November 25, 2016
Received the email below from Eric, one of our November Ecuador trip team members, who wanted to take a shot at Chimborazo after the regular trip. Romulo was able to accommodate and Eric describes the results below. Nice job, Eric!
Phil Ershler
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From: Eric Huang
Sent: Thursday, November 24, 2016 8:48 AM
To: IMG
Subject: Ecuador
Hi, just a quick update on Chimborazo.
We set up high camp at 17700 ft just under the Castle yesterday morning. By 11pm Romulo and I started our traverse onto the southwest ridge. The snow line was reached at nearly 19000 ft, so the initial part was just on climbing boots without crampons. The weather was super nice, clear sky, just a little below zero with no wind at all. I was wearing a base layer and a medium insulation layer.
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- Romulo and Eric on the summit of Chimborazo (photo: Eric Huang Collection)
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- A new day on the furthest point from the center of the earth (photo: Eric Huang Collection)
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- Thumbs up from Eric (photo: Eric Huang Collection)
Starting from high camp obviously gave us a lot advantages. We took many 30 secs breath catching breaks and still manage to reach the Ventimilla summit at 4:40. It was still dark so we continued onto the main summit and by 5:15 Romulo and I stood on Whymper! We took some pictures and watched sun raise.
Romulo and I are off the mountain now and will have a celebration lunch. Romulo will drive me to airport tonight.
Thanks, and Happy thanksgiving!
Eric Huang, IMG Climber