Ice Diving!

Even though it feels like summer, it's technically not even spring, yet. Last month, before the ice on Sebago Lake dissappeared, I cut a big hole with a chainsaw and jumped in for a scuba dive:

(picture above: Getting ready)


This is what it looked like down below:

Tree stump


Touching an airbubble of mine that coagulated at the water-ice interface


Looking up through the hole

cotopaxi 4/4

At 8.30 we reached the top. My guide dropped to his knees and prayed for our safety. The wind was strong and visibility was less than five yards. The feeling of reaching the top was surreal. The climb had been tough, and I was glad we overcame being so close to a forced decision to turn back.
Was I excited? Definitely. But we knew well that the most dangerous portion of the climb was still to come since most climbing accidents occur on the descent.

Dizzy from having eaten barely anything in over 24 hours and fatigued by our exertion, we started out return to the refuge, battling the wind and sleet. Step by step, we descended, working hard to keep our focus. On the quieter slopes, I was able to take in some of the beauty around me and like a child in a story book I felt lost in the wild elemental nature of this land above the clouds.


Only 20 percent of the climbers that day reached the summit, and on the trip back to Quito I took stock. I always thought that when climbing you ‘fought the mountain,’ yet what resonated with me most that day was that, as in rowing, it is a battle against yourself. Your success is determined by your own desire [eds: and some good foutune]. Desire is really the only true endogenous variable to any success. Though my assent was hardly epic in nature, the adventure I experienced has been plenty enough to excite me: I’m already dizzy on my next vertical challenge - Kilimanjaro? Aconcagua? Mount Cook?

Cotopaxi 3/4

Day two started at 12 AM, or technically 11 PM because the “roo” had his clock wrong. (Not that we got much sleep that night since the bunks were like railway tracks). After some dry bread for breakfast we headed out and made slow and steady progress upward. By 4 AM, with a mounting blizzard and dropping temperatures, the Argentinean was developing hypothermia and our team was seriously threatened with the prospect of turning around.

As we prepared to turn around, lady luck tapped me on the shoulder, well, really it was the leader of another group that had already turned around before the summit on account of the cold. In the true spirit of mountaineering, they offered to take our frozen Argintinian down with them so we could continue.

The morning wore on and we passed more groups heading down as they too were forced to retreat. By 7 AM we were on the final leg, a relatively steep ascent to the summit.

Jozef on Cotopaxi - 2 of 4

Day one involved driving to the base of the mountain, a short hours hike to the refuge (base camp) at 4700 meters [ed: the tallest mountain in New England stands about 2000m above sea level], and an afternoon ice-climbing lesson.

I had joined a group of 4 other climbers and 3 local guides who between them [the guides] had made over 1200 Cotopaxi climbs, a statistic that to be honest rang rather nicely in my ear. During the afternoon session the lead guide joked that although I was competent on the ice, I was Dutch and therefore didn’t have enough stamina to make the top. We split into three teams each with one guide, myself with an Argentinean, two Germans in another group and a roaming “roo” of an Aussie was assigned a guide to himself.

Jozef on Cotopaxi, Equador (5897 m / 19347 ft). Post 1 of 4

The next few posts are from correspondence with our friend, and Olympic rower with the Dutch national team, Jozef Klaassen. He recounts for us his recent climb up Cotopaxi, the second tallest mountain in Ecuador.

Take it away Jozef:

Aside from my slightly mad friends in Maine, I had never known anyone who climbed mountains. What craziness I had thought, risk death? For what reward? Because it gives you a warm fuzzy feeling? I didn’t know about that. After already three months touring South America, and several missed chances to climb some impressive slopes 'it' had built in me, this strong desire to conquer at least one of the great southern slopes.

I had arrived in Ecuador two weeks earlier and had already heard of the beauty of Cotopaxi. At 5900 meters it lies in the heart of Ecuador, some 2 hours from the bustle of Quito and from where on a fine day you can observe the wreath of volcanoes that encircle the city.

More from Jozef soon...