Volcán Cotopaxi

As I mentioned in my last entry, I climbed Cotopaxi last weekend, the tallest active volcano in the world. I did not reach the summit, but it was quite an experience.

We left Latacunga (9200 ft.) arrived in la Parque Nacional de Cotopaxi on Friday afternoon to begin our acclimatizing. Dropping our stuff off at the Tambopaxi lodge (12,400 ft.), we went for a short hike in a little bit of rain to a nearby lake. Along the way, I saw a group of llamas and hundreds of wild horses. I really wanted to ride one (referring to the llamas).

The next morning we rode a camioneta up to the parking lot (15,000 ft.) below the Refugio Jose Ribas (15,700 ft.). When we arrived at the parking lot, the wind was probably the strongest I have ever encountered. It was definitely sustained over 50 mph, and maybe even over 60. The gusts could make you lose your balance. Hiking the 700 ft. up to the refuge was not fun. The wind had a way of sucking the breath out of my mouth, thus further depriving my lungs of the air needed at that altitude. Also, there was freezing rain and gravel being blown horizontally and mostly into my face. When I finally got to the refuge, I clambered inside and noticed that I could still see my breath. To my disappointment, the refuge was not heated; no fire even burned in the fire pit. We spent the next few hours sipping hot chocolate, meeting American day hikers who came to the refuge, and waiting for our guides.

When our guides and the rest of the group arrived, we suited up in our technical gear and hiked 20 minutes to the base of the first glacier for ice training. We learned crampon and ice axe techniques. I really enjoyed sliding down the glacier and then twisting and planting the ice axe to stop. Although, I wouldn’t much enjoy having to do this so frequently that night.

After dinner, Neil and I played “Cotopaxi” with another group consisting of a Swiss, Englishman, and Canadian. “Cotopaxi” was simply Texas holdem, but playing with volcanic rocks of no monetary value instead of poker chips. Everybody went to bed around 7:30 and I tried unsuccessfully to sleep until we got up at midnight.

At 12 am on Sunday, the refuge came to life as climbers suited up. Unfortunately, I got out of bed with a queasy stomach and needing to take a trip to the baño. This would have to classify as one of the least convenient places I have ever been to use the bathroom. The bathroom is in another building behind the lodge. It does have walls and a roof to provide some shelter, but other than that it is completely open air. Thus, the temperature outside was also the temperature in the bathroom. That temperature was probably in the mid teens. There were no lights, so I had to rely on my headlamp which quickly dimming. Also, I was wearing mountain climbing gear. I’ll just leave it at the fact that it was probably one of the least pleasant bathroom experiences of the past 20 years.

After popping some Pepto, I joined the group and started up the mountain. By the time we got to the glacier, my headlamp had dimmed to the point that it was less effective than a candle (when I told Neil I was having a problem with my headlamp, he replied that it wasn’t turned on, only it was) and my stomach was still in knots. As we put on crampons, I also managed to change the batteries. Now I was no longer blind, just kinda sick. After roping in, Neil and I started up the glacier with our guide. Climbing glaciers is really kind of boring. You repeat the same cross-legged steps ad infinitum, while using the ice axe as a sort of walking stick. The thing that made it so hard was the wind. The wind was blowing straight down the mountain, making each step up all the more difficult while also causing a loss of footing when I didn’t get a good hold with my crampons. It’s a little hard for me to write about the 2.5 hours we spent climbing, because it was basically the same thing over and over. Slow, methodical steps, occasionally switching sides of the rope depending on the direction of the traverse.

In about 45 minutes we came to the top of the first glacier and then spent another twenty minutes on rocky terrain to reach the second glacier. On the second glacier, I really started wearing out. My stomach started feeling better, but I think it was just a relative thing compared to my legs, which were absolutely on fire. The second glacier was probably about a 45 degree angle, one of the steepest parts of the climb. As I ascended further, I started wearing out more and made more mistakes in planting my crampons into the ice. Each time that happened, I stumbled or was knocked over by the wind. After about an hour and a half on the second glacier, with another hour to reach the less steep sections, I was done. The wind was just knocking me over too much, and I couldn’t make consistent steps anymore. I decided to descend.

I returned to the refuge exhausted and cold, and happily climbed back into my sleeping bag. Based on various reports from the guides, I think we turned around somewhere in the neighborhood of 5400m, which is 17,658 ft. In retrospect, it’s not very surprising that we didn’t reach the top. No one in our group did, and out of all the people climbing in various groups that night, our Swiss friend and his guide were the only people to reach the summit. Everyone in our group turned around somewhere on the steep portion of that second glacier. I don’t know if I will ever return to that altitude again, but I sure would like to summit a big, snow capped mountain one day.