It's 10 pm, I'm at 4,850 meters at base camp, facing a Chimborazo climb, and I can't sleep. High altitudes tend to do that. I lay there, feeling the panic that little oxygen brings, and am writing ...

Mr. Edward Whymper, in his lecture last night to the members of the Alpine Club on the ascents of Chimborazo and Cotopaxi, stated that he took with him from home two well-known Swiss guides ...