Climbing Cotopaxi (5897m)

(Article wrote in 2005).

Climbing Cotopaxi, Ecuador (5898 meters)

            Strolling around a fresh water lake, staring at the ground, I take a glance around at the 6ft volcanic boulders that this mighty mountain has spat out with complete recklessness for life. Standing on a small corner of Cotopaxi’s home, up or down, left or right, these views are dominated by this towering volcano. It’s literally neck breaking to attempt a view at its summit.

At a massive 5898 meters high Cotopaxi ranks second highest mountain in Ecuador and a few meter higher than the ‘fourth’ summit – Kilimanjaro. The mountain poses numerous dangers to climbers and to the people in surrounding towns. The volcano has been known to erupt around every 50 years and the next eruption is due any time now. Its greatest eruption left Quito in complete darkness for four days and killed well over 1000 people.

Me writing with Cotopaxi in the background

Cotopaxi is a beautiful symmetrical volcano and is the only mountain on the Equator that supports a glacier. It is of a stereotypical shape and even in summer is snow capped right down to its halfway point. There are numerous trails of ascent which are shifted with continuous snowfall. The mountain is deemed a grade II, which makes it suitable for climbers who are experienced with an ice axe, crampons, ropes and harnesses.

Cotopaxi attracts many tourists each year who are baffled by Ecuador’s guiding companies following slack guidelines. For instance on my accent of the mountain most of our fellow comrades turned back before reaching the summit. Two in my party were forced to submit to the harsh conditions and exhaustion – even with more than adequate training.

In my experience grades are not everything, they don’t take into account altitude, fitness and worst of all, it is impossible for them to vary with the weather! For our training we successfully summited Pasachoa – 4199 meters, Guagua Pichincha – 4784 meters and Illiniza Norte – 5126 meters. It saddens me to think how popular a sport mountaineering could be if altitude sickness was non existent. I suffered Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) badly on Illiniza Norte. I fainted on arrival at the Illiniza Refuge (4800 meters) but I soon recovered and had a good nights sleep. Altitude sickness such a complex condition that it is impossible to compromise; the only medication that may help is a drug called Diomox but even this works in a way scientists cannot yet explain and must be taken days prior to the ascent.

Cotopaxi lies in a national park and the drive is a good few hours from the centre of Quito. We were told that “there is a camp site with a good kitchen” – by our guide. The kitchen was an abandoned wooden building. Consequently we drove up to a small restaurant in the park, which was nothing but a glamorous tourist attraction. The restaurant doubled as a dormitory and had a second building too for this purpose. The building we were allocated to was an extremely pleasant one until we discovered little insects crawling around in our bed quilts. We were reallocated to the other building.

On waking we drove our 4×4 up to the ‘car park’ ready for a punishing one hour walk with a fair bit of weight on our backs. Luckily a lot of this weight would be lost at the refuge. Here was our brief itinerary:

Day 1: Drive to foot of mountain and spend the night there

Day 2: Drive up to the car park, leave the car there and continue an hour’s walk up to the refuge

Night 2: Set off for the summit at 12am

Day 3: Reach summit early morning and descend back to the car

We had hired two Ecuadorian guides in Quito who were originally our drivers and cooks, but they offered to guide us at an affordable price. The group was made up of myself and 3 much older and experienced mountaineers who initially were reluctant to take on a guide for the first time in their mountaineering career but in conclusion we decided that the sooner we reached the summit the better. There was also that extra sense of security.

Guides in Ecuador are much cheaper than those in Europe but had we been in Europe we would have turned such an offer down. As we were in a completely new mountain range we thought it may be wise, although our original plans were to go up alone, as many of my partners had done for the past decades.

As we drove up to the car park dark clouds descended and our assent looked doubtful as it began to drizzle. The walk to the refuge was unpleasant, a heavy pack on your back, ice axe in one hand and a smaller bag in the other, gasping heavily for breath – it was easy for altitude to be detrimental even at this height. The walk was a rather steep one on a horrible grey ash-like powder with volcanic rocks scattered all around. We arrived at the refuge (4800 meters) and claimed our beds. I for one began organising my equipment.

The refuge was a rather well looked after one, clean, running gas, water and fairly decent toilets. At $15 a night it was rather cheap too. The Alps are so much different to this part of the Andes, even at this refuge we were as high as Mt. Blanc (4807 meters). I had ascended Mt. Blanc earlier that year in very bad weather – a raging snow storm that forced Chamonix’s Authorities to close off Mt Blanc later that week, but what amazed me was that there was no snow what so ever up until around 4700 – 5000 meters. Even at that height you could spot the odd bright coloured plant growing. In the Alps however it is covered in snow from 4000 meters upwards! Any high altitude mountaineer no matter what their experience will be amazed by the differences between these two mountain ranges when witnessed for the first time.

After a quick lunch we headed across from the refuge to the glacier to warm up with our crampons and ice axe. That was when I noticed the agonizing aching in my shoulders from our earlier accent to the refuge. On the way back to the hut I began to doubt if an attempt at the summit was wise.

After dinner, which was mainly soup and pasta everyone retreated to their bunks and attempted to get as warm as they could. I managed around four hours sleep and woke at 12am ready for the accent. I managed to eat a foul tasting energy bar and drink to optimize my energy levels. I went down for supper which was composed mainly of bread and sugar. I saw something worth mentioning at this point – my Ecuadorian guide poured six table spoons of sugar into his average sized drink, this is an example of how important your energy is on a mountain, it is quickly devoured by the wind, cold, altitudes and ever increasing gradients. To add to the problem it becomes very difficult to eat above 5000 meters due to the altitude; at this height the enzymes that break down fats begin to function abnormally.

Cotopaxi as seen from Illiniza Norte

We left the refuge and headed outside in torch light and walked up easy terrain for about an hour. The time for crampons and ropes was marked out by a small red flag lodged in-between two rocks. We were on two ropes led by the guides. Myself and my father on one, and the remainder of the party was on the other.

Looking up I was surprised to see a clear night, with no pollution to spoil the night sky you could see why the Indians had named this mountain, Cotopaxi, which means ‘Smooth Neck of the Moon’.

The walk up to 5200 meters was a steady one, but I could see the steepness of the route in front. It reared up to a gradient of around 55 degrees at times which proved the inaccuracy of the guide book which claimed it to be 45 degrees.

While I was staying in Ecuador I met a student who was around 23 years old. He worked for a university in North America and was writing a guide book for a climbing company. When we got talking it appeared he did not even know what ‘traverse’ meant and furthermore he knew nothing significant about mountaineering. Something which made me consider our ‘guide’ books in depth.

For a brief moment in time our two guides stopped to exchange words in Spanish, I couldn’t tell what was going on but I had a suspicion which was confirmed when our guides begun to dig a hole. When they had finished they poked their ice axe around the top of the hole in an oval shape and waited for the snow to come away. A test for the risk of avalanche. Luckily the snow proved to be stable. Nevertheless it was a frightening thought, the whole of what you’re standing on slipping away beneath your feet but the risks could have been worse.

Our rope was in front and we stopped for a rest at 5200 meters. As I sat down I felt the altitude take its grip on my stomach and also my head! I had a mighty headache (this is due to the swelling of the brain pushing against the insides of the cranium). I managed to eat a finger of chocolate as we waited for the second rope.

We continued with our route at around 2am and that was the last we saw of our co-climbers on the second rope whilst ascending. A reminder of Cotopaxi’s failure rate, which is very high.

We continued up the fresh snow (which at the time Cotopaxi had had a lot of) digging our ice axes in where necessary. The route was not marked out very well and there was not a lot of ice on the mountain during our accent. The mountain, being symmetrical, was the same all the way up. The sun rose at around 6am which was a real moral booster. By this point I was extremely tired and my fellow mountaineer’s were force feeding me sweets high in sugar. The only other team on the mountain was a European team which was quite a distance away.

We reached the summit at 7:50am, 16^th July 2004. The descent was extremely tiring and I could feel blisters forming on my feet. It’s normally at this point you can feel the effects of sleep deprivation kick in.

Summit photo on Cotopaxi

Out of around 9 parties on that mountain only one and a half made it to the top. The descent wasn’t much different to the accent. The route was now easily visible along with the refuge. Fortunately there were very few crevasses and the snow was rather firm while on track. The descent in total took around two hours, which is amazing when you consider it took eight hours to get to the top. Ice was minimal due to snowfall and bad weather. Altitude was never a problem except for the brief period at 5200 meters showing our acclimatization on smaller mountainsp had done the trick.

Our guide was well worth the money, I cannot say how much one would be for just Cotopaxi and every guide agency differs. It is advised you take a good look around first.

We arrived back at the refuge at around 10am and continued our decent down the neck of the moon.

Introduction to Ecuador

Ecuador is a small country in the west of South America, although so small, the country represents a wide variety of landscapes from ice capped volcanoes to the tropical rainforest. Flights to paradise don’t come cheaply though, from Manchester to Quito (capital of Ecuador) flights can cost from £600 to £800 per adult in July.

The population of Ecuador is 14 million, 2 million of which live in Quito. The city has much to see, including mountains, statues, bull fights, football competitions and the equator its-self. Sadly Quito is heavily polluted and has a major litter problem. It is worth mentioning ‘The Old Town of Quito’ sees less tourists due to mugging’s and pick pockets, I myself had a wallet stolen in broad daylight. The bull fights are not for the light hearted, a number of people die each year antagonising the bulls in the ring (mainly drunks), which is, by Ecuadorian standards, perfectly acceptable. While I was there a 14 year old boy was killed in the ring reminding you of where you really are. Despite the countries economic and political problems, the majority of Ecuadorians remain courteous and cheerful.

Ecuador is a Christian country which was colonised by the Spaniards. For this reason Spanish is the most commonly spoke language in Ecuador, although there are numerous tribes that break this trend. Unfortunately Ecuador boarders with Colombia meaning that it is not advisable to approach the boarder. Colombian terrorists are known to cross the boarder and in certain but rare cases kidnap tourists.

Just recently Ecuador’s currency market collapsed which forced the government to adopt the American dollar. The dollar is slowly helping Ecuador’s economy to recover. ATM’s are widespread in Ecuador but are unreliable. Many tourists make the mistake of relying on ATM’s as their main access to money. Traveller’s cheques are the best way to obtain money, although these also carry problems of their own. The banks in Ecuador only allow you to withdraw small amounts of money, around $50 to $200. Although if you persist you may find the rare bank which allows you to take a larger sum.

No visa is required if you wish to stay in Ecuador for less than 90 days, but you will need to have a yellow fever vaccination which costs around £40 in the UK. It is also advisable to make sure you are up to date with other necessary vaccinations such as Typhoid, Hepatitis A, Tetanus and Rabies. The tap water is not safe to drink in Ecuador but fortunately bottled water comes cheap at around 50p a litre.

Quito is just short of 3000 meters high and is chilly so it is a good idea not to pack for a holiday on the Caribbean – a common mistake. Rain is however not a frequent visitor to Quito and surrounding towns. There is no set periods of summer and winter in Ecuador; the altitude scrambles any possible patterns. As a rule of thumb the warmest and driest months are in June to September.

Maps are difficult to buy in Ecuador due to problems with security; the government is more reluctant to sell maps which contain detail about its coast line. You can, if you wish, purchase your maps in various retailers in the UK, although the best maps and widest range are best purchased in Quito. We bought our maps from Instituto Geografico Militar around a 15 minute drive from the centre of Quito.

Our main form of transport were taxi’s which plague the city harassing tourists at every possible opportunity. Needless to say it is best to haggle with the drivers as they always charge the ‘tourist price’ in preference to the ‘local’s price’. There is a rather reliable bus network in Ecuador which is normally over crowded but very cheap; however the taxis are well worth the extra money.

Summary

• Flights around £600 – £800
• Spanish speaking
• Unstable boarder with Columbia
• Currency is the dollar
• ATM’s unreliable, traveller’s cheques the best
• Yellow fever vaccination a legal requirement
• Can’t drink tap water
• Difficulty in purchasing maps
• No British mobile networks currently operate in Ecuador

Further Reading

• Ecuador Climbing Guide – Bob Yahah
• Climbing Ecuador – Bradly Yerkes