camera found on Chimborazo leads to an amazing story

During our trip to Chimorazo, I took a solo hike one afternoon to see how the altitude would treat me if I tried to exercise. I only made went about a mile from the lodge but climbed about 200m. As the lodge is at 4000m, there isn't much air to breath. The flat parts were fine but whenever the trail turned up, I suffered.

On the way back I found a camera half buried in some sand. It had been there a while and was also filled with sand and, not surprisingly, the battery was dead. Still, I was able to take the card out and look at the pics on it. There were a few hundred and it looked like a couple of americans or euro men who were traveling with others and doing some mountain climbing and other tourist things. I asked the guys at the lodge if they recognized the climbers and they said no but that I should contact the main office. So when we returned to Mindo, that is what I did. And that is where the story got interesting…

The pics were taken back in January 2013, a year ago. The woman at the main office is the wife of Marco Cruz, the famous mountain climber and she immediately recognized the guys in the pics and related the following story to me. Below I will paste a copy of the story she sent me. I have used Google translate and have deleted some names for personal reasons. Still, the story is amazing.

I tell you that we have led an incredible surprise to see the photos.
These two German friends Ralf and Ralf were part of a group of 7 mountaineers who came to make a program to climb Chimborazo and spent 13 days with us at the lodge in training , climbing , walking and getting ready to climb to the summit of Chimborazo , a very good Pograma we operate with the German Alpine Club. All very nice in panel two friends .

Ralf - the man in the picture is smiling and wearing a green - pants was the strongest and most well prepared group . On February 4, they all reached the summit of Chimborazo successfully following the southern route that has the name of my husband (Route Marco Cruz) On the descent to be rappelling down a rock wall Ralf suffered an unexpected heart attack and died instantly in front his friend and some of the guides that were in place then.

It was terrible for us , the first time in 40 years of work that a client dies during a program with us. We had to build an operation with more than 10 mountain guides to retrieve the body because the accident occurred at 5,900 mts . in a very difficult part of the route ( impossible to reach by helicopter ) and then the saddest , notify the Embassy , the Alpine Club and family .... then getting the autopsy, police statements , the morgue , hundreds of papers and statements , in a few days so terrible . We were able to send the body to Germany after 3 weeks of the accident !

You can imagine the impact that we get to see the photos ... everything you came to mind . So I could not resist sharing this story with you because also find the camera to a year after the accident met.

I already contacted Ralf (the friend) and is very happy to get back photos , says he lost the camera on a walk and looked around the side and did not appear. Surely he will be very happy to see some pictures of those happy days were the last he shared with his friend.

So I have been in contact with the victims friend and have arranged to send him the card when we return to the US. I hope if helps the victims friend and family to see Ralf smiling and enjoying the last days of his life. Needless to say, I am happy that I am able to help them in any way I can.