mitch blog

Bad weather and a lot of fresh snow was what we had to deal with for the last two weeks of this years summits4kids project. When a little weather window came up we were going for it to climb and ride the 5890m high Cotopaxi.

Here a little clip we did put together to share this experience with you.

To find out more about summits4kids and how you could support the Talita Kumi place of refuge for teenage girls and young  mothers who are struggling in the difficult reality of Quito please visit: www.summits4kids.org

After we got used to the altitude with some hikes in rainy mountains we went up to the Cayambe mountain refuge as a base for our first goal to climb and ride this 5790m high volcano. Already on the way towards the mountain our driver told us that the weather has been really good for the last few weeks and it was not until a few days ago that the rainy season started.
So it was no surprise  that the hike up to the mountain refuge was very wet starting in tropical rain and turning into wet snow as we got closer to the refuge at 4600m.
I was really stoked for the snow as this would at least mean fresh snow for snowboarding here right on the Equator at a 0° lattitude.

all pictures by chris figenshau

0° latitude right on the equator, Giulia Monego, you know the water is spinning the other way when you cross this line and all this funny stuff...

The mountain refuge was a really comfartable place to start our first adventure of specially because the big sleeping room of the mountain refuge was almost empty and we were lucky to have enough wood to dry our wet clothes at the fireplace.

The next day it kept on raining and snowing and so it did the day after. We tried to get a hold of any weather forecast and even got an information send via text message from chamonix,  but the mountaineers were only smyling at us and  explaining again that  it would be impossible to predict any weather at this area. Although we didnt see the sun for the last week we packed up everything to be ready to get up at 1am to check if the weather would be good enough to start our climb.

We had differnt shifts for checking the conditions. At 1am bibi and me were checking: heavy snowfall, 2am Sebastian: snowfall, 3am Jacopo: still snowing. After 3am it was too late anyway to make it to the summit in time for a save descent. When i woke up again at 6am all of  a sudden i got a first view of the glacier.
It took us 20min to get ready and to start climbing with our boards on the back. We knew it was to late to go for the summit but we wanted to go higher up on the glacier to check the snow conditions and to get some turns.

Even the weather was not clear already the early sun covered by clouds was burning our faces. By the time we were bootpacking higher up in knee deep, wet snow the visibility was getting worse again and at about 5200m we decided not to climb any higher and to ride back down to get our first turns on the equator.

when the rain/snowfall stopped for a moment we hiked up towards the glacier

the hike up on the glacier goes quite slow because of all the covered crevasses

cream cheese snow in the white out-snowboarding on the equator

Back at the refuge the weather looked the same as it did for the last days. As a pretty big group we had a hard time to decide if we should stay for another try the next night or better go back to Quito to line up for the next mountain on our plan which we were told usually gets better weather conditions.
Finally  we decided to go back and to start organizing our next mission to climb and ride Cotopaxi.

To find out more about summits4kids and how you could support the Talita Kumi place of refuge for teenage girls and young  mothers who are struggling in the difficult reality of Quito please visit: www.summits4kids.org

After a last surf at the mexican coast I finally arrived in Quito, Ecuador, to meet up with the summits4kids crew. The aim of this  project is on one side to climb and ride the peaks of the three giant volcanoes, Cayambe (5792m), Chimborazo (6310m) and Cotopaxi (5897m) during the coming three weeks, and on the other hand to raise funds  through our action by means of a sport challenge to support an NGO called Talita Kumi in Quito which is assisting adolescent girls and young mothers in need.

To climb and ride high altitude mountains is something new to me because  i usually do climb up on mountains to find and ride the best snow in the best terrain.  However, I like  the crazy idea to use my snowboard in the tropical mountains here  right at the equator, and I also think that the summits4kids project is a really  valuable project  to be part of.
After walking around in Quito today which is already on an altitude of almost 3000m we will do some acclimatization hikes higher up during the next couple of days. Then our first mission will be the attempt to climb and ride Cayambe.

picture by chris figenshau

The crew members:
Beside Bibi Pekarek and myself who represent the Snowboarders on this trip the team consists of the freeskiers and founders of summits4kids Marja Persson from Sweden and Giulia Monego from Italy.  Further Kasha Rigby, an US Skier and mountaineer,  the italian skier and mountainguide Jacopo Bufacchi and a local Ecuadorian mountain guide named Gaspar. In charge of photos for this trip is Chris Figenshau from the US.

To find out more about summits4kids and how you could support the Talita Kumi place of refuge for teenage girls and young  mothers who are struggling in the difficult reality of Quito please visit: www.summits4kids.org