For our second venture out into Ecuador we chose to go to Riobamba, mostly to ride the Nariz del Diablo – which as I’ve already said, was a bust. However, we had a great time in spite of the minor disappointment.
I can officially say I have been now been as high (on the planet) as I think I can possibly be without becoming a mountain climber and training for it. Chimborazo, the highest mountain/volcano in Ecuador is 6300m (roughly 21,000 feet) tall. And not only that, but its summit is the farthest spot from the center of the Earth (thanks Wikipedia and several Ecuadorians). At the first refuge, where I stood, I was 4800m above sea level. And yes, it is harder to breathe. And yes, all I wanted to do was sleep when I got there. And yes, I had a lovely, dull, throbbing headache. But I did it. And to date, Cuzco, at 3800m, was the highest altitude I had conquered.
Chimborazo was beautiful; however, like everything else on the planet, global warming is taking its toll. There is less snow there now than there has been in the past. Normally snow comes easily down to the first refuge, but as you can see in my pic, that’s no longer the case as this is as far as I made it up the mountain. The views were breathtaking, as was the altitude.
