Off to the Andes

training stats: nothing, just rest

Thanks, Heike, your guess is right. I am heading for Ecuador and its chain of volcanoes. I am part of a group of 12 guys who have a tough programme of peaks to do:

Rucu de Pichincha, 4,784 meters
Illiniza Norte, 5,126 meters
Cotopaxi, 5,897 meters
Chimborazo, 6,268 meters

These mountains are technically not too difficult. The only thing concerning is that we will be ascending by a rather high speed. We arrive at Quito (2,800 meters) on Sunday. Climbing Pichincha is scheduled for Tuesday and Illiniza for Thursday and Cotopaxi for Saturday night.

Heading for high mountains you never know what happens. Altitude sickness can catch everybody - you can be fit enough to run a marathon but this is no guarantee you will be able to survive at high altitude. And of course always there is the weather you have to respect. Therefore I would be happy to get to two of the four planned mountain tops.

For those of you speaking German: I have booked with the German Alpine Club's agency, effectively called the "Summit Club", our detailed schedule is published here.

I regret I will have no internet access during most of the time. So you will have to wait for any news until end of November. Sorry about this incovenience. Don't worry.

In case you like to read my German race report of last Sunday's New York City Marathon, here it is.