The Ilinizis consist of two peaks, North and South, of a volcano that blew out
its east and west sides. Ilinizi Sur is snow and ice-covered at its upper levels
all year, while Ilinizi Norte has snow and ice only periodically.
The approach to Ilinizi is by taking the Pan-American Highway south out of
Quito past the city of Machachi, and then turning west and driving through the
village of Chaupi on a very bumpy cobblestone road. The road eventually turns
into a dirt road that climbs higher onto the Paramo (high plains) and eventually
ends near some trees at an elevation of approximately 13300 feet.
From here it took us 2-3 hours of trekking across the paramo, several ridges
and eventually up the very loose sandy scree slope I called the 'ridge of sighs'.
Reaching the top of this ridge brought us into view of the refuge at an elevation
of 15250 feet. A few minutes of following a fairly level trail brings you to the
hut and if the clouds are not in the way, a view of the ridge leading to the
volcano crater and the valley below.
From the refuge it is a short hike to the ridge of the volcano and from there a
view across the crater. This next part had us traversing a steep slope of very sandy and
loose material that we had to cross to get to the ridges and rocks across the
crater. To put it mildly, this was one heck of a pile of sand to cross and it took
a couple of hours or so of slip-sliding while we gained several hundred additional feet in
elevation until we finally topped out at about 15900 feet. The view from here is
awesome in any direction, and especially when looking back at what we had just been
traversed!
From this point the climb entails additional scree slopes alternating with rock
scrambling sort of climbing as we made our way back and forth toward the summit ridge.
Eventually we reached the Paso de la Muerte where Edison placed a fixed line
from one side to the other. It is possible to traverse this rock
outcrop with or without clipping onto a fixed rope however I had no problem with
clipping on (I was wearing a seat sling and with an attached caribiner). After
traversing this rock outcrop we had a short down climb and then once again we had
more of the scree alternating with rock scrambling/climbing bringing us to the
final climb to the summit ridge.
Sadly, we did not reach the summit due to how late in the afternoon it was, and
also that I was running out of energy. This was my first really serious 'climb' and
my concern was for having the strength to descend and hike out to the car. Edison
was a bit concerned about how late it was.
So, from at an elevation of 16500 feet, we agreed to descend but following a
different route - one that introduced me to another perspective on scree slopes.
After a fairly challenging climb back down to a ridge and a steep drop off we
traversed approximately 1000 vertical feet of elevation on scree composed mostly
of rocks. I tumbled, slid, fell, and basically 'skied the scree' until we reached
a point where we were moving more diagonally than what seemed like straight down.
A couple hours after we started the descent we reached the paramo and Edison's
jeep and after a short time catching our breath (mine!) we started the long and
bumpy drive out toward the village of Chaupi and then onto the Pan-American Highway.
Climbing Ilinizi Norte was by far the most difficult of the climbs in part due
to the steepness of the slopes and rocks, and also the time we spent during the
ascent - approximately 8 hours.
Watch or download a video from this climb. (132 Mb WMV format).
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