Cotopoxi Refuge Monday/Tuesday January 16/17

After lunch (which arrived late from Quito with Rene) we headed up to the Refuge on Cotopoxi. Bruce had decided because of his leg that he wasn´t going to attempt the climb. Gary, being such a nice guy, decided to stay with Bruce and have good meals and beer rather than rot up in the Refuge.
The Refuge really isn´t that bad, not as nice as Cayabme, but it isn´t totally awful. We had our usual little house to sleep in away from the main hut so we wouldn´t have to listen to the loud English climbers (Team Wanker).
We basically arrived, had a small dinner of soup, tortilinis (luckily not pesto) and went to bed around 6pm to wait for our 11pm wake up.
Meanwhile Bruce was down at Tombopoxi having a interesting experience with some llamas. (Ask Bruce about it, I think he has photos.)
The 3rd guide was supposed to wake us up at 11pm but he forgot, so we didn´t get woken up until 11:45 for our 12am start. (oops)
We started the climb at 12:30 and the sky was mostly clear, we could see stars, but the summit was clouded in. It was also a bit windy.
The higher we climbed, the higher to winds got, and the more cloudy it got.
It as exactly like last year, we slowly turned into walking ice-climbers.
Dennis should remember this well.
We got up to around 18,250 feet when the winds were wicked fast. The visiblily was wicked zero.
It was decided that it was too dangerous to continue and Jose Louis was really sorry to turn us around, but safety has to come first.
¨The summit is optional, the return is manditory¨.
We are currently staying at a really nice Hacienda and we need to get together to decide if we are going back to Cotopoxi, or off to Chimborazo.
Either case... Bruce is off to Quito (maybe...ya never know.)