Two weeks climbing in and touring around Ecuador, Feb 4–21 2025
Six climbers, two American guides, four local guides, and a bus driver
Mountains climbed in addition to other substantial hikes—
Rucu Pichincha (15400ft)
Cayambe (19000ft)
Cotopaxi (19300ft)
Chimborazo (20500ft) we had to bail on as it was raining/snowing for days and the avalanche risk was excessive
Miami Airport
A place of high class retail and robotic wheelchairs.
Quito (9,000ft)
Numerous markers and tourist spots on the ostensible equator
Overlooking the downtown and in the main church
Some fruit that took an awful lot of work to peel for what was basically a single grape
A “Philly Cheesesteak” in a vegan restaurant in town
Quail eggs on sale at numerous locations alongside chicken eggs
Rucu Pichincha (15,400ft)
Old Person Pichincha, an inactive peak on Pichincha volcano adjacent to Quito
A cable car takes you from Quito to a good way up the mountain, then its ~5hrs to the summit and back
Carunculated Caracara hanging out with us on the peak is apparently as high as they have ever been seen
Laguna Cuicocha (11,400ft)
~4hr loop around caldera lake on Cotacachi volcano
Of the two islands in the middle, the bigger one is known as Guinea Pig Island, just because of how it looks—sadly there are no Guinea Pigs on it
Several people in our group did have Guinea Pigs for dinner one night though
Intiyaya Residencia and Otavalo
Town of Otavalo is famous for its market and surrounding commercial district, which cater to both tourists and locals
Lots of great street art around the town
Numerous places where you could rent time on sewing machines
Cayambe (19,000ft)
Overnights at lower hut and Ruales-Oleas-Berge Climbers’ Hut, then ~10hrs to & from summit
Casa Ilayaku
Cotopaxi (19,300ft)
Overnight at Jose Ribas Refugio then ~8hrs to & from summit
Cotopaxi is one of the world’s most known volcanoes and sees many travelers from across the world
Visibility was so limited that at the summit you couldn’t even tell on which side its dramatic crater lay
You could however enjoy the noxious sulfuric gas; note in the summit picture that the two local guides on the rightmost have serious gas masks
Hacienda La Cienega
Now a hotel, originally a Spanish manse built in 1695
Complete with several large courtyards, its own church, and subtle fortification
The outer rooms conceal a ~5ft thick wall with embrasured passages to the inner spaces and rooms
Chimborazo Lodge
Built by a mountaineer as both lodging and a private nature preserve
Includes its own herd of alpacas
Decades of mountaineering equipment on the walls and other decorations
Among the most recent, I used these exact boots (though in orange) until ~2023
Chimborazo
Long discussions and debate in the trailhead parking lot about conditions and alternate plan(s)
Pouring rain on the lower sections was one thing
But at higher elevation several days of fresh snow raised the avalanche risk excessively
Other groups who’d gone up the prior couple days reported turning around quickly on the snow after slogging up through the rain
Baños de Agua Santa (8,000ft)
The alternate plan, basically a party town with a lot of good/serious hiking in the surrounding hills
Pichincha Teleferico (13,000ft)
~5hr hike in the rain from downtown Quito out into the adjacent countryside, to the top of the teleferico (cable car), and back
The teleferico is where we had started the first hike to Rucu Pichincha
