Summiting Cotopaxi

Volcán Cotopaxi

Volcán Cotopaxi consistently makes it to the top of travellers' itineraries when visiting Ecuador. At an elevation of 5897 metres, Cotopaxi is the second highest peak in Ecuador and the third highest active volcano in the world. It attracts both hikers who want to admire the textbook conical shape of the volcano, and mountaineers who aim to stand on its glaciated summit. It was my goal to experience the latter. After all, how hard could it be?

As I started looking into what the climb involved, the gravity of the task began to sink in. I heard first-hand accounts of the climb, which invariably held that Cotopaxi was one of the biggest challenges of their lives both mentally and physically. The success rate was also discouraging, which was consistently well under 50% from everyone I asked. Accordingly, I took some measures to improve my chances at summiting.

Preparation

First-class seats en route to Quito

First thing was to get my hands on some suitable mountaineering gear. While I wasn't totally unprepared - I brought with me base layers and both down and hardshell jackets for the harsh weather of Patagonia - I was missing a few key things. Therefore I headed to Quito, Ecuador's capital. I stayed at the Blue House Hostel in the Mariscal district, which was situated within walking distance of several outdoor shops including Andes6000, Tattoo Adventure and a North Face outlet store. After taking care of the gear, I began researching Ecuadorian guiding outfits.

There was definitely no shortage of guides to choose from in Quito. I decided to go with Gulliver Expeditions and pay a little extra to go one-on-one with a guide - I didn't want to be responsible for my partner missing the summit if I couldn't make it, and vice versa. Now that the logistics were in order, it was time for the physical prep.

I hopped on a bus headed into the Avenue of Volcanoes. Here I planned to do some hikes and acclimatize. The first five days I did a popular trek from village to village in the Andes known as the Quilotoa Loop. The highest elevation I reached on this hike, however, was merely 3900 metres on Volcán Quilotoa - i.e. two kilometres in elevation shy of that of Cotopaxi.

Crater lake of Volcán Quilotoa

Iliniza Norte was the next step; at 5126 metres, this volcano would give me an idea of how I'd fare in the high altitude climb of Cotopaxi. My guide Sergio and I started from the parking lot at 3950 metres. After two and a half hours, weathering a snow storm and a steep scramble, we made the summit. With this relatively quick pace and not feeling any symptoms of altitude sickness, I was feeling pretty confident about Cotopaxi.

The Ilinizas, Sur (left) and Norte (right)

The scramble to the top

Summit of Ilinza Norte

Attempting Cotopaxi

Sergio picked me up from my luxurious room at Hosteria PapaGayo at noon on February 27th. On the way to the climbers' refuge we stopped at a road-side restaurant and had a two-course meal, the sopa and pollo Ecuadorian classic. After a few hours of sleep, I woke to a three-course meal. It was raining hard and the clouds showed no signs of lifting. I was told that I had five hours more to sleep and if the weather didn't improve, the climb would be off. It was tough to fall back asleep. Between 5:30 and 11:30 I think I managed to get about an hour of light sleep. Fortunately, the weather had improved and we were going to give Cotopaxi a shot - after one last meal of course...

We drove up to 4500 metres, geared-up and began the approach to the glacier at a quarter past midnight. After an hour and a half we had reached the glacier, strapped on our crampons and tethered ourselves together. It was pitch black and all I could see was the headlamp-illuminated ice directly beneath my feet. Nevertheless, it's not as if I would've appreciated the scenery around me if it had been visible - in fact, it was probably for the better. Upon reaching the glacier, we climbed up pitches between 30º and 50º the whole way; unlike regular hikes where the trail levels off a bit after a steep pitch, the route up Cotopaxi got steeper and steeper as we got closer and closer to the summit. I eventually shut-off my brain, shut-out the pain and focused exclusively on the side-stepping rhythm of one-two-three: downhill foot, uphill foot, ice-axe and repeat. The only break in routine was for a quick drink of water and the opportunity to take in the city lights of Latacunga and Quito in the distance.

After six hours of this gruelling climb, we reached the summit of Cotopaxi just in time for the sunrise. A second-wind hit me and I felt a huge feeling of satisfaction. There I was, standing at 5,897 metres - 19,347 feet - above sea level looking into the crater of this monstrous volcano. Unfortunately, the high didn't last long for I realized I still had to descend this freagin' thing with the little energy I had left. At least this time I would see what it was I had actually climbed up!

Sunrise at the peak of Cotopaxi

Crater of Cotopaxi

View of the Andes

Triangular shadow attests to the textbook conical shape of Volcán Cotopaxi

La Vista on the descent

Sergio and I

I was in a daze, with a pretty bad headache, as we drove past wild horses in the national park on the way back to Hosteria PapaGayo. After hopping on a bus bound for Quito and checking into the hostel, I climbed into bed at four in the afternoon, totally content, and fell into a 17-hour slumber to the tune of 'Wild Horses'...