I arrived back in Banos a few hours ago from my wonderful, but exhausting trip to El Altar. I feel like I say this everytime I get back from something new, but this was definitely the most amazing place I have been able to see since arriving in Ecuador.The beauty of El Altar came at a cost though, and that cost was an extremely tiring 7 hour trek.

Last Thursday afternoon I left Banos and headed for the small town of Urbina, where I would spend two nights acclimating and preparing for my trek. I stayed at a hostel owned and run by Rodrigo, the guide that invited me on the trip. I spent those two days walking around the nearby hills and admiring the views of Chimborazo (top photo) and Carihuairazo (bottom photo).

Saturday morning we woke up early, had breakfast and headed for Riobamba. In Riobamba we picked up the last of our group, bought some food, and grabbed some needed gear from Rodrigo's office. Our group would consist of Rodrigo, Albaro, Marcos, Segundo, Fabian and myself. Of the six of us, Marcos and I would be the only ones not attempting to summit the mountain. Once we were all set to go, we took off for an hour and a half car ride to the starting point.

After a spectacular drive, we arrived at the beginning of our trek. We had horses carrying in all of the needed gear to set up the base camp for the guys attempting the summit. Because of this, we all only needed to carry on us what we needed for the day. The picture below is of me at the start of the hike, wearing my borrowed army rain pants and rubber boots (the picture was taken before I realized just how much work I was about to put my body through!).

The hike started off fairly easy, with a few hours of slightly sloping, and, like always in Ecuador, muddy trail. There was a beautiful view of a mountain ridge along with a waterfall coming down from it.

I was admiring this view when Rodrigo pointed out to me that our goal for the day would be to make it to the top of the ridge and behind the waterfall. Are you kidding me?! After about two hours of steep uphill trekking, exhausted, I finally made it to the top. The view made the climb so worthwhile. On one side there was a view of the valley that I had just trekked through and up out of (top photo with Marcos, Albaro and Rodrigo). On the other side there were views of multiple mountain ridges, along with a breathtaking view of the Sangay volcano (bottom photo).

We continued to walk this ridgeline for the next couple hours before finally arriving at camp just at sunset. The last hour of the hike for me was the hardest, and the altitude was definitely starting to get to me. It felt good to put my body through a physically demanding experience, but it felt even better to lay down for the night.

The next morning, Rodrigo, Albaro, Segundo and Fabian woke up at 4am to start their push for the summit. It must be noted that they were attempting to climb the tallest of the peaks in the El Altar range, referred to as the Bishop. This is known as Ecuador’s most difficult and technical climb. Marcos and I woke up with a clear view of the mountain and we were even able to find our friends traversing the glacier.

The clouds eventually rolled in, followed by rain and finally snow. Because of this we were unable to watch the rest of their summit attempt. Instead we spent the better part of the day inside the tent, awaiting their arrival. 11 hours after leaving camp, they finally made it home! All four of them had a successful summit! They were all extremely happy and it seemed like this had been a goal for each of them for a while. Below is a picture of Fabian, who apparently led the group to the summit, just after arriving back at camp.

While the day could have been better weather, the sunset made up for it. From the hill on which our campsite sat, we were able to catch some amazing sunset views. We were granted views of Sangay, Chimborazo, Carihuairazo as well as El Altar. Alongside the mountains was a sea of clouds floating in an orange sky.

This morning I arose from my tent to find yet another breathtaking view. It was Chimborazo peaking out of a clear sky.

We left camp around 9:30am with the intent of taking a nice and easy decent, allowing for lots more photos to be taken. While the clouds did roll in a little, there were still many moments of clarity allowing for some more great views.

Below the glacier of the Bishop peak lays a beautiful green crater lake. The clouds never did let up long enough for me to snatch a photo of the lake and the glacier, but I was able to still capture the beauty of the lake itself. The El Altar Mountains are filled with lakes similar to this one.