Day 1
Meeting of the participants and their transfer from Quito to the city of Baños de Santa Agua (1820 m). Depending on the pickup location, the trip to Baños can take 2 to 4 hours.
Overnight at the hotel.
Day 2
Today we have a day of acquaintance with the city of Baos de Santa Agua (1820 m) or simply Banos as the locals know it. It is located in the province of Tunguragua, right at the foot of the active volcano Tunguragua (5023 m). Banos is called the "Gateway to the Amazon" as it is the last city in the Andes before reaching the Amazon basin. Due to its privileged location, this city offers many activities. The most famous are the hot springs (banos), which can be enjoyed in many places in the city. Adventure sports such as mountain biking, rock climbing, hiking, etc. are also widespread. Banos also has magnificent scenery with famous waterfalls that lie a few kilometers down the valley. The most famous are "El Paylon del Diablo" ("Devil's Pot") and "El Manto de la Novia" ("Bridal Veil"), which can be visited by taking a local taxi.
"Tarabita" (funicular) to cross the Pastaza River and on the other side of the valley, you can walk through the gardens and vegetable gardens of local peasants. In short, there are plenty of things to do or simply spend the day enjoying the pleasant temperatures and beautiful surroundings.
Overnight at the hotel.
Included meals: breakfast
Day 3
After a day of rest and a relaxing morning in the city of Baтos, the group will pack up and head to the highlands towards the Chimborazo National Park. There will be a couple of short stops along the way and time to buy the last snacks before leaving the “civilization”. The Chimborazo Volcano is an impressive mountain that stands out in the "Volcanoes Avenue".The local farmlands surrounding the mountains are traditionally farmed and are very colorful during the harvest season. Approaching the main entrance, one can see very dramatic landscapes, where the action of old eruptions has shaped the geography of this place. After crossing the boundaries of the park, the landscape becomes very arid, like a desert, where you can see one of the rare South American camelids: vicuñas. These animals are hard to see because they live in quiet, hard-to-reach places. They know how to survive in difficult conditions. Those who live in this park do not come from this area, but were brought here many years ago and eventually became permanent residents.The road goes to the entrance to the lower hut "Refugio Hermanos Carrel" (4800 m), where we start a 1-hour acclimatization hike along the moraine valley to the Whymper hut (5000 m), and then we will descend back to the Carrel hut. The rest of the day-evening will be devoted to preparing for the ascent and an early dinner. Mountain guides will provide all the information and help ensure the best logistics for such a difficult climb.
Night in a hut.
Ascent: 200 m / Descent: 200 m / Maximum altitude: 5000 m / Lesson duration: 1.5 hours
Included meals: Breakfast, Picnic, Dinner
Day 4
Chimborazo (6268 m) is the highest mountain in Ecuador and also the highest in the world measured from the center of the earth, due to is location on the tropical belt. The mountain has five mayor summits all linked by a ridge called the “Arista del Sol” (Sun’s ridge), which probably is the main reason of its Quichua name, which translates “Ice braid”. The main summit is the Whymper (6268 m), named after the British mountaineer Edward Whymper who has the first person to climb it on 1880 along with the Swiss Carrel brothers. Climbing Chimborazo by its normal Southwest route is a challenging affair, is a long 1468 meters ascent and descent in one push at a considerable altitude. The terrain is also complex, as it changes from an easy moraine trail to ice, snow and rock sections, with some easy scrambling at some specific spots. Even though it is not a technical climb, it is physical demanding. The climb starts between 10 PM to 1 AM, according to the team fitness, acclimatization level and meteorological conditions. The mountain guide will decide the departure time and wake up the clients up, 1 hour before, to have some breakfast and get ready for the activity. The first part of the route is no longer the normal route, but a variant known as the “Marco Cruz route”, named after the legendary Ecuadorian mountaineer who first ascended it. This variant joins the normal route after “El Castillo” rock pillar, making the ascent much safer and more scenic. Once on the march, the first part (1 h) is basically a flat moraine until it begins to get steeper, with some few scrambling sections, before reaching the top of the ridge. After a short while walking on the ridge a bit exposed section hiking around the “El Castillo” rock before a flat area where the variant route joins the normal route. The glacier rises on a wide ridge that goes up to an approximate altitude of 5850 m. From this point a gentle traverse elevates westwards reaching 6000 m and then a relative strait up climb to the first summit: the Veintimilla (6230 m), then descend few meters to cross a col and then back up to the main summit: Whymper (6268 m). This is a memorable ascent to a summit above 6000 meters and a test of physical and mental endurance.The descend is done by the same route back to the Carrel hut and, after packing, there will be a transfer ready to take the group back to Quito (4 h).
Night in hotel.
Ascent: 1468 m / Descent: 1468 m / Highest Altitude: 6268 m / Activity duration: 10-12 h
Included meals: Breakfast, Picnic
Day 5
Meeting at the hotel and transfer to Quito airport (1-2 hours). See you again!
Included meals: breakfast
Attention!
- This program can be reduced to 4 days, excluding the day of acquaintance with the city of Banos de Santa Agua.
- You can move the day of acquaintance with the city of Banos de Santa Agua to the day after climbing Chimborazo
- Article "Peru, Colombia, Ecuador - Hot Three" - read