Bernard Voyer, Explorer-Inspirational Speaker

ECUADOR - December 1999 / January 2000
	Mount Fuya Fuya (4 280m). Reached the summit on December 15, 1999. The mountain overlooks the magnificent Mojanda lagoon. Steep slopes, except for the last rocks near the summit. An ideal climb for acclimatization.

Mount Imbabura (4 621m). Reached the summit on December 19, 1999. The peak of this mountain is often hidden by clouds. A very old volcano, it dominates the Otavalo region and has a very long approach, before you reach the steep slopes. After you reach the col at 4 270m, the climb becomes much more demanding, on very unstable surfaces characteristic of volcanic rock.

	Mount Cotopaxi (5 897m). Reached the summit on December 27, 1999. This is the world's highest active volcano. Fumes from some fumaroles rise from its crater, surrounded by glaciers.
The climb takes plenty of technique and equipment: ropes, ice axes, crampons... The route across the glacier is particularly interesting, with many crevasses and abrupt ups and downs. The summit lies above the first layer of cloud.
	It takes some serious acclimatization before undertaking this expedition. The climbing is done mostly at night, to avoid the mid-day heat, for it softens the snow and can provoke avalanches, as well as weakening the snow bridges across crevasses. Cotopaxi is an active volcano that can come alive at any time with tremendous eruptions.

Mount Chimborazo (6 310m). Reached the summit on January 9, 2000. The highest mountain in Ecuador. The local Indians long believed that it was the highest mountain in the world. Whymper hut, the starting point for the expedition, is at an altitude of 5 000m, making it the highest refuge in the world.
	This was a demanding glacier route with very steep slopes. After running alongside a large ice barrier, it proceeds almost in a straight line up the mountain. The summit consists of two immense rounded peaks. The volcano has been extinct for a very long time, and so has no crater, properly speaking.
Interesting fact: the summit of Chimborazo is the farthest point from the centre of the Earth--in other words, the closest place on Earth to the stars! Our globe is not perfectly round, but somewhat flat at the poles and bulging at the Equator: 6 356km on the North-South axis and 6 378km on the East-West axis, or a difference of 22km at sea level.	Bernard and Nathalie climbed all these Ecuadorian mountains together.

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>	Bernard honoured by France

>	A second honorary doctorat

>	Bernard on CNC’s National Board

>	Bernard at NASA