My Cotopaxi climb!

First view of Cotopaxi...
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Last weekend I braved Cotopaxi, which is the highest active volcano in the world at 5897 metres to the summit. It last blew its top in 1877 and has done so every 130 years or so... My guide book says that since 2001 the volcano´s temperature has risen from 8 to 40 degrees C but I can tell you that covered in a whole lotta snow, it was no where near 40 degrees up there!

From Cotopaxi Parque Nacionale on Saturday morning our group of 4 drove straight to the base and promptly hiked up to the refuge at 4800 metres. We then went out to practise using our crampons and ice axes but it began to snow heavily... it was the thunder and lightening though, that chased us back to the refuge for the rest of the afternoon.

Arriving at the refuge
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I had a great time chatting with my guide, Secundo (yes, his name is Second) and the others. Paul and Becky, an English couple who were total adrenaline junkies had some excelente stories to share and the lovely German Alexandra become my climbing buddy so we were literally joined at the hip that night.

We huddled into our bunk beds from around 6pm to midnight and tried to sleep but it was difficult at altitude so I mostly watched the snow and lightening outside...

Thankfully, by the time we set out at 1am the sky was clear and with all my kit on (3 thermals, a fleece and waterproofs) I was just right. After 30 minutes we reached the glacier and harnessed up. We made it over what Secundo called ´heartbreak hill´ but the snow was soft and deep so the going was v slow.

Looking down from the refuge
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Past the glacier it got really steep, every step slipped a little and my ice axe was sinking up to it´s full length into the snow, but we plodded on until we could physically plod no more - up to 5400 metres but only half way in terms of time to the top (which was another 4 hours away). It was at that point that we reluctantly admitted defeat and sunk back down to the refuge for sunrise.

I was pretty happy with our effort but Paul and Becky were unwell and v disappointed. We found out later that none of the 15 groups that were up on the mountain that night made it to the summit so that made them feel a lot better! We were told that too much snow made our ascent far too slow and that as the sun broke, it would have been dangerous to descend from the top.

View of the summit from the refuge - before it snowed!
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Apparently, by December all the snow is gone from Cotopaxi and the climb is a lot easier - what-eva was I thinking..? ;-) Anyhow, it was a fantastic adventure that I will never forget and yes, I now have mucho respeto a la montaña!