Trip Reports

Cotopaxi - 30 Jul to 13 Aug '05

Written by Leader Gaspar Navarrete, August 2005

The Cotopaxi expedition started in Quito, which is located at 2,900m. A fusion of two religions and cultures can be found by walking and exploring Quito's old town and churches. We had an excellent and progressive acclimatisation period, hiking around the Cuicocha Lake (3,500m), climbing Huarmi Inbabura (3,900m) and hiking to the beginning of the glacier on Cayambe (4,900m). Alyson, Mike, Andrew, Stephen, Peter and Malcolm reached the summit of Iliniza Norte 5,126m, which is the northern peak of a collapsed volcano.

The mountain hut on Tambopaxi was the perfect place to rest and recover our energy before our attempt on Cotopaxi. The weather had been very bad every night in the previous two weeks, so we decided to climb during the day to reach the summit in the afternoon as this was when the weather was clearing up. Stephen reached 5,050m, Tony and Pete reached 5,100m and Mike reached 5,220m. Mountain Guide, Felipe, did an excellent job going up and down three times to take every one safely to the end of the glacier. Andrew and Malcolm reached the summit at 4.45pm with Guide, Alejo. Alyson, Matthew and myself reached 5,650m in a beautiful afternoon, with an amazing sunset on the way down.

Gaspar Navarrete, 16 August 2005« | »

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