Made it to 17,800 feet

Wes and Curtis are back in Quito safe and sound. They got up last night at 11 pm and were on the trail by midnight. The weather was very calm, no wind and a small moon. However, apparently the mountain is not letting anyone summit this season. The bergschrund was way too big to try and cross. They saw some other guided groups up there trying to figure out how to cross it but couldn't find a way either. Wes said they were supposed to stay to the far left on the trail but for some reason they went to the far right and were in the middle of all these crevasses and seracs. He said it was very cool but dangerous. Curtis ended up falling into a crevasse up to his knees but he made it out okay. They got as high as 17,800 feet at the bergschrund and that is where they had to turn around. All the other groups turned around there, too. They made it back to the hut at 10:30 this morning. The guide that drove them back to Quito said that no one has summited Cayambe for awhile. He said that there was a natural snow bridge that was allowing people to cross but it collapsed about a year ago. Wes said that even though they weren't able to summit Cayambe they had a really good time on that mountain - doing the ice climbing and repelling, etc. The guys got back to Quito at about 3:30 pm and are at the Sierra Nevada Hotel. Wes said the first room they got did not have any hot water and the shower wouldn't drain. So they got another room which has two beds but is really, really tiny and they are surrounded by all their gear. He said this one doesn't have hot water either so they have to go to the front desk every time they want hot water to let them know. I guess the pilot light or something is not working. Tomorrow the guys will be resting in Quito. On Tuesday they will be driven to Cotopaxi. Wes heard that Cotopaxi has been having some really high winds lately so they will just have to see how it goes.