Climbing Cotopaxi

One of the best experiences that I have had here in Ecuador was a weekend climbing trip to the summit of Mt. Cotopaxi.  It is one of the highest active volcanoes in the world at 19,347 ft.  and on a clear day, its dramatic cone-shape can be seen from Quito.  Due to its location near the equator, the weather is more moderate and predictable than other high peaks.  This plus the relatively non-technical nature of the climb make it a very popular first mountain for people interested in high altitude ascents. 

Our trip started on Saturday morning with a gear check and a two-hour car ride to Cotopaxi National Park.  On the way we stopped for a large lunch and all ate too much.  This would be the theme for the rest of the day as our guides made it clear that we needed as much energy as possible for our climb.  After navigating some washed out roads we arrived at the parking lot for the climbing refuge.  From the parking lot it is about an hour-long hike over very loose gravel up to the refuge.  With all of our gear this was not the most pleasant of hikes, but the views from the refuge are stunning and many tourists make the hike as part of day trips to Cotopaxi.  Once at the refuge, we claimed our bunks upstairs, unpacked our gear, and most importantly ate again.  The meal consisted of hot chocolate, sandwiches, soap, and other snacks and despite still being full I packed away quite a bit.  We spent the rest of the afternoon taking pictures from the refuge, talking to other climbers, and getting nervous for our attempt. 

At around 6 PM, we had another meal and then retired to our bunks to try and get a bit of sleep before waking up at 12:30 AM to start our ascent.  Being completely bloated from the all of the eating, excited, and nervous did not lend itself to very good sleep but at some point around 9 PM or so I must have dozed off.

I awoke to the scurrying of everyone at the refuge getting themselves ready for their ascents.  I pulled on my layers of clothes as quickly as possible, laced up my heavy plastic boots carefully, and ran through my gear to make sure I had everything.  After a quick breakfast and bathroom stop, we were ready to go.

The first hour of the climb is more loose dirt and gravel, always a pain, and our cumbersome boots did not make things any better.  So it was a welcome sight when we got to the glacier, strapped on our crampons, and felt the clean crunch of the snow beneath our feet.  The guides told us to walk slow and with a rhythm: step, step, ice-axe, step, step, ice-axe, etc.  I was thankful for the nice weather, clear skies and low wind and between watching my foot placements I could appreciate the nearly full moon and abundant stars.  We took frequent breaks for chocolate and water and before I knew it we had already been climbing for 4 hours.

After this things got quite a bit harder: steeper grade, narrower path, more need of the ice-axe, and more wind.  We were still on pace to summit shortly after sun-rise (the sun heats up the snow during the day creating dangerous conditions so descents need to begin by 8 AM or 8:30 AM at the latest) and even though fatigue was beginning to set in our sprits were high.  For the next couple hours it felt like we were moving really slowly but the guides said we were doing fine and soon they were telling us that we had approached the final 200 meter push.  This is the hardest part of the climb, but as long as were not feeling sick we had ample time to make it to the summit.  This final section was the steepest yet and we were frequently on all fours crawling up the mountain with our ice-axes.  It was starting to get light our and after was seemed like an eternity of crawling up-hill in the snow we reached the summit!

The view from the top was breathtaking and the elation from having just summited a 19,347 ft mountain is indescribable.  At the summit we took lots of pictures, exchanged congratulations, ate more chocolate, and tried to take it all in.  It seemed so short but after about 20 minutes it was time to start our descent before the sun heated up the snow too much.

The descent was much shorter than the ascent, only about 2 hours compared to the 7 hour ascent, but it was much harder.  The altitude was starting to give me a headache, I was feeling disoriented, and the adrenaline rush of reaching the summit was starting to wear off.  As we plodded along, I could not believe that I had climbed this high up.  My energy level was dropping faster than we were and by the end I was nearly delirious with exhaustion.  Upon returning to the refuge, I ate to try and regain some of my strength and rested.  My body was very disoriented after 9 hours of exertion, little sleep, and being at such a high altitude.  I somehow managed to pack up my things, tromp down with the group to the parking lot, and plop down in the back of the truck.  As we drove away from the refuge my head started to clear a bit.  Looking out the window at Mt. Cotopaxi, I couldn’t believe that only a few hours earlier I had been at the top.  Climbing Cotopaxi was one of the hardest things that I’ve ever done, but it is something I will never forget.