IMPORTANT STUFF

PAYMENT

PAYMENT = We need a deposit for reservations.. sended to us via Western Union its Fast - Safe - Reliable & Traceable. If you just like to reserve one tour like Cotopaxi Climb or Jungle etc etc.. The transfere cost is high.... So when its better you send the full amount of the tour cost.. ..

CREDIT CARDS

We cant do anything with credit card detailes down here.. This is Latin America - We hope that our clients from North America & Europe realises this and except it..Where have also been a lot of scams involved with credit card transfers...We dont except any credit card payments - Not even in the agency. Ecuador is a beautiful country - But the bank system is not..

There are many ATM places in Quito - so its NO problem for you to get out money here.. But if you leave Quito it is a problem... How much you can take out a day - depends on your card.. $500 a day seems to be the most common.. But you can also go directly to the bank and get out a larger amount...

We do except Travel Cheques in the agency + 2% Bank fees..
We only do this if we can change them before your tours with us ends...

WEATHER = Totaly unpredictable in Ecuadors tropical mountains.

We always cancels or postpones tours if we know before that the conditions are impossible to climb. Since we probably are the biggest operater for climbing in Ecuador. We go to Cotopaxi every 3rd to 4th day on average. So most of the time - we know the conditions. But weather changes very fast - its totally impossible to predict any weather conditions even in the morning before the climb. So we dont know with 100% accuracy. There are more or less reliable weather forcasts for Quito itself but this forecast has nothing to do with the weather in the mountains around Quito. Weather conditions are just a risk you have to accept in all mountain climbing especially here in Ecuador.

July and August is considered the best mounths to climb here because its normally clear weather, but maybe more wind. Dec-Jan have less wind but more clouds around the mountains. Cotopaxi is climbed year round. We always intend to climb as high as possible - even if we get bad conditions. This we do because its still a great experience. And who knows - maybe it gets better higher up. The Guides dont need visibility to reach the summit...But we will take you down for safety reasons like avalanche risk, extremely high wind & electrical storms or other extreme weather conditions.

Often we get clients over internet who like to know the weather conditions several weeks or even months before they arrive.

We can of course not answer these questions. Since we are in the Andes and we are on the equator line, we have the jungle on one side and the Pacific ocean on the other. This means that weather shanges a lot faster then in other mountain ranges.

We Are Good - Not God

ACCLIMATIZATION An very induvidiual question.

Who is impossible to answer. All clients who go climbing Cotopaxi with Andean Turtle - must fullfill the minimum acclimatication requests which is 5 days over 2500m or 4 days over 3000m if you are from sea-level. If you are living at 1500m or more 1 day less should be ok. This is the minimum days requirements for acclimatization before every mountain higher then 5700m. Its good to spend 2-3 days of altitude trekkings with us or by your self and then do one or two of Ecuadors lower peaks before attempting to climb the 5700+ meter glacier volcanoes.

We dont take anyone who does not fullfill our minimum requirements for acclimatization. Then when you choose to go with us - you can count on everyone in the group having fullfilled the minimum requirements We are very strict on this - because we think its very wrong for our clients. To be connected to somebody who is not acclimatized or prepared at all.

Important = We dont care where the client has been before. Many clients think that if they have climbed a high mountain 1-6 months before, they dont have to acclimatize again - This is wrong .. The most important is where you have been the last 2 weeks. PS...We have even had clients who count the flight time as acclimatization....We Don’t These tours can get dangerous if you are not properly prepared. There are several reasons for it, your safety is the main one.

Its also obviously very unprofessional to take climbers who are not properly prepared. It lowers the other climbers chances to reach the top. This is mainly why we summit more often than other operators on average.

RESPECT THE ALTITUDE & DONT UNDERESTIMATE THE GLACIER MOUNTAINS.

WARNING

If you go with a semi-professional agency its mostly a waste of monney.. because you will most surely not reach the summit anyway. These operators "Almost all of the Ecuadorian agencys" will take you as long as you pay.
They dont use all professional ASEGUIM Certified Guides..Even if they promise this..
They dont care if you are properly acclimatized or not..
They take up about 25-30% to the top / under Half of the Andean Turtle rate..
Moggely also include better food & More Equipment

DIAMOX

We are against it - I think it could help many people but there are also side effects.. In the end I got a Swedish education - This means that you should not take any medication If you dont need it.. My girlfriend who works for GSK "Will disagree offcourse" BUT to be Prepared and Properly Acclimatized - Is a lot better.. A lot of US Doctors like you to use it for selling reason and commission. Its just not the same ideas in the Nordic "VIKING" countries.

Also in the last Rescues we have beeen involved. I would say that half of them are directly attributed to Diamox abuse.. If the guides see you taking more then 2 tablets.. He could and most probably WILL just leave you in the refugee because of safety reasons.. No money refunded...The problem is that some people take so many pills and they dont think they need any normal Acclimatization. They think that a week at sea level taking Diamox will be the same as being in Quito 2800m for 3-4 days..

ALL VERY WRONG - Its like having a great body with out training & correct eating..

RESCUES

Your safety is our main concern.. We have 3 units of ICOM F11 rescue radios.

Andean Turtle work with the British & The Scandinavian Embassies/Consulates for Ham = High Altitude Rescues & Several Embassies from North Europe, Canada & Australia will phone us if they are missing citizens in High Altitude Mountains & Hard reached areas. Most rescues down here are for people who are alone or have been going with a bad agency, which will not be able to rescue there own clients - since they dont use professional guides. We have even done rescues for "Mountain guides" who should not be in the mountain with clients.. Its a shame - when some people dont like to pay for certified guides. Many people prefer to risk there lives with a local guide who just wants to earn some extra money for his family. Even if he is without any knowledge about guiding or climbing etc etc...

WARNING Most Agencys & Guides tell you that they are certified.
In Ecuador you can easily just print out a not valid certification.

TURN BACK

This is a Question we get in the agency or over internet around 10-15 times a week. There is of course no real direct anwer to it - many times it comes down to common sense. There are for sure over a hundred different reasons why you may have to turn back. We have for sure heard them all - We will not write a book about it. But here are the main reasons

1) = Weather conditions
This is the most common reason why you have to turn back. It can be anything from Snow Storms - Extremely High Wind - Electrical Storms - Avalanche Risk or other extreame weather conditions. We dont have any reliable weather updates in Ecuador. So its totaly impossible to predict any weather conditions even in the morning before the climb. Often we get clients over internet who like to know the weather conditions several weeks or even months before they arrive. We can ofcourse not answer this questions. Since we are in the Andes and we are on the ecuatorline we have the jungle on one side and the Pacific ocean on the other. This means that weather changes a lot faster then in other mountain ranges. Again.. We are good - not god

2) = Personal fitness Somtimes it happens that climbers over estimate their fitness. But they are not ready mentally to go down then the guides tell them to do so. In this cases its quite normal that we have to go up a couple of hundred meters more. And from there we have to take down the person and maybe one client more.
This is a problem which is hard for the guides to control. They of course have a very good idea of the clients fitness. But its very hard to turn around a paying client if he/she refuses to do so. Its also very hard for the clients to think straight or have common sense then they are extremely tired but still determinated.

The guides always have a good reason why he likes somebody to go down.
The reason is obvious - they dont like to take down another client who can make the summit.
ANDEAN TURTLE most probably have the highest rate of clients - reaching the summits in Ecuador.
We know only 2 more mountain operater in Ecuador, working on the same professional level.

GUIDE BOOKS

The best Guide book you can get is Rough Guide - They do have the same writer year after year.. Knowing what he is doing. Lonely planet is OK and so are many others. Andean Turtle have refused to pay to get recommended.. So there are several guide books who refuse to recommend us....Just because we dont pay them ..... This is a true, but a sad conclusion...In the end - As before mentioned - We are probably the most highly recommended tour operator in Ecuador... The guide books many times recommend really bad operators for some reason.. I think its because the writers have done tours for free & know the owners... But they are not working professional. They are semi-professional = Not using all certified ASEGUIM Professional Mountain Guides - They maybe dont even have permits or other legal papers... This Tour Operators, Transport - Service + food can also come in many variated forms..