Trekking on Chimbarazo…

This month I am in Ecuador working, taking a bunch of school kids trekking in the Andes, followed by some time in the Jungle and doing some sight seeing and exploring…

We flew into Quito and took it easy for a few days, as the altitude in Ecuadors capital city is over 3000m. We had a nice day out walking up nearby Ilalo Peak to get great views of the city. Once we transferred to a place called El Chaupi we spent a few days acclimatising by getting out in walks, notably up to 4000m on Cerro El Corazon- the team started feeling the altitude here!

Our main trek was around Chimbarazo, at 6300m it’s summit is famous for being the point furthest from the centre of the Earth, due to Equatorial bulge…. Our high point was planned to be the Whymper Refuge at 5000m.

Chimbarazo

The first night in our tents at 4200m was a wild one! The weather was bad enough to batten down the hatches and stay in the tents for 15 hours… The scenery the next day made up for our rough night though…

The third day was a long one! Trekking  up to the refuge at 4800m took a good 10 hours. The team really pushed hard and we arrived in a flurry of snow to warm drinks and a welcome rest! The views from up here once the cloud cleared in the morning were awesome!

Trekking below Chimbarazo

The final day we headed up to 5000m at a slow steady pace, it was only a short walk up to here and the bright sunshine warned everyone despite the strong winds and cold weather. Our descent was truly awesome. After traversing to a historic cave that has been used for over 500 years for Inca rituals, we had a long sandy descent, reminiscent of running down a sand dune – for a thousand meters!

A great time was had by all, and a big sense of accomplishment for the guys who have done very little of this sort of stuff before. The acclimatisation stood us in good stead for our next ascent….

 

 

 

 

 

Second week in Dartmoor

Our second week in Dartmoor followed the same format as previous. Working alongside some great instructors we put the MOD apprentices through their paces with a day Rock Climbing at Hound Tor, a 2 day exped over Dartmoor and a days Mountain biking at Haldon Forest..

As well as the days working we managed a quick evening hit to Hound Tor to solo some of the routes there, and a great evening in the sun Bouldering at Bone Hill – I had not been there before but the area is awesome! Well worth a visit… Glad to be back in Pembrokeshire now after a couple of weeks away, and looking forward to getting some routes done on our stunning coastline!

Climbing at Hound Tor

Climbing at Hound Tor

Walking on Dartmoor

Walking on Dartmoor

Climbing at Hound Tor

Climbing at Hound Tor

Mountain Biking at Haldon Forest

Mountain Biking at Haldon Forest

MOD apprentice week in Dartmoor

This week I’ve been working on behalf of “Wet and High Adventures” with a group of engineering apprentices from the MOD for Bridgwater College. A busy week aimed to develop their problem solving and team-work and to provide a bit of bonding for them! We climbed, mountain biked and hiked throughout Dartmoor from out base at the brilliant “Dartmoor Expedition Centre”.

Our first day of climbing coincided with the only bit of rain for the week, so we headed indoors to the Dart-Rock Climbing Centre. An excellent place for the guys to take their first steps. We spent the morning looking at good climbing technique on the bouldering wall, before learning to belay and get on some routes. A few of the guys even managed some lead climbs – on their very first day climbing – great effort! We finished the day with an awesome inter-team bouldering comp…

bouldering at dart rock

learning to belay

Our 2 day hike over some fantastic scenery was couple with amazing weather – a real treat, and the guys coped well with the navigation and physical nature of the long miles – we did have a fair few stops in the sun by the river though to soak up the rays!

2 day hike on dartmoor

River hopping on Dartmoor

Our final day mountain biking on the excellent Haldon Forest Trails was a brilliant end to the week. Starting on the skills track with the burms, drop-offs and other obstacles, we developed their personal biking enough to finish the day on one of the tricky red trails. A fun week at work with some great people – really nice to be working with a bunch of super highly experienced instructors – and another week of it starting tomorrow!

Mountain Biking at Haldon Forest Trails