Many of us have risen in the cold mornings in the summer of our capital, and we have marveled with the white-snowed capped summit that shows us in Antisana in the east side of our capital.

Proudly, we tell to one of our friends that is the fourth highest summit in Ecuador, after the Chimborazo, the Cotopaxi and the Cayambe. Its 3 summits can clearly be seen, in fact, are 4, but that the oriental summit is not visible from the city. Certainly, is a magnific mountain but likewise it is one of the most difficult and technical challenges around the country.

The history of the Antisana begins with a great character of the national andinismo, Edgar Wymper who in company of Marco Jiménez reached the central summit named Equator Summit on March 9 1880. 60 years passed until other summits began to be visited. The imposing and rough geography of the Antisana intimidates to the most expert andinista.

7 routes have opened up for the 4 summits, and the yearning of exploring new roads to crown one of the 4 summits of the oriental colossus of the serranía, has provoked deaths and polemics.

Several people have died in the intent of conquering this giant of ice, especially in the route toward the south summit. There it is where my history begins.

The mythical south summit of the Antisana was the challenge; we needed to open a new route to the summit cutting its oriental south edge. It wouldn’t be easy since we would have to cross walls of ice and mixed rock climbing sections with slopes of between 55 and 90 degrees including some extraplomos sections.

The route carries out as a project to be part of ASEGUIM, as a mountain certified guide. Our mission was to take our instructor as if was a client toward the summit for this new route. The gear we needed was really heavy and the climbing techniques to be used for this ascent were extreme.

At 3 in the morning I woke up in my carp, looking for my climbing partners. After a short breakfast, we start our adventure in Antisana. Soon we meet with the first obstacle, rock slopes and ice walls. We had to take extreme care in this section since it looked singularly fragile. Stepping smoothly and assuring our cordada to the wall, we climbed this section in about 40 minutes. This was only the beginning of several ice walls that would require all our effort. One to one, the special security gear we brought to this adventure was nailed to the ice. Crossing deep cracks and seracs, the fatigue and the extreme conditions diminished our energy.

At the end of this sheer section, the mountain received us with the most terrible storm that I have experienced as andinista, it was one hour violent winds, lightings and thunders I haven’t felt such colder temperatures in Antisana before. The only chance we had in the middle of the storm was to wait among the seracs and wait for the worst.

Finally, the storm stopped and we could continue our ascent. After a short time we get to the path of the normal ascension route to the south summit and met a group of climbers that would help us a lot in our way down this their rappel gear and techniques.

After 10 hours mixed rock and ice climbing, we crown the south summit cutting the oriental south edge. A risky and extreme adventure that difficultly will be forgotten.

This new route to this summit, as well as the other routes and summits in Antisana volcano, will be always an attractive and a challenge for every extreme mountain climber searching for adventure.

Antisana offers several routes depending on the difficulty level. Experienced and rookie climbers find a place in this mountain. 3 base refuges near 4600 meters are the star points for this climbing challenge.