2014 was a good year; let’s continue like this in 2015! What did our mountaineers achieve in 2014? 90 times the tour members managed to reach the top. This results in an awesome summit hit rate of 72,58 % (of 124 mountaineers in total).
summit hit rate
7 of Ecuador’s highest mountains (higher than 5.000 m) were the targets, most popular amongst them Chimborazo (6.310 m) and Cotopaxi (5.897 m), being the highest and second highest mountains of Ecuador, with a total of 73 intents.
So the good news is, that almost 3 out of 4 mountaineers reached the top with andean summit adventure, realizing their dreams.
Failure reasons:
But what happened to the remaining 27,42 %? Why didn’t they reach the summit? We analyzed carefully, what are the reasons behind it in order to further improve our summit hit rate in 2015. Let’s start with a general overview: 34 mountaineers did not make it to the top. We organized the reasons for failure in 4 groups: physical condition, bad weather or bad conditions on the mountain, weak rope mate and altitude sickness.
physical fitness:
By far the most common reason is lack of physical fitness. Almost a 60 % did not reach the summit due to insufficient preparation and training. Followed by a 20 % where the weather or generally bad and dangerous conditions prevented mountaineers from summiting. Then there are 2 more categories: weak rope mate and altitude sickness, which are quite important in our opinion. WHY?
altitude sickness:
A reason for altitude sickness is in many cases missing or inadequate acclimatization. Altitude sickness was only the case by 9 %. Therefore, we did a great job to acclimatizate the climbers.
weak rope mate:
Another interesting reason is a weak rope mate: Frequently there are cases, where people try to save a few dollars contracting only 1 guide for 2 persons, already knowing, that they are not in the same shape or do not have the same level of experience and this often leads then to disappointment, when they arrive at the point of return, because one of the 2 mountaineers is not able to continue. Asking the one who has to come down involuntarily, the saving obviously did not pay off.
Cotopaxi:
Cotopaxi is the most popular mountain, having the reputation of being easy. That’s why Cotopaxi attracts many people who are not really prepared, just giving it a quick try. 23 mountaineers did not reach the summit, being more than a 50 % of the total intents and only 4 of them had bad luck with the weather. All the others failed due to the lack of preparation (12), having a weak rope mate (4) or being caught by altitude sickness (3).
What are the lessons learnt: adequate training is essential, be consciousness about your abilities and like this your chances of summiting Ecuador’s highest mountains are quite high with andean summit adventure.
Come and climb with us.
… we share your passion & realize your dreams …
your andean summit adventure team