Ivan Edgar Vallejo Ricaurte:
My name’s Ivan Vallejo. I was born in Ambato, Ecuador on December 18th 1959 and I’m as Sagitarian as they come. I’m divorced with two wonderful children – Andy (18) and Kamila (8).
Here’s the story of an adventurer.
My dream of becoming a mountaineer began one afternoon ,at the
tender age of seven, when I was admiring the perfect conical shape
of nearby Tungurahua.
In complete awe of the volcano, I began to ask myself hundreds
of questions which seemed to have the same answer.
How is it possible for anyone climb to the summit when it is so
steep?
So that afternoon my dream of becoming a MOUNTAINEER started to
take shape.
Time went by. I began to make my first modest ascents when I was
at elementary school, in the hills surrounding my city.
Then came high school. One summer I worked hard in order to buy
my first pair of boots. They cost $4 and I’d earned $2 as an assistant
in a print shop. However, my mother gave me the other $2.
Those boots were so important to me.
It meant that I could climb Illiniza Norte, Rumiñahui, Tungurahua
and Carihuayrazo. Then the big day dawned and on October 23rd,
1978 at 8.15am I reached the summit of Chimborazo (6310m) for
the first time. The highest mountain in Ecuador. What an incredible
moment! Despite my exhaustion, I cried on the summit. I had achieved
my first big CONQUEST accompanied by Father Manuel Gavilanez and
Luis Lozada.
As the years went by, I kept on dreaming, reaching summits and
enjoying the gifts of life: my son Andres was born.
I finished ny studies in Chemical Engineering at the National
Polytechnic and continued gaining experience, climbing mountains
in Ecuador.
In 1988 I started lecturing in Math at the Polytechnio’s Science
Institute. That same year I went on my first expedition to the
Cordillera Blanca in Peru. I climbed Artesonraju and Alpamayo.
In 1989 I went back to Peru to climb Huascaran (6768m)
In 1991, after spending a week in jail in Peru accused of spying,
I went to visit Bolivia and the beautiful mountains there. I climbed
Illampu.
After that I went back two more times to the Cordillera Blanca.
1995 was very special and unforgettable as I visited the Alps,
where I climbed Mont Blanc , as well as the Himalaya. There, I
climbed Island Peak (6187m), a modest sized mountain in Khumbu,
in the Everest National Park. After that I went to the Everest
Base Camp and experienced the majesty of the mountain first hand.
I stayed there about two hours astonished by the sheer volume
of Everest and her beauty.
Then it was back home again where in a calmer frame of mind I
began to dream of sitting on top of the world one day in 1999
or 2000.
So a new dream began!
Read more about Ivan Vallejo and his Desafio 14 from the start in the following sites:
Gratitude to Shisha Pangma
Ecuador in the Himalayas
Ecuador summits Everest
Ivan has 2 official sites:
Ivan Vallejo in English 
Ivan Vallejo en Español
To finish, this is what
EverestNews.com says about Ivan:
"
Ivan is the only climber who has reached the Summit of Everest from both sides and summit K2 all without the use of bottled oxygen in a period of 2 years! The only other climbers to have summited Everest from both side and K2 without oxygen are named Messner, Boukreev and Viesturs. Ivan performing this mainly on low budget expeditions...."
