One of the additional things that Alpine Ascents did a great job with was ensuring that all climbers were well acclimated. Serious consequences are known to happen if you rush up to altitude too quickly. We were actually eight days into our schedule before we attempted one of the volcanoes.

Several of those early days included hikes or drives up to a high altitude and then returning a few thousand feet to sleep at a lower elevation. Our first big hike was Pasochoa. From Quito, at an elevation of about 9,000′, it was pretty quick to drive up to the trailhead, prepare lunch/snacks and then start the two thousand foot, three hour hike to the summit at 13, 776′.

The hike also gave our guides a better sense of how we worked as a group, if we practiced “self-care” at breaks (hydrate, eat, keep warm, sunscreen), etc. In general, they were trying to figure out how much they were going to have to babysit us! Everyone felt great and did fine.