I arrived after an overnight flight via Columbia at around 09:00 on the Friday morning in Quito International airport. I was met by one of the guides Pablo. Bit of a dull day of resting at the hotel which is situated at 2,800 metres so a chance to adapt to the altitude a little.

Morning meeting with the guide to check kit. We then went on a cable car to 4,000 metres and did a 90 minute walk up to 4,500 metres to help with the climatization. Id been telling the guide and his boss about the work at altitude I’ve done before the trip but am not sure they quite believed it so wanted to test it! Felt good and could have comfortably gone higher. First thing you notice about Ecuador is they have wild dogs running everywhere!

Walked up to the summit of Pasochoa today which is 4,200 metres, around a 5 hour round trip. Again found it comfortable except the last 200 metres which was steep but also very muddy and slippery so was hard to get your feet. Coming down it was great and I felt like a big kid again! Last day with the guide Pablo as he can’t take us onto the ice so we have a new one tomorrow called Diego. I’ve also been given the nickname El chibo loco (the crazy goat) as Pablo thinks I get up and down the mountains like a goat! Been called a lot worse in fairness!

Met the new guide, Diego. We climbed to the summit of Ruminahui today which is 4,610 metres. We got to see 2 Condors of which they only have 136 in Ecuador, so we were very lucky. They are a big bird which can kill calves apparently! Was comfortable again and felt I could have gone higher. Feeling strong and fit which is good. Altitude been no problem.

We left early and drove to the car park for the high camp for Cotopaxi to do some ice training. The car park was at 4,800 metres and we walked to 5,250 metres. We had the opportunity to practice with our crampons, Ice axe and rope ready for our summit attempt tomorrow. Im a little concerned still about my gloves not being good enough but will soon find out. Excited about the challenge of doing this in the snow and ice.

We had a quite morning and an early lunch before walking to high camp which is 4,860 metres to get some rest before the summit attempt. As were quite quick were up at 12:00 and leaving at 01:00 am which is an hour later than others. Cant wait to get going and the afternoon and evening drags as we wait to leave.

We woke at 12:00 and left at 01:00. Cold morning but some cloud cover so not to bad. Little wind but nothing to worry about. The walk to the summit was comfortable but a little hard. We summited at 05:53 so took us only 4 hours 53 minutes which seemed a decent enough pace. No problems on the way up although a little cold on the summit and I need to do something about my gloves! Positive was my feet felt really good in the summit boots and never once felt cold. Hardest part was when we stopped as would get cold, id preferred to have just bashed through it.

We walked back down and got down at 07:45 so a really good time up and back. The views coming down were stunning and it gave an appreciation to what we had just walked up! The views coming down I will never forget. Felt tired when at the bottom through lack of sleep but felt good physically and found it more than comfortable. Altitude was no problem. We left and picked up our things from the hotel and drove to Banos to rest before the next climb, Banos is only at 1,900 metres so a great height to recover at. Onto Chimborazo, well that was the plan!

Woke up and Diego at breakfast was saying the weather had been bad at Chimborazo and in truth this was the moment I should have booked a flight home! Lots of snow had fallen and know one had been able to do the climb for a week. Chilled out round Banos and had a steam and dip in an ice bath to help recover and break the boredom of waiting around!

We travelled early towards Chimborazo and stopped for lunch on the way. We got to the high camp car park just after lunch and it was very clear we weren’t going anywhere when the chef who was accompanying us turned up in flip flops, hardly ready to climb!  At the high camp the snow was waist deep so there was no chance. To be honest I felt Diego new this all along but had to be seen to try and that disappointed me as I could have been home with the family. We decided to leave and do the 5-hour drive back to Quito!

Woke up disappointed about not being able to do Chimborazo but safety comes first and 6 people died on it in October so I can understand the nervousness. Time to fly home. In summary it was a good trip and good experience, certainly ready to go higher and harder now and I feel I need more of a challenge. Was great to spend the 11 days with Darius who did it with me who also has the goal of Everest and he certainly helped get through the down times. We also stayed in hotels with good WIFI, so I was able to connect with home and work and we actually signed a player for the club I work for when I was at around 4,600 metres high, technology is amazing! I’d recommend Ecuador to anyone; towns aren’t that nice but the people are great and the countryside is stunning.