After Wendy and Clover left at around 5pm I was shown the ropes, pardon the punn, of using crampons and an ice pick for the glacial part of the climb. I was being guided by a geezer called Gary?! (american dad, ecuadorian mum) and was joined by an argentinian called Jose. After resting and then eating I tried to sleep at the lodge - but with so many people coming and preparing their kit it was noisy, not to mention the fact there was no heating. To add to the misery my head was pounding due to the altitude and breathing was hard as it felt like someone was sat on my chest. I'd need to pant to catch my breath regularly - an odd sensation of feeling like I was suffocating in a way.
It went quiet for maybe an hour at most, then at around 11pm it was action stations as parties prepared themselves for the ascent. We got up around 12pm with no sleep, had some light bites and hot drinks whilst a group of bible bashers sang hymns - very surreal.
It was windy and obviously pitch black when we set off at around 1am. Seeing other parties up the slope was magical but also indicated just how much work we had ahead of us - from then on I just looked down! After an hour of soft ash where you slid back almost as much as you progressed we reached the snow line. The wind was strong and cold and it was carrying snow - great. We put our crampons on and put a rope between us all for safety - Gary up front, me in middle, Jose following. The snow was easier going as the crampons do such a good job but the snow and wind weren't letting up.
A couple of people were coming back down for whatever reason. Not so good for your positivity. After 3 hours of climbing with my breathing labouring to the max all the way and an increasing sense of feeling sick to my stomach, we met a guide who was coming back down with his party and advised we aborted due to the extreme weather. To be totally honest it was a godsend as I was in no shape to carry on to the summit which is a further 3 hours climb followed by a 3 hour descent - it would have been suicide.
So we about faced and started our descent. It was only then did I realise just how steep the path was - we took it very easy. An hour later we were back at the lodge - 5am, 4hours of hard graft. We had tea and went back to bed and tried to sleep but it was freezing and noisy as others also returned.
We heard later that morning that only a few actually made it to the summit - and they were parties who left later when the weather had let up for them.
So I got back to Latacunga for around midday where I was met by Wendy who'd had a night of wine and nachos with Clover.
We are chilling out today in a lovely hostel / cafe we've found (pictured) - catching an overnight bus to Lajo, then making our way to a hostel that looks amazingly chilled for a couple of nights in Vilcabamba.
Then onto Peru and the jungle....
