hey guys,

In a few hours i will be leaving to climb Ecuadors highest mountain Mt Chimborazo, it´s the highest mountain in the world when measured from the center of the earth, the Peak is the closest point to the sun on earth, and its bigger than every mountain further north of it on the North American contininent and larger than all the mountains in Europe. I wake up every morning to see Chimborazo outside my window, i´ve been training for tonight for the last 4 months and its wierd that the date has actually arrived and i feel a little nervous

Like most of Ecuadors mountains you can only climb during the night because the Equatorial sun makes the snow really icy, slippery, and dangerous during the day increasing the chance of an avalanche. We start our ascent at 12:30 in the night, and because its a full moon we wont have to use headlamps.

from wiki

quote:

Until the beginning of the nineteenth century it was thought that Chimborazo was the highest mountain on Earth (measured from sea level), and such reputation led to many attempts on its summit during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In 1802 during his expedition to South America, Baron Alexander von Humboldt, accompanied by Aimé Bonpland and the Ecuadorian Carlos Montúfar attempted to reach the summit. From his description of the mountain it seems he reached a point at 5,875 m, from where he and his companions returned suffering from altitude sickness. At that point they had reached the highest point attained by any European in recorded history.

to give you an idea of how fucking big this mountain in:

quote:

Missing flight #232 In August 1976 SAETA flight #232 (Vickers Viscount, 4 Crew, 55 Passengers) was reported missing while in flight from Quito to Cuenca. Immediate extensive searches of the possible crash area did not produce any evidence. A crash on Chimborazo was considered to be most probable, while some speculated about hijacking by Colombian Guerillas. In October 2002, after having been missing for 26 years, the aircraft and the bodies of its 59 occupants were found on Chimborazo by Ecuadorian andinists climbing on a seldom used eastern route (Integral) at a height of 5,400 m (El Comercio 2003).

the cemetary just past the first refugio of about 20 climbers who failed to make it back