Hello Steemians!
When I was in Ecuador in early 2017 I met a pair of American medical students who were visiting to attempt to summit Tungurahua Volcano in Baños, Ecuador. I met the two of them in the hostel I was staying at and they were doing a work study in a village hospital about 50km away and in there off time they were going to all the local mountains to train for an attempt to summit Cotopaxi (large volcano) just before they left the country. I was really inspired by their plan and asked if I could tag along and they said I could so we made our plans to leave the next day.
The Plan
After we were packed we spoke with the owner of the hostel and he agreed to drive us from the hostel to the gate to the park, although he continually told us not to attempt to summit the volcano as it is very dangerous and still active. He also told us of the last eruption that occurred and displaced all the residents of Baños for several months; however this did nothing to deter my new friends so we went on as planned. After we were dropped off we set off into the park following this rough plan:
- Drive to the gate of the park
- Hike from the gate to the refugio ( A small building near the summit of the mountain used for camping and allows for an early morning ascent) and spend the night
- Rise at 6am and attempt to summit the volcano
- Hike back down and hitchhike back to town
The Hike and a Night on the Volcano
The hike from the gate to the refugio was about 8km and an increase of about 1500m in altitude so it wasn’t insanely difficult but it wasn’t easy either. The trail was muddy and wet and it was constantly raining for the few hours we were hiking but we made our way and arrived at the refugio a few hours later. The weather cleared up and we had a beautiful evening on the side of the volcano. Another pair of hikers showed up in the evening to stay the night and we all ate a nice meal together. They had hiked all the way up from Baños and were just going to spend the night at the refugio and hike back down the following day, they spent the night drinking whiskey and we all told travel stories and about how we all ended up on the side of this volcano on that night.
The next day, the doctors and I got up and headed out to try and attempt the summit despite the fact that the weather had turned during the night. The start of the hike was slow as we broke the tree line and we tried to find the best route to the top. Once we were out of the trees the visibility was down to a few meters and we were effectively walking blind up the side of the volcano in the fog. We continued up for a few hundred meters and found the old gate house from before the last eruption and it was at this point I decided to turn back while the doctors continued on, I told them I would wait at the refugio until they came down. I made this choice for a very important reason I learned from a friend long ago in the Canadian Rockies:
Getting to the bottom of a mountain is always more important than getting to the top!
Visibility was very low and getting worse and I didn’t want to go on and risk getting lost in the fog and not finding the trail back down. I wasn’t happy about it but I made my way back to the refugio and I spent an hour or so having coffee with the other hikers before the doctors turned up too. They went a few hundred meters further and gave up for the same reason I did and they headed back down. We made our way back down the trail and after walking a few kilometers down the road we paid a pickup truck driver to let us hop in the back for $1USD and he drove us back to Baños.
We went back to the hostel and got cleaned up and had a quick meal before we headed our separate ways like travelers do but I will always remember the attempt we made together and the risks we took. I have since learned that when the locals tell you it is not safe to do something, you should always listen and not make foolish decisions. Thanks for reading!
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