Humboldt and Boussingault on Chimborazo: how high did they climb?

February 6, 2019 History alexander von humboldt, andes, book extract, chimborazo, ecuador, edward whymper, history of mountaineering, jean-baptiste boussingault, south america, travel writing 1 Comment

How high Humboldt and Boussingault climbed on Chimborazo has been the subject of much debate. When Edward Whymper made the first ascent in 1880, he was baffled by their descriptions of the climb. So what happened, and how high did they really get?

A short scramble up Rumiñahui, the stone-faced Inca warrior

December 12, 2018 Trip reports andes, cotopaxi, ecuador, edward whymper, llanganates, rucu pichincha, ruminahui, volcanoes 2 Comments

Rumiñahui is an extinct volcano 14km north-west of Cotopaxi, Ecuador’s highest active volcano. Rumiñahui the mountain is named after Rumiñahui the Inca warrior, whose name translates as ‘stone face’ – as appropriate a name as any for this particular mountain.

7 countries with mountains on their flags

September 12, 2018 History andes, bolivia, central america, cerro rico, chimborazo, costa rica, ecuador, el salvador, europe, monte titano, nicaragua, san marino, slovenia, triglav 6 Comments

No fewer than seven countries have mountains on their national flags. To spare you from ruining your eyesight by squinting at a database of world flags to find out which ones, and to give you more time to read angry social media posts, here’s the full list.

Cycling the North Coast 500: a teaser from my next book

September 5, 2018 My books and writing alex roddie, andes, book extract, britain, chimborazo, cycling, ecuador, north coast 500, scotland, sea to summit, travel writing 1 Comment

It’s been three months since I last spoke about my next book Chimborazo. It’s time I updated you, and gave you another short teaser from the book the whet your appetite.

Cotopaxi, a short climbing history: a teaser from my next book

June 6, 2018 My books and writing alex roddie, alexander von humboldt, andes, book extract, charles-marie de la condamine, chimborazo, cotopaxi, ecuador, edward whymper, first ascents, history of mountaineering, jean-baptiste boussingault, sea to summit, travel writing, volcanoes, wilhelm reiss 8 Comments

Last Friday I reached the summit of another metaphorical mountain. After seven months of intensive scribbling I finished the first draft of my next major book. There’s a little way to go before it’s ready for publication, but here’s a teaser to whet your appetite.

Chimborazo’s role in proving Newton’s theory of gravity

February 14, 2018 History andes, charles-marie de la condamine, chimborazo, ecuador, french geodesic mission, pierre bouguer, science, sea to summit, triangulation 2 Comments

It’s a little-known fact that in 1738, during a boring period of the French Geodesic Mission to Ecuador, the scientist Pierre Bouguer decided to use Ecuador’s highest mountain, Chimborazo, to prove Newton’s theory of gravity.

Chimborazo Sea to Summit Challenge: the videos

January 31, 2018 Trip reports andes, carihuairazo, chimborazo, chimborazo sea to summit challenge, cotacachi, cycling, ecuador, edita, edward whymper, mountain films, rucu pichincha, sea to summit, sincholagua, trekking 0 Comment

It’s that time again, when I show off the latest videos I’ve cobbled together in the garden shed with a pair of scissors, a roll of sellotape, and some sticky-back plastic. These ones cover our Chimborazo Sea to Summit Challenge last autumn, when we climbed Chimborazo, starting from sea level on push bikes.

Sea to summit on Chimborazo, part 3: the climb

December 20, 2017 Trip reports andes, chimborazo, chimborazo sea to summit challenge, ecuador, edita, edward whymper, marco cruz, sea to summit 4 Comments

We had cycled from sea level at Guayaquil and circled Chimborazo on foot, climbing Carihuairazo on the way. It wasn’t the most direct way, and there may not be many others who follow in our footsteps, but it had been fun. We had just one more task to do: to climb to the summit.

Sea to summit on Chimborazo, part 2: Carihuairazo and the circumnavigation

December 6, 2017 Trip reports andeanface, andes, carihuairazo, chimborazo, chimborazo sea to summit challenge, ecuador, edita, edward whymper, karl egloff, sea to summit 0 Comment

We had already cycled around the south side of Chimborazo. The next stage was to complete the full circuit by trekking around the northern side to Carrel Hut on the west. Just for good measure, we planned to pop up an extra peak, 5020m Carihuairazo, on the way.

Sea to summit on Chimborazo, part 1: the bike ride

November 22, 2017 Trip reports andeanface, andes, chimborazo, chimborazo sea to summit challenge, cycling, ecuador, edita, sea to summit 3 Comments

Cycling is easier when you are carrying no weight and there are no hills. That was my thought at 10.30 on the first morning of our Chimborazo sea to summit challenge. It was a challenge that terrified me, but could I achieve or would I flop? Here is my trip report for the first part of our challenge.