A Passion for the Mountains - The Alpine Club of Canada

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Las Mujeres de Las Montanas 2002 Celebrating women’s passion for mountains in Ecuador by Isabelle Daigneault As close friends, Olivia and I sought a new challenge to honor the 2002 International Year of Mountains. We created the Ecuador 2002 project to introduce local and indigenous Ecuadorian mountain women to high-altitude trekking and mountaineering in effort to inspire them to further develop character and community leadership skills. Our goal was not to impose, not to patronize, but simply to inspire other women, to share our passion for mountains and to produce a short documentary on this subject. Why Ecuador? Ecuador is a country rich in diverse peoples and landscapes. Never have I felt mountains to be so alive, landing at the airport only days after volcano El Reventador exploded, covering Quito with fi ve centimetres of ash. Frequent eruptions of Ecuador’s numerous volcanoes remind us its mountains are very much alive. Home to the world’s highest active volcano, 5911 m Cotopaxi, and the world’s highest mountain from the center of the earth, 6097 m Chimborazo, Ecuador provides beautiful scenery and fantastic mountaineering opportunities. Due to economic and social limitations, most Ecuadorian women do not have the opportunity to enjoy the outdoors, nor do they strive toward mountaineering, a traditionally male-dominated activity. On a desolate country trail you’ll often see a myriad of people in red, pink or blue carrying piles of wood or working the land – they are all women. Women care for their families and work all week long with land and animals, while the men work in cities. Being submissive to the expectations Interviewing Olga & Aurora at the Collanes Plains Hut, El Altar Volcano 18 Alpine Club of Canada ● Gazette ● Summer 2003 of a culture, however, does not mean that one cannot or does not have leadership and cannot empower oneself to start new projects, teach others or attempt to improve life. The Women As the co-owner of Quito-based Safari Tours, Pattie is one of only a handful of Ecuadorian female mountaineers. She recently started mountaineering to better understand what draws her clients to Ecuador’s mountains. Pattie told us she was received with a lot of awe and surprise when she returned to the hut after climbing Approaching the refuge at Cotopaxi her fi rst peak, Iliniza South. We wanted to climb Cotopaxi with Pattie because she had attempted it twice without reaching the summit and thought it could be a milestone in her life and Ecuadorian mountaineering. Olga, 21 and Aurora, 18 are part of an organization called ‘La Minga’, the association of indigenous women of the province of Chimborazo, home to Chimborazo volcano. They work the land daily, caring for animals and as part of their duty to La Minga, visit several elementary schools in their region of Colta to help feed and educate children. Following Ecuadorian tradition, they are bound to live and work with their parents until they are Olivia Sofer & Isabelle Daigneault - Cotopaxi, Ecuador married. We built relationships with them via the Internet over several months. For their fi rst experience, we planned to take the two young women on a three day expedition to Volcano El Altar, where they would gain serious altitude, approach a glacier and see a mountain peak up close – and evaluate whether or not they enjoyed mountain climbing. The Climbs Acclimatization for Cotopaxi and 5404 m El Altar was key. Olivia, our cinematographer Doug and I acclimatized on 4200 m Pasochoa and 4784 m GuaGua Pichincha, which erupted in 1999 and 5116 m Iliniza Norte with Pattie. The Illiniza Norte climb was not technically diffi cult. Formerly covered in snow, footing on the peak has been made easier with exposed rock caused by recent global warming. Bordered by jungle, the climb was wonderful and Pattie was happy to summit her second ever peak. After leaving the 4800 m Cotopaxi refuge at midnight on three hours sleep, our team climbed with headlamps. Unfortunately, Pattie felt weak a few hours later, just short of the glacier. She turned back and we continued. The day rose as we approached the summit where we crossed lots of crevasses. Approaching 5400 m, we felt dizzy. The effects of altitude are very strange – climbing and taking steps forward – it does not feel like it’s really you. Your mind becomes your most powerful ally. Accompanied by high winds and high altitude hail, I felt tired. My body wanted to give up. My mind wanted to climb and ‘bag’ this peak and see the crater. At Yanasacha Pass, approximately 200 m below the summit, inside a hidden ice haven we ate, rested and debated as to whether or not to make the summit. We tried leaving Yanasacha Pass but in the wind again
hail pinched my face so hard I could not breathe what little oxygen there was. Tired, with more than our share of high altitude mountaineering, turning back would have been easy. Olivia and I looked at each other. “Let’s go to the summit,” I said. “Let’s give it one last push.” We encouraged each other to the summit; every step I took for the last 200 m was a struggle. At the summit, bad weather hid the crater. The descent was diffi cult; never had I felt more spent, my metabolism in overdrive from the altitude. As much as mountains can give to us, they often take a lot as well. El Altar on the other hand, was the crux of our expedition. We met Olga and Aurora in Riobamba a few days after Cotopaxi and spent time getting acquainted. We spent one day in a school and watched the women at work, feeding and educating poor country children. As we looked into the Quechua children’s teary eyes my only thought throughout the day was that life was not fair… We set up Olga and Aurora with the gear they needed locally, then made our way to El Altar and completed the seven-hour Join Us for a Mountain Adventure You Won’t Forget! Find Out More . . . For more information on each camp, including their levels of diffi culty, please visit our website at www.AlpineClubofCanada.ca and follow the links to Mountain Adventures. Alternatively, call Lawrence White at the ACC’s National Offi ce (403) 678-3200, ext. 112 or email him at: adventures@AlpineClubofCanada.ca slog up a muddy trail to the Collanes Plains where little cabanas made of straw await tired trekkers. Olga and Aurora were often ahead of us, their lung capacity being fi t for Ecuador’s mountains. We made dinner and a fi re and prepared for the trek to the crater of El Altar and the foot of Obispo peak. El Altar, and more specifi cally Obispo peak, is Ecuador’s most diffi cult climb. Trekking right to the glacier and just below the peak was an amazing sight for the women. The closer we got the faster they went in awe and excitement. They had never touched snow before and made snowmen and snowballs when they reached the fi rst patch. They kept looking back, not believing how far and how high they had gone. They felt inspired and free. During our documentary interview the next day, they spoke of doing more – seeing pristine places, waterfalls and bigger peaks. The Future Through our trip, we met Dana Platin, an American woman who’s lived in Ecuador for fi ve years. She organized an expedition to Cotopaxi last year with two indigenous women from the province of Cotacachi, north of Quito, with the same photo by Patricia Daum There are still a few spaces left on some of the ACC’s summer mountaineering camps. There are camps for all levels of experience – whether you are strapping on your crampons for the fi rst time, or have been adventuring in the mountains for many years. Jasper Classic Peaks Date: July 5 - 12 Cost: $1595 + GST Marmot Women’s Mountaineering Camp Date: July 13 - 18 Cost: $850 + GST Under 25 Climbing Camp Date: July 19 - 26 Cost: $1000 + GST Peak Weekend – Bugaboos Date: August 1 - 4 Cost: $795 + GST Lyells Mountaineering Camp Date: August 8 - 16 Cost: $1750 + GST Fryatt Climbing Camp Date: August 16 - 23 Cost: $1495 + GST goals as ours. We did not know about it then but found it most interesting to meet the women who climbed with her and to learn how mountaineering had changed their lives. One of the women has started a paper recycling non-profi t organization to donate money to children in need of food and education. We introduced Olga and Aurora to Dana and they plan on climbing Chimborazo with the indigenous women of Cotacachi in winter/spring of 2003. Pattie will keep on climbing. For more please visit: www.lasmujeresdelasmontanas2002.com First climb, fi rst snow; Olga & Aurora on El Altar Tatshenshini Rafting & Scrambling Adventure Date: Aug. 17 - Sept. 3 Cost: $4295 + GST Silent Pass to Rogers Pass Traverse Date: September 5 - 13 Cost: $1595 + GST photo by Bill Corbett Alpine Club of Canada ● Gazette ● Summer 2003 19
Page 1: Vol. 17, No. 2 ● Summer 2003 A Pa
Page 4 and 5: To Every Place There is a Season by
Page 6 and 7: Kokanee Glacier Cabin The Alpine Cl
Page 8 and 9: Pumpkins in Training Winter Leaders
Page 10 and 11: Liability in the Backcountry by Joh
Page 12 and 13: above: Cathryn emerging from Mac’
Page 14 and 15: If You Go… Getting There Arrange
Page 16 and 17: A Passion for the Mountains by Amy
Page 20 and 21: Water Wellness in the Backcountry b
Page 22 and 23: Trespassing at ACC Backcountry Huts

A Passion for the Mountains - The Alpine Club of Canada

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