Jake with Cotopaxi in the background.
With bonds forged at the beginning of 2009, Jake and Shal formed a team with an already-present strong foundation. Copper and tin - strong on their own, but stronger together. Proudly representing the classy side of Section 4, the two were roped together and set off on Cotopaxi towards the back of the pack.
The initial going was easy - a bit fun, maybe - Jake aided by a solid four hours of sleep and Shal aided by the motivation to not be within earshot of Jake (who was singing along to his iPodic source of motivation for much of the trip). We quickly conquered the first portion of the trip, stopping for a brief rest and for our stoically silent guide (Falco? I seriously never got his name) to rope us together - Jake in the middle; Shal at the end.
The grueling trip began in the inky blackness disrupted only by the surprisingly-sprawling Quito skyline. Step left, step right, lean on the ice axe. Repeat. Repeat, and repeat. Breaks were taken liberally, as we were cognizant of the last push being the toughest. A typical scene was Shal resting his legs and staring down from whence we came as Jake popped more caffeine and bobbed to the beat of his music, scared of sitting down should he not have the energy to rise once more.
2 A.M., 3 A.M., 4 A.M.... the hours ticked by with little changing save the Big Dipper slowly creeping up from the horizon. Upon reaching a particularly precarious spot - a path about a foot wide with a steep drop off, the mental games became hardest. The headlamps ahead of us were so elevated - impossibly high - how were we to climb this? It became even more important to focus on just the next steps and motivating each other, but our impassive guide remained ever impassive - his eyes seemingly challenging us. "Get up. GET UP. I do this three times a week."
We pushed on in a dream-like trance. Dawn began to break only to cruelly reveal the hardest part of the climb - a 10 or 15 meter scramble up a steep ice wall that required scaling on all fours.
Shal: "I have nothing left in me."
Jake (yelling to himself as much as Shal): "LET'S GOOOOOOOOOO"
Music playing is the intro to Sweet Child of Mine
With the guide tugging Jake and Jake tugging Shal, away we went - plant, plant, kick, kick, climb. Repeat, repeat, and repeat until we crawled over the edge. Turning our eyes upwards, we began to see the first several groups on the climb downwards. Inspired as much by their ascent as not wanting to let them down, onward we went.
About 30 minutes later, we rounded the corner to see Niki and Kirsten in awesome spirits on top. We exchanged hugs and a kiss or two, then were immediately overwhelmed by the majesty of the view.
Jake sank awestruck to his knees staring into the rising sun as we hovered several thousand feet above the strato-cloud level. This was a view and accomplishment both of us will hold for the rest of our lives.
CONGRATS BROTHER! WE DID IT!!!
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