Day 26... Testing... Testing...
I had read that when you are in Quito, one of the must do things is take a ride on the TelefériQo .. the cable car that rises up above the city into the mountains beyond.
With Cotopaxi looming .. I needed to have some further acclimatisation and I had read about a hike up to another volcano, Rucu Pichincha, which stood around 15800ft. Whilst the summit would be fantastic, there were several notes of caution in my head... as follows...
1. My shoes were not adequate for a technical hike... for Cotopaxi I would be borrowing boots and crampons. The trekking shoes I am wearing are generally fine but I don't fully trust their grip, especially when on slippery rock.
2. I am solo, although I have the kit to ensure I don't get lost and stay warm and dry, and I have the SOS button on SPOT, being solo means more caution is required.
3. and finally... I mustn't exhaust myself today when the next 2 days are gonna hurt.
Having prepared by reading up about this hike, I knew that there were a couple of more technical sections... therefore my aim was either to get to the technical section and judge whether I could safely get myself up and down or have a turnaround time of 1400, whichever came first... I was happy with these limitations. Any altitude I gained today was a bonus!
So I hailed a cab to take me to the cable car... $4 later and I was standing in the queue for a ticket... $8.50 for a return ride and then steeling myself a little, I hopped on, my back to the drop. I was accompanied by 2 english girls and a bloke from Sweden, who were chatting about their plans for their 6 month tour of south america... it distracted me from the dizzying heights that we were gaining!
As I have got older, heights still generally aren't a problem, as long as I have 2 feet on terra firma. A ridgeline is ok... but cable cars... not so much! So I kept my eyes fixed on the bank of grass just below us and breathed deeply... 18 minutes later and we were all standing at around 12500ft. So far so good!
I set off, following what I assumed was the path. It went past a small church and then headed up to the horse coral ... yup it was tempting to hop on a horse but that surely would be cheating.
The start of the trail ... pretty much straight up... and I soon found myself gasping for air... my heart was beating pretty fast and I reminded myself that slow and steady was good. I had to avoid going too much into the red.... never mind tomorrow.. I had to get down today as well.
I came to this sign board. Essentially it suggested all the things that you might want to tick off before ascending. Most I had covered. Yes I was solo, but therefore I would be more cautious. My other nagging concern was my shoes... other than that, I was good!
The path was well defined and sandy and as I slowly made my way up, the views became ever more spectacular. Quito splayed out below... at this distance it looked peaceful, bathed in sunshine.
Up here the sun wasn't so much in existence but I was still pretty warm due to the effort of the up! I was going pretty slow, but that didn't concern me to much as long as I stuck to my rules, I would be fine. At some point the three that I had come up with came charging past. They were going to walk for 1 hour and then descend... I stuck to my pace, well aware that you can only climb mountains at your own pace and not anyone else's.
For the most part, I was ascending by myself, sometimes being passed, sometimes passing others. Some people made me shake my head in wonder at the little kit they had with them. No respect for the mountain in my opinion.
There were several summits along the way... each up making my lungs ache, gasping for air, pausing regularly, but slowly ascending. I enjoyed the rhythm... I wasn't in a hurry... I had started early enough to give me plenty of time whatever I decided to do. Photo stops and pausing to admire the view were good excuses to take some deep breaths and slow down the heart rate. The legs felt good at this point.
Eventually, I reached the first technical bit... I stood trying to decide whether my shoes were suitable for this small rock climb... I say small... it felt pretty high when I got halfway up, and didn't trust the grip on the shoes enough... I was a bit stuck. I knew what I needed to do... switch feet on the foothold I had and then stretch across the rock to the next foothold... sounds easy from down here! A nice gentleman held out his hand and helped me across... but it got me wondering about whether I should turn back. There was also the slight worry about getting myself back down but hey, lets worry about that when I get there.
The path became narrower, with a few section where landslides and rockfalls had made their mark. I was a bit more more cautious now, treading carefully and ensuring a good foothold before planting my weight. Then came another technical section... I watched as a few others (with decent boots) slowly picked their way up the rocks... it didn't look too bad, but some of it looked a bit slippery and there was a reasonable drop. I probably could have done it... it wasnt that hard... but as I said at the beginning of the blog... being solo means that I have to be certain that I can get MYSELF up and, more importantly, down, without reliance on others to help me. If I don't think I can do that, then I don't continue... its as simple as that. Others may be comfortable with shrugging their shoulders and going for it, but I have my rules for me and today, with the shoes I had, it didn't feel right to continue.... so I turned round at 14600ft and started to make my way down.
The clouds were rolling in a little and I dug my coat out of my bag to add another layer... the wind had picked up and it was a little chilly!! Going down was a lot easier than going up on the lungs and the heart, but it served as a timely reminder that going down is sometimes harder physically on the rest of the body. I was cracking on at a good pace but each step pounded on my joints, my toes... ahh my toes .... and hurt the bruise on my left leg!! It reminded me that one must be left with enough energy to get down again. Most important!
The down part took hardly any time at all compared to the up and as I sauntered down, I kept going over in my mind the decision I had made to turn back.... every time I thought about it, I knew it had been the right decision..
No regrets...
I reached the top of the cable car, staggered into the cafe and bought myself a well deserved coffee and cake. To be fair, the cake was a bit dry and the coffee was not Gold Blend, but you can't have it all!!
I made my way, past the bottled oxygen for sale, to the cable car... placed myself on the seat facing the mountain with my back to the view. Sharing the cab with me were a gentleman and a lady, rattling away in Spanish. Turns out the gentleman was from Canada and once again I had conversation to distract from the long way down.
Christian also informed me about why there have been protests in Ecuador over the last few days (I hadn't really noticed to be fair)... apparently the president had raised the price of petrol instead of raising taxes and the people were protesting all over. There was also some border protests in Tulcan, where I started my ride, which had something to do with the number of Venezuelans coming over the border. Apparently, Ecuadorians like a protest... and then after a few days, go back to work. It was interesting to hear some of the background politics that hadn't really encroached on my horizon whilst I was here. I knew people were pretty poor. I knew access to healthcare wasn't great, but I didn't't get the sense that people were desperately unhappy, unlike my impression in Russia for example.
I said goodbye to the two of them and made my way to the taxi rank where the price had gone up, from $4 to $7 because apparently they had to pay for parking.... ok.
My taxi driver Luiz spoke pretty good English and persuaded me to let him take me to the airport early saturday morning. He seemed a nice guy and was willing to pick me up at 01:30, so fair enough.
He dropped me off at the hotel where I spent what remained of the afternoon recovering... ready for Cotopaxi.
A little nervous... fingers crossed all goes well over the next 2 days. I am being picked up at 11am tomorrow so there is still time to get a name on the flags!
All you have to do, is donate a little towards the cause by going to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/lydia-franklin1 and then sending me a message.
All money raised helps Fight Back against cancer!!
Love Hope Strength
With Cotopaxi looming .. I needed to have some further acclimatisation and I had read about a hike up to another volcano, Rucu Pichincha, which stood around 15800ft. Whilst the summit would be fantastic, there were several notes of caution in my head... as follows...
1. My shoes were not adequate for a technical hike... for Cotopaxi I would be borrowing boots and crampons. The trekking shoes I am wearing are generally fine but I don't fully trust their grip, especially when on slippery rock.
2. I am solo, although I have the kit to ensure I don't get lost and stay warm and dry, and I have the SOS button on SPOT, being solo means more caution is required.
3. and finally... I mustn't exhaust myself today when the next 2 days are gonna hurt.
Having prepared by reading up about this hike, I knew that there were a couple of more technical sections... therefore my aim was either to get to the technical section and judge whether I could safely get myself up and down or have a turnaround time of 1400, whichever came first... I was happy with these limitations. Any altitude I gained today was a bonus!
So I hailed a cab to take me to the cable car... $4 later and I was standing in the queue for a ticket... $8.50 for a return ride and then steeling myself a little, I hopped on, my back to the drop. I was accompanied by 2 english girls and a bloke from Sweden, who were chatting about their plans for their 6 month tour of south america... it distracted me from the dizzying heights that we were gaining!
As I have got older, heights still generally aren't a problem, as long as I have 2 feet on terra firma. A ridgeline is ok... but cable cars... not so much! So I kept my eyes fixed on the bank of grass just below us and breathed deeply... 18 minutes later and we were all standing at around 12500ft. So far so good!
I set off, following what I assumed was the path. It went past a small church and then headed up to the horse coral ... yup it was tempting to hop on a horse but that surely would be cheating.
The start of the trail ... pretty much straight up... and I soon found myself gasping for air... my heart was beating pretty fast and I reminded myself that slow and steady was good. I had to avoid going too much into the red.... never mind tomorrow.. I had to get down today as well.
The path was well defined and sandy and as I slowly made my way up, the views became ever more spectacular. Quito splayed out below... at this distance it looked peaceful, bathed in sunshine.
Up here the sun wasn't so much in existence but I was still pretty warm due to the effort of the up! I was going pretty slow, but that didn't concern me to much as long as I stuck to my rules, I would be fine. At some point the three that I had come up with came charging past. They were going to walk for 1 hour and then descend... I stuck to my pace, well aware that you can only climb mountains at your own pace and not anyone else's.
For the most part, I was ascending by myself, sometimes being passed, sometimes passing others. Some people made me shake my head in wonder at the little kit they had with them. No respect for the mountain in my opinion.
There were several summits along the way... each up making my lungs ache, gasping for air, pausing regularly, but slowly ascending. I enjoyed the rhythm... I wasn't in a hurry... I had started early enough to give me plenty of time whatever I decided to do. Photo stops and pausing to admire the view were good excuses to take some deep breaths and slow down the heart rate. The legs felt good at this point.
Eventually, I reached the first technical bit... I stood trying to decide whether my shoes were suitable for this small rock climb... I say small... it felt pretty high when I got halfway up, and didn't trust the grip on the shoes enough... I was a bit stuck. I knew what I needed to do... switch feet on the foothold I had and then stretch across the rock to the next foothold... sounds easy from down here! A nice gentleman held out his hand and helped me across... but it got me wondering about whether I should turn back. There was also the slight worry about getting myself back down but hey, lets worry about that when I get there.
The path became narrower, with a few section where landslides and rockfalls had made their mark. I was a bit more more cautious now, treading carefully and ensuring a good foothold before planting my weight. Then came another technical section... I watched as a few others (with decent boots) slowly picked their way up the rocks... it didn't look too bad, but some of it looked a bit slippery and there was a reasonable drop. I probably could have done it... it wasnt that hard... but as I said at the beginning of the blog... being solo means that I have to be certain that I can get MYSELF up and, more importantly, down, without reliance on others to help me. If I don't think I can do that, then I don't continue... its as simple as that. Others may be comfortable with shrugging their shoulders and going for it, but I have my rules for me and today, with the shoes I had, it didn't feel right to continue.... so I turned round at 14600ft and started to make my way down.
The clouds were rolling in a little and I dug my coat out of my bag to add another layer... the wind had picked up and it was a little chilly!! Going down was a lot easier than going up on the lungs and the heart, but it served as a timely reminder that going down is sometimes harder physically on the rest of the body. I was cracking on at a good pace but each step pounded on my joints, my toes... ahh my toes .... and hurt the bruise on my left leg!! It reminded me that one must be left with enough energy to get down again. Most important!
The down part took hardly any time at all compared to the up and as I sauntered down, I kept going over in my mind the decision I had made to turn back.... every time I thought about it, I knew it had been the right decision..
No regrets...
I reached the top of the cable car, staggered into the cafe and bought myself a well deserved coffee and cake. To be fair, the cake was a bit dry and the coffee was not Gold Blend, but you can't have it all!!
I made my way, past the bottled oxygen for sale, to the cable car... placed myself on the seat facing the mountain with my back to the view. Sharing the cab with me were a gentleman and a lady, rattling away in Spanish. Turns out the gentleman was from Canada and once again I had conversation to distract from the long way down.
Christian also informed me about why there have been protests in Ecuador over the last few days (I hadn't really noticed to be fair)... apparently the president had raised the price of petrol instead of raising taxes and the people were protesting all over. There was also some border protests in Tulcan, where I started my ride, which had something to do with the number of Venezuelans coming over the border. Apparently, Ecuadorians like a protest... and then after a few days, go back to work. It was interesting to hear some of the background politics that hadn't really encroached on my horizon whilst I was here. I knew people were pretty poor. I knew access to healthcare wasn't great, but I didn't't get the sense that people were desperately unhappy, unlike my impression in Russia for example.
I said goodbye to the two of them and made my way to the taxi rank where the price had gone up, from $4 to $7 because apparently they had to pay for parking.... ok.
My taxi driver Luiz spoke pretty good English and persuaded me to let him take me to the airport early saturday morning. He seemed a nice guy and was willing to pick me up at 01:30, so fair enough.
He dropped me off at the hotel where I spent what remained of the afternoon recovering... ready for Cotopaxi.
A little nervous... fingers crossed all goes well over the next 2 days. I am being picked up at 11am tomorrow so there is still time to get a name on the flags!
All you have to do, is donate a little towards the cause by going to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/lydia-franklin1 and then sending me a message.
All money raised helps Fight Back against cancer!!
Love Hope Strength
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