\n\t\t\t\tSangay (Luke Reilly)\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd><\/dl>
\n\t\t<\/div>\n\nThe ten highest mountains in Ecuador are often referred to as the Big Ten.\u00c2\u00a0 Although maybe not the tallest mountains in the world, topping out with Chimborazo at 20,561 feet, each one offers a unique experience.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The climbs range from more or less a day hike, to multi-day\/multi-pitch alpine routes; all guarantee some form of adventure.\u00c2\u00a0 A friend of mine recently asked for the beta on Sangay.\u00c2\u00a0 Not often can you reply with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6keep an eye out for tapir on the approach, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll need mud boots to get in there, crampons can be helpful for the frozen ash and take a good log of the frequency of the eruptions before the ascent…\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
I had three goals for my latest trip to Ecuador in December.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The first was to complete the Big Ten.\u00c2\u00a0 The second was to improve my Spanish speaking skills and the third was to learn more about agriculture.\u00c2\u00a0 I got linked up with IMG\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s local Ecuadorian guide, Romulo Cardenas, who could help me accomplish all three \u00c2\u00a0goals.\u00c2\u00a0 In between harvesting rows of lettuce I shot up to the mountains.\u00c2\u00a0 The three on the list were Antisana, Sangay and Tungurahua. \u00c2\u00a0Antisana was at the top of the list.\u00c2\u00a0 Jenni Fogle and I had attempted it in August only to be shut down by terrible weather and route conditions.\u00c2\u00a0 This time around, straight to the summit, no problem.<\/p>\n
Next was Sangay.\u00c2\u00a0 After what I estimate to be a thirty mile approach, I made the 5,600 foot ascent from the jungle to the crater rim.\u00c2\u00a0 The trickiest part of Sangay is choosing a time between eruptions to tag the top; Sangay is commonly referred to as the highest active volcano on the planet.\u00c2\u00a0 The timing was right and I knocked another one off the Big Ten.\u00c2\u00a0 Nine down, one to go.\u00c2\u00a0 Tungurahua has been relatively quiet the last decade or so, with very few eruptions.\u00c2\u00a0 While climbing Sangay, Tungurahua exploded experiencing one of the largest eruptions in the last decade.\u00c2\u00a0 I can manage small eruptions, but I am not willing to take on the objective hazards of massive explosions with pyroclastic flows and ash.\u00c2\u00a0 Until Tungurahua decides to calm down, back to the fields to pick lettuce.\u00c2\u00a0 Nine out of ten isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t bad either.<\/p>\n
Luke Reilly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
February 7, 2013 Check out the following write up from IMG Guide Luke Reilly.\u00c2\u00a0 Here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a guy who likes Ecuador almost as much as do I.\u00c2\u00a0 He even spent most of December working on the farm of Romulo Cardenas, our Ecuadorian partner, while continuing to snag all the high peaks in the country.\u00c2\u00a0 Now, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ecuador-volcanoes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9266"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9272,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9266\/revisions\/9272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Antisana-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mountainguides.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Sangay-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n\t\t\t\t