Cotopaxi Crater
Before I came to Ecuador, I had never been above 4,000m (~13,000 ft) of altitude. Back in Mexico, I was dreaming about climbing Iztaccihuatl (5,230m / 17,158 ft) — but that didn’t work out. Between traveling, studying and partying, there was just not enough time for acclimatization or training. Over here in Ecuador, though, high altitude is defined differently than in other parts of the world. Sitting at 2,800m (~9,200ft), Quito is the second-highest capital in the world. Being above 4,000m (~13,000 ft) is nothing — a number of important streets actually reach this altitude. Living in Quito, you are so well-acclimatized that being above 5,000m (~16,000 ft) hardly makes you breathless.
Ecuador also bears some real challenges, though: the country’s nevados are so high that they are glacier-covered in spite of their proximity to the equator. Ecuador’s highest mountain — Volcán Chimborazo — is 6,267m (20,560 ft) high. While we haven’t actually made it onto that icy monster yet, we did climb Ecuador’s second- and third-highest mountains: Volcán Cotopaxi (5,897m / 19,347 ft) and Volcán Cayambe (5,790m / 18,996 ft). Climbing one of these mountains is quite an experience: you get to a climbers’ refuge a day before the climb. There, you spend a restless nap in your sleeping bag waiting for midnight to come around, when you start climbing while the snow is hard from the night’s cold. You spend the rest of the night climbing, waiting for the sunrise on or near the summit. The views are absolutely unforgettable!
Similarly unforgettable, however, is the torture you have to go through to get to the top (or well, maybe not everybody — but I did). Above a certain altitude, your body simply starts shutting down (that’s about 5,500m for me). Taking even one more step seems a close-to-impossible task. I literally had to drag my ass up that mountain half the night, using up every last bit of energy I could summon. But, boy, was it worth it!
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