Pasochoa (20.08.2010)

After breakfast I was met by Franklin at the Auberge Inn where I had been staying for a few nights. Franklin was our mountain guide for the 9-day trip arranged by the company ‘High Summits’ based in Quito. Today would be an easy acclimatisation walk up a hill outside of Quito. The rest of the group were waiting for me on the bus. There were 4 Germans (Andrea, Tomas, Elke and Michael), a Spanish bloke (Mathias), and an American who didn’t appear to have done any kind of mountain climbing/walking at all (Nick). They all seemed quite friendly people from first impressions anyway. Our first stop of the day was the baguette shop, on our journey to Pasochoa. A lot of the height was gained by bus, and we got off at about 3600m, which meant less to climb. It was a shame as it was a nice track leading up the grassy slopes and then onto a fine summit ridge, which was equally vegetated. And there was even a bit of scrambling too. I did feel the altitude a bit since l I was having to breathe harder even at the slow pace we were going. No headaches at this point though, so we spent a good ½ hour-ish at the top, sucking in the 4200m air and partially enjoying the overcast views of Cotopaxi and Rumiñahui. As always, the sun started to appear as we made our way back down the mountain! Nevertheless, it was a pleasant and warm drive back to Quito.

Unfortunately the surroundings of the Mariscal District left most of us with very little sleep that night because of the noisy street parties and various other music-themed events going on throughout the whole night. I didn’t wake up feeling happy the next morning!