Sunrise on Cotopaxi from the Hacienda los Mortinios.
After a rest day we headed up to our second objective, Cotopaxi. It was basically the same – wash, rinse, repeat cycle! We arrived late morning at the parking lot (they call it Cotopaxi Parking Land – not sure why so formal) where we assembled all our gear and then had about an hour hike up to the Jose Rivas Refuge.
Jose Rivas Refugio is in the upper left – tan structure.In this photo you can see part of the actual climbing route as it zigzags above the climbers’ heads.
Once inside the refuge, we threw out our sleeping bags and got organized, then had dinner and tried to sleep for about five hours before we were woken up for our summit bid at midnight. It was to be another 3,000’+ climb – not overly technical but physically demanding on moderate (35 – 40 degree) glaciated slopes.
Regrouping and getting ready to head up.
Again, not a lot of photos on the way up – but a lot at the summit!
Not quite at the summit – you can see we made it just as the sun was coming over the clouds.I did tell the photographer that he was shooting the pictures into the sun, oh well!Roping up and ready to head back down – Chimborazo is in the background – our next objective.They only opened Cotopaxi up to climbing this season – it had been closed for a couple years because it was erupting. We all were required to carry gas masks up – Camilo mentioned that the prior week the smell made him sick and he was covered in ashes. Luckily, you can see that the fumes are blowing away from us.Pack needs a bit of adjustment!There were some glissading opportunities but rather short-lived, due to the rocks!
Joel and Alison's Excellent Adventures 