Providing painstakingly detailed information for safely and securely navigating some of Latin America's most rewarding excursions, this guide is for both avid climbers attempting Chimborazo's 20,700-foot summit or recreational trekkers looking to get off the beaten path. From the heights of the Andes and the cloud forests to the Amazon, coastal rainforests, and the low-lying beaches, time-tested travel advice and updated route descriptions are offered on how to select the best outing to suit each individual's interests, abilities, and time constraints. Step-by-step instructions on how, when, and where to approach each trail guide climbers, hikers, bikers, and trekkers through these often unmarked paths.
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About the Author
Rob Rachowiecki is the author of more than 20 books on South America and the southwestern United States, including Lonely Planet Ecuador & the Galapagos Islands, Lonely Planet Peru, and Lonely Planet Trekking in the Central Andes. He lives in Tucson, Arizona. They are coauthors of Ecuador: The Bradt Climbing and Hiking Guide. Mark Thurber is an outdoor enthusiast who manages an environmental and archaeological consulting firm. He lives in Quito, Ecuador.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
New and Improved: Ecuador Climbing and Hiking Guide,
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This review is from: Ecuador: Climbing and Hiking Guide: VIVA Travel Guides (Paperback)
Detailed and accurate, thorough and comprehensive, the new Ecuador Climbing and Hiking Guide is an invaluable resource to anyone planning on climbing or trekking in Ecuador. This is the only available guidebook to Ecuador that covers climbing and hiking throughout the entire country: from the western coast to the eastern jungle, including short walks in urban parks to extreme technical ascents of high-altitude volcanoes. The maps and charts are easy to follow and the brief introduction and highlighted area facts are helpful for those with short attention spans (like me) in determining whether or not to visit the area in question. The information on lodging and gear shops is up-to-date and useful. There is a lot of helpful information for birders and naturalists. For climbers, climbing routes are indicated by red lines on current color photos. No more struggling to decipher routes on hand-drawn topos! The authors, Thurber and Rachowiecki, and the folks at Viva did a good job with this book and it should be the go to resource for years to come.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must-have Guide for Climbers and Hikers in Ecuador,
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This review is from: Ecuador: Climbing and Hiking Guide: VIVA Travel Guides (Paperback)
Writing guidebooks for Ecuador, as with much of Latin America, is like aiming at a moving target -- prices rise, governments fall, businesses close. But if that's tricky, try navigating the region's equally fickle landscape, which is always undergoing some grand transformation.Despite erupting volcanoes, avalanches, and unpredictable weather, the Ecuador Hiking and Climbing Guide (V!VA Travel Guides, 2009) has kept leisurely day-hikers and hard-core climbers pointed in the right direction for more than two decades. Now in an updated and expanded sixth edition with a new publisher, Rob Rachowiecki and Mark Thurber's guide retools dozens of trips, from coastal day-hikes to high-páramo treks to multi-day jungle jaunts. Also an essential outfitter's resource, the guide includes where to buy food and hardware, rent a full rack of climbing gear and hire guides and porters. New quick-reference hiking and climbing "matrices" list the particulars of every trip, including distances, altitude, weather and the exact topo map to buy at the Military Geographical Institute (a visit to this buttoned-up institution is all part of the fun). The hikes are the guide's biggest strength. The authors interpret plenty of easy and moderate tramps that are perfect for newbies, even at 10,000 feet above sea level, and for long-haul trekkers there are detailed backcountry routes through the Avenue of the Volcanoes, including such classics as the Trek of the Condor and the northernmost end of the Inca Trail. If birds, rural life, or hot springs are your thing, the matrices will help you pick out the best trail, and the hiking maps have been entirely revamped and now show GPS coordinates. Mountaineers can select from more than a dozen milder ascents to prepare for tough technical peaks or big summits over 18,000 feet. The authors threw out the last edition's tired black-and-white mountain graphics and opted for super-imposing the climbing routes over high-quality photographs. This fresh scheme gives sharper, more accurate perspectives of the climbs, ones that should dull less quickly against the surprisingly swift pace of change in Andean terrain. The climbing instructions, however, ultimately work best as intelligent planning advice and pre-ascent psych-outs rather than as substitutes for certified guides (unless your crampons are truly well worn). For the armchair climber who opts to hang by the fire while his buddies set out on a moonlight climb, there's also good reading about Edward Whymper's record-breaking summits during the 1880s, long before Gore-tex and climbing guides hit the market. My review of the new Ecuador Hiking and Climbing Guide, by Mark Thurber and Rob Rachowiecki (V!VA Travel Guides), appeared in the April 2009 edition of South American Explorers Magazine and at my blog, Coolcoper, at [...]. I am a co-author of Lonely Planet's Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands, Peru and South American on a Shoestring.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic Update,
By
This review is from: Ecuador: Climbing and Hiking Guide: VIVA Travel Guides (Paperback)
While I enjoyed the last edition of this book, the latest published by V!VA Travel Guides is fantastic. The maps in general are clearer now and the color route maps in the center of the book make routefinding on some of the more popular peaks easier.The introduction and general information sections have been updated to get you started on your trip to Ecuador while the individual hike facts provide information on the difficulty of the hike or climb, access, equipment recommendations and hiking directions. The book is organized by geographic areas and now includes very useful hiking and climbing matrices that will help trip planning. They include: trail name, distance, time required, difficulty, altitude, best time of year for the route, map reference, special interest (why you may like the climb/hike) and a page reference. Access information is oriented on public transportation (mainly buses) so if you plan to rent a car, a road map would be a useful supplement.
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