In the belly of Volcan Cumbal 4764m

Maria and I tried this one 12 years ago and had to turn back due to lack of time, poor visibility, off-route and difficulty breathing the sulfur gas emmitted from the steam vents. So back for another go, with brother-in-law Carlos, who had only climbed one other volcano, 15 years ago. We too ended up off-route, but it turned out for the better in the end, so that we were able to camp on the edge of the smaller, lower crater to the south, instead of the gas filled summit crater to the north.


Here is an ariel shot taken by the Colombian vulcanology institute, who´s job it is to monitor these beasts. We spent the night on the edge of the far crater, and the next morning climbed down about 300m to by-pass the narrow connecting ridge and then up to the summit crater.


Summit crater is indicated by the huge steam-gas vent.

We had it much easier this time, as there are 3 or so kms of horse trodden mud, which was relatively dry this time round.

Paramo....and Frailijones that grow between 3700m to 4100m

Plenty of cairns to mark the way....useful in the common foggy conditions.

Nearly as loud as a jet engine!

Locals mine the sulfur and take it down by sled and horse.

An artist´s pallate...however you spell it.

On the edge of the smaller-lower crater, looking towards the Pacific about 100 or so kms away.

Camped on the edge of this.

Mist rolling in around 6pm. Down to zero overnight.

Sumset and steam-gas rising from below.

The objective for the next morning....the summit crater.

.....but we had to find away around this 1st....no cairns on this stretch between the two craters to assist us.

Fortunately, the morning fog burned off and we had clear views of Chiles, Cayambe and Cotacachi in Ecuador, with all else below, obscured by mid-level cloud.

And so it was easy route-finding with the fog-mist gone.

Up thru the colored band .... into the black band....

.....and into the summit scree and sulfur gas.

Carlos arriving at the summit...note the yellow sulfur under foot and Volcan Chiles in the background.

Yippee! Highest he´s ever been!

The endorphin goat himself. I´m sure many jokes could be made of this seating position and apparatus, but I won´t stoop that low.

View to last nights camp....small crater in front of the large one in the distance.

The huge summit steam-gas vent....the same one as in the 1st two fotos.

The descent.

....and back to the paramo and home by 3pm for a roast Peruvian turkey dinner....no guinea pig this year :)

Volan Galeras above the city of Pasto

Galeras is on the Decade Volcanoes list....the top ten in the world most likely to erupt. Its last eruption in 1993 killed nine people...vulcanologists and 3 tourists: I didnt linger long at the summit....there was no one else there, as its been closed to tourists for years....I wonder why.

Bít unnerving with the off and on blasts of gases from the cone in the crater, but not as unsettling as looking down into Volcan Pacaya in Guatemala at sunset a few years back, to see the lava bubbling below.

Can´t seem to get my photos is the correct order....but Im sure youll figure it out.


The cone in the crater.


Part of the crater with the cone to the left.

Cone

Summit ridge and tourist viewpoint....no longer in use, as its been ripped apart by projectiles.

A closer look at the walk way lookout.

Paramo vegetation.

Im told they were swept years ago. But I stuck to the old tire tracks anyways and treaded softly :)

Frailejone above Pasto.

Rich soil on lower slopes.

Why aint that just purdy.

The little things in life

Hiking with Ramon, makes me slow down, stop and smell the roses.....or orchids, dandelions, centipedes, snails, butterflies, mushrooms etc. Ramon pokes and prods while dad photographs.


Does he really have 100 legs?


Kind of like bike touring....carrying your house with you where ever you go.

This little camera really does great macro shots. Butterflies really do have curly tongues.

Maria, Carla, Vilma her sister, and Carolina, Vilmas daughter, way back. I bet Carolina 20,000p that she couldnt make it to the top of the hill with the cross....just to get her out there. She made it.

The magic variety perhaps? Same cow poop and weather as Vancouver.

She doesnt cry like Ramon when its bathtime.

This is about 4 to 5 inches long.

Pasto gets its name for the green grass that surrounds it.

Jampoom

Picking flowers for mom above Pasto.

More grass......

With grandpa Ramon in the morning.

Volcan Chiles....Ecuador-Colombia border

Volcan Chiles 4723m, is located on the Colombian-Ecuadorian border. The only way to access it seems to be from Ecuador, so after attempting to cross the main border and finding a 4 hour wait, (apparantly not uncommon) I chose a smaller crossing further west, where they don´t even want to see your passport! I got dropped off at the hightest point on the road at 4100m in thick cloud at 2:30pm. At 5:30 pm I found myself about 100m short of the summit, on what I found out later, to be the harder route, and with the sun ready to set I needed a place to pitch my one person tent. There was nothing around that wasn´t out of rock fall danger, until I decended to about 4300m.

Overnight the drizzle stopped and it cleared off as hoped. The temp only dropped to zero, but the drizzle froze to the rocks. Now I had a clear view of the route I was looking for and dropped down to get on the proper ridge. Sunrise at 6am brought awesome views of Volcan Galeras above Pasto to the north, the Amazon to the east, Volcanoes Cayambe and Cotolpaxi to the south just past Quito and the Pacific to the west. Dropped my heavy gear and only took 1.5 hours to reach the summit....a bit tricky on the narrow summit ridge with ice on the west facing rocks.

Sure was great to be back climbing a real mountain, (even if the vertical was only 600m, I did climb it almost twice!), after 3 years, with only one scramble in the Sahara in between.

BTW....Maria and I tried this 12 years ago, but when the bus dropped us off into gale force winds....we turned tail and got transport straight back down!


Well it must be there somewhere....the sign at the bottom says so! Just follow the cairns....numerous on these Andean peaks, becasue of the common fog-cloud conditions.

Should be on the ridge in the RHS background.

Sunrise

The summit. I was on the right hand ridge the previous afternoon at 5:30 before turning back. Darkness comes quick on the equator and didn´t want to get caught on tricky slopes, trying to get a tent up.

More sunrise

Cayambe....on the equator.....actually the highest point in the world thru which the equator passes thru.....on its north flanks. I had a view of this beast from the Amazon years ago.....from 500m looking up to about 6000m I think this one is.....a very rare day in the amazon!

So down and then onto this ridge and up.

from the summit

from the summit....only spent 15 mins at it was clouding in at 9:15am....

Frailejone in the alpine zone below. That is not the summit but just a ridge bump lower down.