice the rising steam
View from the summit
Group Shot -- Matt, Matt & Eric
Summit handstand -- crampons approximately 19,354' tall
The way down
Crevasse, and a nice view of the Illinizas
Big mountain
