Flourishing isn't Easy: Rucu Pichincha

Last week my friend Sarah called and asked if I wanted to climb Pichincha sometime this week. My response was, "Sure, just tell me when." She and another friend are leaving Ecuador in the next few months, so we're trying to get in a few last adventures before they leave. As a result, I found my self in a cable car going up to 4100m (13,450 feet) at 9 o'clock yesterday morning. At that point, I was pretty much at the highest elevation I had ever reached, but it was only the start of our climb. From the top of the cable car we could look down on the ant-sized Quito skyscrapers and also had a clear view of Rucu Pichincha towering in the distance. We started hiking along a clear trail, following the path of thousands who had made the trip before us.

About 3 hours later, we found ourselves at an impasse. We had already passed the highest point Sarah had reached, and Alana and I had never attempted Pichincha before. Looking around we found what looked like a pass and decided to go for it. When we reached the pass, we didn't find anything else that looked like a path, and up above us there was only black volcanic rock. Refusing to give up, we decided that the only way to go was up, and we started rock climbing. There were always good holds and enough of an incline, but it definitely made me glad to have taken a rock climbing class in college. A half hour later, I saw two poles up above, and we assumed that if there was anything to see, it must be that.

Success!!! We had reached the summit in a somewhat unorthodox manner. About 5 minutes later a Swiss German couple who started a while after us showed up from a different approach, having found the actual trail with their high-tech climbing map. Even though the clouds had rolled in and we couldn't see anything below us, it was thrilling to actually summit a mountain and know that we were at the top of at least that small part of the world.

Conquistadoras de Rucu Pichincha!

We concluded that we were tough mountain climbing women for having taken the path less traveled by, but decided to follow the Swiss on the way back for a safer descent. By about 5pm I was back home, exhausted but content with my first real mountain climbing adventure!