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6:15am: exit Baños hostel (1800 meters) and begin trek up to Refugio, carrying 3-4 days of food and water (6 liters) with me. 11:16am: arrive at Refugio (3800 meters). This is a great place to stay, much better than I thought it would be. I have the place all to myself. 12:02pm: lunch. I have six hours to contemplate continuing a full climb to the crater (5016 meters). Can see the seismic shack above. 12:58pm: I am going to attempt a climb. 2:39pm: The weather is not clearing. I get the rare cloud break, but given the time I am thinking of aborting. Everything points to the crater being very close. The ridges to my right and left converging at a point not far up. At 2:02pm I heard a substantial landslide -- sounded like it was directly above me. Luckily it was elsewhere. (Later estimated I reached approx 4600 meters -- GW) 3:01pm: I am aborting the climb. I have 2-3 more days to try again. Time to descend. 3:23pm: Seismic shack (approx 4000 meters). Holy f#@&!! That was a massive explosion!! Though I see no evidence of landslides above me it sounded like rocks cascading down both sides of the ridge I just descended. I have buried myself in a small crevice in case rocks start raining. 5:09pm: Refugio. Wind and rain too much to observe the weather and volcano further. 5:47pm: This is absolutely incredible. I have a gorgeous mountain-valley sweep before me -- and behind me are ash cloud eruptions! ... There are moments in life you stand in awe of existence. This is one of them. 6:35pm: The top of the volcano is now cloud free and it is constantly erupting ash clouds. I am standing here in complete disbelief I was up there, so close yet did not even know due to the thick cloud cover and strong winds. I could not see or hear any of it! Being able to study the volcano like this is a fantastic bonus. I now know exactly where the crater is in relation to my path up. 8:00pm: Day´s review: My expectations were to reach the Refuge today. I accomplished a lot more than I expected to. To start: that I climbed 2000 meters with several days of food & water in 5 hours is excellent time. That I went up an additional 800 meters soon after surprises even me. I was able to (1) map the route up, (2) grade its difficulty, (3) establish a timeline, (4) note eruption patterns, (5) observe the weather, and (6) test my physical stamina. The rock markers were extremely helpful as I climbed in heavy cloud cover. There were many lingering moments in thick clouds wondering if I should abort the climb. Not having a clue where the crater is was too risky to continue. ... Now familiar with the terrain I think on a clear day I can reduce my climb time substantially. I think I can do the peak in 2 hours.
6:25am: I am buried in clouds; will check again in an hour. 10:16am: still no sign of clouds easing. If I have a mission today it is to fully rest, get used to 3800 meters, rehydrate sufficiently, and eat plenty. 1:37pm: seeing evidence of another late afternoon clearing. I am preparing a climb should suitable conditions arise. Heading to the seismic shack above. 7:10pm: I lost my pen at the seismic station. The last 5 hours have been the most intense of my South American journey by far. True to pattern the weather began clearing in the afternoon. At 2:10pm I made the call to begin ascent. I could see increasing evidence of blue sky all around me. With not a single muscle ache after yesterday's attempt, physically and mentally ready, up I went. By 3:06pm I arrived at the same rocks as yesterday, kept on going. My greatest concern at this height being rock-bombs from crater explosions. I kept hugging 'rock spines' as I ascended, to take shelter in should I be suddenly bombarded. Occasionally a cloud would move in and reduce visibility to a minimum -- a few meters. Skirting several rock spines there came a point where I had to move into the open, to switchback the steep mud incline. I pushed myself as hard as I could because I knew the less time spent at such heights of an active volcano the better one's chances are of non-injury. And then it happened. Picture this if you can. At 4850 meters, approximately 3:30pm, climbing a steep incline of mud, heavy cloud surrounding me, the volcano unleashed itself in fury ... multiple explosions deafened me. I could see absolutely nothing. I dug my fingers into the mud for I thought the trembling volcano might cause me to lose my grip and tumble down the side. I curled up into the tightest ball I could to minimize body exposure to rock-bombs. I felt every single explosion. All I could do was hang on. The intense rumbling and explosions continued. The clouds eased and I caught sight of rocks flying through the air to my right. The clouds moved on and with sight restored I continued climbing while the ash cloud soared into the air and the explosions eased. Increasingly familiar with the volcano's activity, with that grand-daddy of an explosion past I knew I had another hour before the next one hit. Continuing up I had to fight with myself to push on, like the climb of San Cristobal in Nicaragua. It was getting very steep. But I beat the fear down. Who goes to 4900 meters and not 5016?! Certainly not me. The little stacked rock markers (guardians) had long disappeared by this time, leaving me on my own to devise the route up. 3:41pm, at last I came to what I suspected was the final ridge-run to the crater rim. The one side of the ridge was a steep drop. I huddled into some rocks while a cold wind and cloud moved over me, erasing visibility. It lasted for some time and I wondered if I had been suckered into coming this high only to be lost in clouds, rain and wind. Thankfully the cloud passed and I decided to make a break for the crater rim, conscious that I would be totally exposed for the duration. Closing in on 5000 meters I took baby steps in shifting sand and gulped for air. It was 4:16 pm when I stepped over the ridge and onto the crater shelf. First thing I noticed was rock-bombs strewn everywhere. The active part of the crater was some 30 meters to my right. Towards the back of the crater I noticed less evidence of rock-bombs so I ran across the crater shelf as fast as I could. Upon arrival I found large sand trenches, noticably devoid of bomb pits. I gratefully took shelter among them. From here I began snapping pictures of the surrounding crater walls, the crater interior, ash clouds, pictures of myself, full blue sky sweeps with Volcan Cotopaxi (5897 meters) to the north. I went nuts. Including two movies of 3:32 and 6:43 minutes in duration. At times I backed away from the crater rim for safely, not wanting to get a rock in the face or chest. Yes, at times I wondered if I had finally done myself in. Like when this massive, swirling ash cloud blocked out the sun, rising hundreds of meters over my head (4:22 to 4:25pm, movie). Or when another series of violent explosions started behind me, throwing rocks high into the air (4:51 to 4:53 pm, pictures). But I continued filming and photographing through it all. At 5:03 pm I put my tripod away, checked to make sure I had all my gear, ran like hell across the crater shelf, found the lone stick to mark my place of descent, took one last look, last pictures, and down I went, in leaps and bounds, skiing my sand switchbacks in reverse. After the intense activity of the volcano's crater returning to lower altitudes -- terrain that had intimidated me only hours before -- was a breeze! I marvelled at that -- smiling, laughing, yelling. I celebrated so much on the way down that I had to remind myself I was still within rock-bomb range for the first 15 minutes. During descent I further documented the day, snapping pictures of me with ash clouds erupting behind, full mountain / cloud sweeps, including Volcan Chimborazo (6310 meters, Ecuador's highest peak). I lingered as long as I could in the remaining light of the day, happy to have exceeded all my expectations. I am in the Refugio now, writing madly for 1 hour and 10 minutes to get this on paper before the intensity of it all recedes.
8:32am: packing. wind is minimal so crater explosions are well heard. I am having a hard time leaving. Final parting photos taken. As I have lots of time, the weather is warm, no wind or rain, I'm not in a rush to leave. 10:17am: depart Refugio. 12:48pm: Pondoa school yard (2600 meters). Leisurely descending, literally smelling the flowers as I do. 6:43pm: Baños hotel; 1800 meters. Sat in a farmer's field for two hours viewing the ash eruptions of the volcano. I look and relook and replay the pics / movies. Unreal. This picture is taken from my hotel room window. Pretty good view for $8 a night. Providing the volcano doesn't cataclysmically explode, of course.
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