Mara returns to the Mountains

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Michel Leclerc (here)
From what I know about the field: nothing from experience but this from listening to two friends:

Friend One telling how her son, an experienced high-altitude climbing guide who made a hundreds of meters fall with his patrons on a rope, of whom one fell to his death, one broke his back and basin, one just had bruises and he himself fragmented his foot bones because he had allowed his quite assertive clients to override his warning that the weather was not to be trusted;

Friend Two, the attorney representing the relatives of the clients, who won the case against the Climbers‘ Club employing Friend One’s son.

Lesson One: never continue when your guide says Return,
Lesson Two: always return when you want to return even if your guide says Continue – with your guide.

Does that sound like a wise rule, mountaineering members? Bill?

Yes, 100%.

Many years ago, I was on Ben Nevis (the highest mountain in Scotland, famous for its bad weather), with a friend who had traveled a long way and who was an enthusiastic novice who'd never climbed there before. I knew Ben Nevis very well, so I was in the role of the 'Guide'.

Half way when hiking up to the mountain, I began to get a very bad feeling about the weather. I decided that we had to turn round and forget about climbing that day. My friend was very upset, but I insisted.

Sure enough, later that day a violent storm broke. If we'd been high on the mountain, we'd have been in very serious trouble. (I have quite a few similar experiences, and my instincts about things like this have been part of why I'm still alive. )

[mountain_jim]

I was amazed at Noam's ability to film that smooth of a video while running behind Pema on that slippery, uneven surface.

[Bill Ryan]

A trivial fun update, only to share a couple of nice photos. (In the first, Mara can be seen at the very left of the panorama.)

Today (in Ecuador's year without a summer!) the weather wasn't too bad, so we went to actually climb a mountain — Cerro Amarillo, the first peak we've been to the very top of for 6 months.

It was quite a climb, but Mara managed it easily and right now as I write this (after a big late lunch!) she's soundly fast asleep.

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)

It was quite a climb, but Mara managed it easily and right now as I write this (after a big late lunch!) she's soundly fast asleep.

... and like all dogs, Mara's favorite place is in front of the fire.

[RunningDeer]

Bill, lovely pictures of you and Mara.
Thanks for sharing.

[Ravenlocke]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
A trivial fun update, only to share a couple of nice photos. (In the first, Mara can be seen at the very left of the panorama.)

Today (in Ecuador's year without a summer!) the weather wasn't too bad, so we went to actually climb a mountain — Cerro Amarillo, the first peak we've been to the very top of for 6 months.

It was quite a climb, but Mara managed it easily and right now as I write this (after a big late lunch!) she's soundly fast asleep.

Hi Bill,

I agree with everyone and grateful that you keep us updated and with photos too.
But also,
I love the stone sculptures in the above picture, very comforting to look at and I love finding them on trail walks, when out walking. Also I like how that one way back in the middle looks like a guy holding a tray on his outstretched arm.

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Ravenlocke (here)

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
A trivial fun update, only to share a couple of nice photos. (In the first, Mara can be seen at the very left of the panorama.)

Today (in Ecuador's year without a summer!) the weather wasn't too bad, so we went to actually climb a mountain — Cerro Amarillo, the first peak we've been to the very top of for 6 months.

It was quite a climb, but Mara managed it easily and right now as I write this (after a big late lunch!) she's soundly fast asleep.

Hi Bill,

I agree with everyone and grateful that you keep us updated and with photos too.
But also,
I love the stone sculptures in the above picture, very comforting to look at and I love finding them on trail walks, when out walking. Also I like how that one way back in the middle looks like a guy holding a tray on his outstretched arm.

Here's a zoomed-in photo. In Scotland, these piles of stones are called cairns, and they're a traditional feature seen on tops of mountains all over the world.

(these are all high-resolution images, shrunk to fit the page)



Cerro Amarillo is unusual here, as it's a gently curving dome, and it's not obvious at all (when you're up there!) which is the very highest point. So there are sculpted poles of stones ('cairns') all over the place.

Here's what the mountain looks like from a distance. 'Cerro Amarillo' translates as 'Yellow Mountain', and you can see why.



But we climbed it from the other side, which is a steep ascent from down in the valley below. (Our starting point was the lake at the extreme left of the image.) Cerro Amarillo is the highest point on the skyline.

[Bill Ryan]

More about our year without a summer. (We've had maybe just 3 or 4 blue-sky days, one of them shown in the post above)

This photo was published in local news just now, of the road through the mountains where we hike all the time. This was all a few hours ago. So we'll definitely head up there tomorrow morning to take a look... though maybe we'll not go too high.

[Casey Claar]

I just thought I would report this:

On August 2 (of this year) I was told as I was waking of "an incoming cool breeze coming from the direction of Cassiopeia". I began feeling it the following day. When more normally here in California, August, September and October are just brutally hot months, instead and indeed came a cool breeze that has kept even our hottest of days pleasantly, and surprisingly cool. It continues, still, and I wonder if it will through all of October (the month I generally dread the most). We have had thick clouds and even rain this past week. Generally we only see rain here down at the bottom of the state in Spring, so this is SUCH a lovely reprieve.

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
More about our year without a summer. (We've had maybe just 3 or 4 blue-sky days, one of them shown in the post above)



This photo was published in local news just now, of the road through the mountains where we hike all the time. This was all a few hours ago. So we'll definitely head up there tomorrow morning to take a look... though maybe we'll not go too high.

~~~

By the time we got there this morning most of it had gone, but there was just enough for Mara to encounter snow for the first time in her long life. Here she is trying to figure out just what it is:



But she soon got used to it:





And then she discovered that if she sat down on it, it was just as cooling for a hot dog as sitting in the waterfall.

[Casey Claar]

Aw, a first snow!!!!!! how wonderful for Mara, I bet she loved it. Coming from the desert, I have not seen snow much in my life either, I could count the times on one hand. I will always remember the absolutely MAGICAL moment of my first encounter. There wasn't much more to it than that seen in these photos of Mara, but it was magical all the same. I am so glad Mara to experience it while still here in such an astounding body.

[Bill Ryan]

Mara and I haven't been to the high mountains together for a long time (I couldn't afford the gasoline/petrol, but thanks to the great kindness of many members that's now been fixed. )

After a summer of near-continuous rain, the last week has been HOT (and dry!) with beautiful blue skies everywhere. So we set out yesterday to climb Cerro Amarillo ('the yellow mountain'), where some of you who've been following this thread may remember we've been a number of times before. (The summit is marked by a whole bunch of creative rock sculptures — called 'cairns' in Scotland — which I've posted a few photos of earlier.)

A nice photo from a few months ago: (Cerro Amarillo is the highest point on the horizon. It's quite a steep climb to get there, but it's actually not too far.)



Here's a 360º video panorama from yesterday:

https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/Cerro...5_Dec_2025.mp4


And here are a couple of rather fuzzy selfies.




Some of you may have see my post here a few days ago when I reported my efforts on a different high altitude hike, my first for a couple of months, where I got to 14,300 ft/ 4350m but then 'hit the wall'. Cerro Amarillo yesterday was just 300 ft lower than that, and this time I had no trouble at all. So all in all it was a most beautiful morning for us in the sun.

[Bill Ryan]

And some more. On Monday we went to a very beautiful remote valley where I'd not been since Mara lost her sight, as I'd believed it would probably be beyond her now. But as I reported on this different thread, a week ago, the Friday prior my friends and I had taken Mara to a couple of very high lakes where she was totally happy and had had no trouble at all. Here's a nice portrait from that day:



So after that, I thought maybe we could actually return to that beautiful remote valley which I'd never revisited for years. I was right, and we had a wonderful long day in the sun. We took it easy and went slowly, and again Mara was energetic and excited all the time.

But it was definitely tricky for a blind dog, with many rocks, steps, drops, river crossings, trees, bushes and other obstacles to negotiate every step of the way. When we returned home she was happy but clearly exhausted, and I think it was right at the limit of what she can now do. (She's nearly 13 now, close to 80 years old in doggie-human years. )

I failed to take any photos (my bad!), but grabbed a quick, rather poor video right at the end of the day, nearly back at the trailhead:

https://avalonlibrary.net/Bill/Mara_...6_Dec_2025.mp4


And yesterday we went out again, on a more reasonable, easier hike (but still a good couple of hours, this time with no sun) where we've been many times. Here's another nice portrait:


So, we're doing well. On Christmas Day we'll go for our traditional high hike, probably to Cerro Amarillo (see the post immediately above this one) if the weather permits. I'll celebrate with my usual tiny chocolate cake... and Mara will have a big handful of doggie treats.

[Bruce G Charlton]

Bill - A mountain-related aside...

This news story about "robot legs" for mountaineers.

It strikes me as rather like trying to lift yourself off the ground by pulling your own bootlaces! - but what do you think?

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Bruce G Charlton (here)
Bill - A mountain-related aside...

This news story about "robot legs" for mountaineers.

It strikes me as rather like trying to lift yourself off the ground by pulling your own bootlaces! - but what do you think?

Ha. That was really about assisting mountain rescuers in arduous situations by augmenting the power and endurance of their leg muscles, like a kind of partial mini-exoskeleton. I can actually appreciate that... after all, rescuers do use helicopters and drones to help them save lives!

But high-tech assistance for regular mountaineers (and even elite ones) is quite something else. This is increasingly controversial in mountaineering circles.

The debate started a hundred years ago with the advent of bottled oxygen for mountaineers at extreme altitudes, though pioneers like Reinhold Messner (and a small number of others soon after him) showed this wasn't strictly necessary for those with exceptional physiology and training. (And of course, not needed at all by the Sherpas, who don't require any assistance of any kind. ) Now, many Himalayan mountaineers use drugs, but that's almost completely taboo to discuss.

There are similar issues in regular rock climbing, with super-sticky rubber shoes now used by everyone, even novices. These were unknown and unavailable 20+ years ago — making it almost impossible to compare the highest-bar achievements of different generations. I have the strong view that there were quite a few climbers and mountaineers from many decades past who would be able to exceed the performance of most of those today — given the same equipment to use.

A legendary college math professor called John Gill, who did much of his climbing in the mid-1950s and early 1960s, is considered by many climbing historians (and yours truly!) to be the best of all time. But again, this issue of technological advantage for new generations is hardly discussed at all.

And the same is definitely true of high-tech sports like motor racing, which is FAR more about engineering than driving skill. Veterans like Juan Fangio, John Surtees, Ayrton Senna, and Jim Clark would almost certainly be able to beat the best today given the same cars to drive.

There's a fascinating video of a race in 1984 when all the elite racing drivers at that time were given identical cars. The race was won by Ayrton Senna, then an almost unknown youngster but now acknowledged by many as the greatest of all time.

[Bill Ryan]

The last two sunny-day photos of 2025: (And it's been another great year for us. )

Christmas Day on the summit of Cerro Amarillo...



...and the day before yesterday, at the lake below the summit.



But I think it may also be the very end of our dry, blue-sky Indian Summer — not a 6-month drought as in 2024, but a 6-week drought which has again emptied all the hydro reservoirs. The rainy season, which usually starts in the second week of January, may come to the rescue.

However, that might actually start early. We also always follow up our Christmas with a traditional New Year's Day hike, and this is our weather forecast for tomorrow:



It threatens to be cloudy and raining in the morning, with lightning in the afternoon. (That's quite a change from how it's been the last 40 or 50 days!) So we'll try to head for Cerro Amarillo again, braving the weather in the morning but definitely avoiding the afternoon as that's NOT the place to be in a lightning storm. And if it's too wet and wild to climb the peak, we'll just find a pleasant sheltered spot somewhere for our regulation mini-chocolate cake and doggie treats.

Happy New Year, everyone!

[Ravenlocke]

Happy New Year Bill!

What a beautiful place to visit.

So Mara went in the lake water? It wasn’t cold then?

[Rawhide68]

What nice photos thanks Bill!

I'll go there some day.

Amarillo means yellow in english and gul in swedish, I remeber from school.
I have a few other words I remember, like "El gato negro esta bajo de la mesa"

[wondering]

I think I recall Mara getting "meaty bones" for big celebrations in the past...now I've heard "dog treats" twice?? 🤔 Is her standard of living declining? 😟
.

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Ravenlocke (here)
Happy New Year Bill!

What a beautiful place to visit.

So Mara went in the lake water? It wasn’t cold then?

Happy New Year to everyone who so kindly follows this personal (and relatively trivial) thread!

Yes, there's wild beauty all around here, all very easy to access any time the sun's shining. (But see below! )

Mara has a very thick coat, never gets cold, but sometimes gets pretty hot when we're hiking. The lake in the photo above is one we often visit, but it's a climb of several hundred feet to get there and the lake is the first water we encounter.

Mara knows it very well, is somehow always aware exactly where she is — something which never stops amazing me! — and when it's a hot day she just makes a beeline to the lake without stopping and plops herself right in it to cool down and have a long drink.

Posted by Rawhide68 (here)
What nice photos thanks Bill!

I'll go there some day.

Amarillo means yellow in english and gul in swedish, I remenber from school.
I have a few other words I remember, like "El gato negro esta bajo de la mesa"

Yes, it translates as "Yellow Mountain". Here's why, a telephoto view: (it's high, 14,000 ft, but not actually above the vegetation line. But for reasons only a geologist or a botanist could explain, nothing grows there at all on the sandy areas that are all yellow.)



We always climb it from the other side, which is a steep ascent from down in the valley below. (Our starting point is the lake at the extreme left of the image.) Cerro Amarillo is the highest point on the skyline.



Here's Mara near the summit on Christmas Day. It looks like the Sahara desert:

Posted by wondering (here)
I think I recall Mara getting "meaty bones" for big celebrations in the past...now I've heard "dog treats" twice?? 🤔 Is her standard of living declining? 😟

Yes! You have such a good memory.

What happened was that when my young super-athletic friends Noam and Pema both won their races at the major April event at Baños last year and the year before, part of their prize package (not only $$, but lots of assorted goodies from sponsors) was a whole bunch of packets of Knibbles, these doggie treats:



Of course they gave them to me straight away (both years!), and so I have a whole big stockpile. Mara loves them, they're very lightweight, they're sure to win a bunch more of them this coming April, and so I have to use them up!

Here's the rather fuzzy photo from yesterday — and the bad forecast was accurate, a wild, wet, windy morning. The 6-month rainy season has now suddenly kicked in. (The animals, plants, farmers, and hydro-electric engineers will all be celebrating!) We were up and down early, escaping the lightning storm in the afternoon.

What you see here is me giving Mara one of the treats from the Knibbles packet — a special reward for her climbing this thing one more time (a) when she can't see anything at all, and (b) when she's nearly 13, which in equivalent human years is something like 80 years old.