Mountain stories from Latin America and Asia
By John Shanahan
November 3, 2018
Volcano Cotopaxi in Ecuador, 19,347 feet, climbed in 1991
Just south of Quito, Ecuador, nearly directly on the Equator, Cotopaxi is the world’s highest active volcano. From 16,500 feet up to the summit, the snow and ice are more than 20 feet thick. You climb with Steigeisen, crampons strapped to your boots with steel teeth 1 ½ inches long. A misstep and you slide down the ice until you fall into a crevasse.
Between December 20, 1991 and January 10, 1992, I was in Ecuador for a month of backpacking with a Swiss friend. We planned to climb mountains and walk in jungles. Two days before we were to climb Cotopaxi, we were on another mountain at 16,000 feet to acclimatize. A local peasant who called himself, “la guardia del bosque” (Robinhood) was hiding in tall grass waiting for us. He had a revolver and took our high-tech clothing and other new expensive gear recommended for high altitude climbing of Cotopaxi. He held us at gun point for three hours until sunset. He fled on a small motorcycle he had hidden nearby. Before he left, he took our boots and threw them over a cliff. We had to scramble down to get the boots and then walk seven miles and 6,00 feet down to Quito. While he held the gun to my head, I was concentrating on the good life I had with my family and saying thanks. As we lay face down in the grass, my Swiss friend (who has an unusual sense of humor) told me in German that I should charge the thief and while he was shooting at me, he, my Swiss friend, would attack the thief, get the gun and recover our valuables. I didn’t follow my friend’s suggestion and attack the thief with his gun. Instead, I filed a police report in Quito and used it to file a claim with my travel insurance for about $3,000 of lost equipment. The next 25 years have been great.
Two days later, starting at midnight from a climbing refuge at 15,000 feet we climbed Cotopaxi to near the summit at about 19,000 feet. I stuffed newspapers between layers of sweaters to stay warm the old-fashioned way.
John Shanahan walking down Cotopaxi Volcano near the Equator in Ecuador, December 29th, 1991. It was my first climb above 14,000 feet. At 19,000 feet, I was short of breath and could hardly speak. Better conditioned climbers had no problem at 19,000 ft and found it a beautiful place. The 20-foot-deep snow and ice on the volcano comes from moisture blowing in from the Pacific Ocean. Above 16,000 feet the temperature is below freezing most of the time, even on the Equator. People who have been up there when there are storms say that it is the worst weather they have ever been in.
Imja Tse or Island Peak, Nepal, climbed 1996
20,305 foot Imja Tse Peak is for “tourist” mountain climbers. Towering over it is Mount Everest at 29,028 feet.
John with Swiss and American friends climbing Imja Tse in Nepal in 1996.
To get to the beginning of our 20 day Nepal trek, we flew from Kathmandu to Lukla airport. See arrow. The take off from this airport is even worse than the landing. Like on an aircraft carrier, the plane accelerated on a downward sloping short runway that ends at a several hundred feet high cliff. Hopefully, your fully loaded plane reaches flying speed before reaching the end of the runway or its down to the river. My wife decided not to go on this trip. Reason: no shower and hot water.
Mount Kailash, Tibet, circumambulated in 1999
Mount Kailash is the most remote mountain we ever visited, over 500 barren miles from nowhere. It is considered sacred to the Hindu, Buddhist, Jain and Bonpo religions
John and two Tibetans meditating at Mount Kailash. The high point of the three day walk around the mountain is about 18,000 feet. Kailash is 21,778 feet high. Because of its sacred meaning going back over 2,000 years, it is forbidden by Tibetans and Chinese to climb it.
Photos of Tibetans on pilgrimage to Mount Kailash.
Tibetan and his yak on a sacred 3-day walk around