Darius and Tomas, back at the hut, post script of summit day

From this:

                                                                    To this:

Darius and Tomas were the German guys I descended with and I asked them if we could take a photo together when we got back to the hut. I figured if we did not, I'd regret it later on and perhaps they would too.  Good or bad, we are part of each other's history now.
Darius needed to descend and Tomas was then forced to go down too, as they were roped together with one guide. They turned around at 17, 400', just slightly above me. Apparently there were many teams that did not summit that day.  Although there were clear skies, the winds were unusually strong (I overheard they were around 40 mph at summit) and the temperatures were as low as -5 just before sunrise. On a typical day, Cotopaxi sees only a 50% success rate anyway.
While I was buried in my sleeping bag back at the hut, the German guys sat and had tea and tried to figure out their next move. They were supposed to climb Chimborazo next but Darius felt he could not handle it, and thus Tomas then could not either unless he went alone. It was sad to hear grown men who were lifelong friends discussing their disappointment and being sorry for his "weakness" as Darius called it. More than anything he kept apologizing for letting Tomas down.
Their guide told me that 17,400' is just under Yanasacha- the big black rock clearly identifiable on the mountain's face. While I'm proud of ascending that far, I can't help but wish I would have seen it in the daylight.