A wonderful night at the Cotopaxi

13th February 2014

Ecuador is the land of the volcanos. In the last month I visited different volcanos:

- Sierra Negra : the second biggest caldera in the world 

- Pululahua : the biggest inhabited crater in the world 

- Pichincha : a beautiful volcano near Quito 

- Quilotoa : a green lagoon inside the crater of the volcano 

- Tungurahua : a volcano in full activity 

But one of the most beautiful volcano is the Cotopaxi, with its 5897m. It known to be one of the high mountains of this country that can be climbed also by people without experience. It was long time I was thinking about it and I decided to try. Once I got to Latacunga I booked the climb tour with a girl from Lebanon met in Quilotoa. 

We were very excited and also a little bit scared about this new adventure. In the morning, we tried all the equipments: 3 layers of pants, 2 jackets, climbing shoes, cramps , protective hat, lamp, 2 pairs of gloves and a backpack. One hour after, we left with our guide to get to the Cotopaxi national park. The park is very beautiful, full of conifers and other plants but the volcano was completely covered by the clouds and we couldn't see it. We arrived at the refuge where we met other guys that were going to climb the same night. After dinner we went to rest for some hours. Sleeping was impossible, but at least I rested for a while. At 10 pm we got up to get ready. We were surprised and fascinated by the view of the volcano : no clouds in the sky, the perfect weather to climb.  Cotopaxi is the typical mountain drawn by children, with its conical shape and the top cover by the snow. On the way to the volcano, we stopped couple of times to take some pictures, then we started hiking. Fortunately the visibility was really good, we had (almost) full moon and we didn't even need to turn on the flashlights. It was quite cold, but the equipment that the agency gave us was really good. We walked up the mountain till the beginning of the glacier at 5000m. Then we wore the cramps, we secured ourselves with a rope and we tried for the first time to climb on the ice. I was surprised to discover that it wasn't that difficult. We learned some techniques and then we started climbing. We climbed for a while on the ice, unfortunately my friend didn't feel very good because of the altitude and even if she tried very hard to go on, at the end she had to give up. This meant that I had to give up too, because we had one guide for both of us. We knew this from the beginning, it was a risk that we calculated when we booked the tour. My friend was feeling very guilty and disappointed by herself. I was quite sad, because I really wanted to get to the top and I felt I was ready for it. I had no altitude problems, my heart beat was regular, my breath was normal and after 6 months travelling I was enough fit for this climb. I tried to talk with my friend, trying to make her feel better. It happened to her, but it could also happened to me. I remembered how bad I felt during the Huayhuash trek, where I couldn't breath and after few steps I had to stop to rest. 

We started descending from the glacier. This was scariest than going up. While climbing, we were attached with a rope and the guide was the first one in line , followed by my friend and me. Going down, I had to be the first one of the group because the guide needed to "secure" us in case of accidents. Which accidents? The glacier was full of crevasses and if you put your feet on the wrong place, you can fall down. I went down very slowly, asking all the time to the guide which direction take. He got a little bit upset, but I didn't care that much. Once we reached the end of the glacier, I sat down, trying to accept the failure. We were both quite sad, but on the same time we were both very pleased we were able to reach an altitude higher than 5000m. We looked around and the view was simply amazing. On the back there was the white glacier and in front of us there were many mountain peaks, a layer of clouds, the moon and far away the city of Quito illuminated. I talked with my friend and we decided to wait in this spot to see the sunrise. The guide really got upset with us, telling us he would come back to the refuge and we could come back to Latacunga by taxi. At that point I couldn't stop myself telling him that I would refer everything to the agency and to the ministry of tourism. It wasn't the first time he talked to us in a rude way, sometimes he also shouted at us, he really had a bad behaviour during these two days together. After my words he understood he couldn't leave us there. At the beginning he went to cut ice of the glacier near us (strange behaviour), but then he left us alone and went down to wait for us in the car. 

Seeing the sunrise from the mountain was part of the tour, in general you can see it from the top, but this doesn't mean that if you don't reach the top you can't see the sunrise from another spot. Most probably the guide just wanted to end the tour earlier and go to sleep. 

So we were finally alone, waiting couple of hours for the sunrise, at 5000m. It was quite cold, but fortunately there was no wind (they told us that sometimes the wind is so strong that is very difficult to climb). We spent time talking, observing the landscape and taking pictures despite our fingers were freezing. We saw on the west side the moon going down, while the sky got clearer on the east and the sun rose. Then the clouds became orange and the glacier got slowly illuminated. Suddenly I wasn't sad anymore. It's true, I didn't get to the top, lot of people did it, but no one had the mountain just by herself in one of the best spot to see the sunrise. It was absolutely amazing seeing in few minutes the sky changing colours, the moon going down and the sun rising. 

Being alone at that altitude and at that temperature could have been very difficult, but fortunately with me there was another girl with the same spirit of adventure. In the hours spent together I learned a lot about her country and her culture. She visited almost all the world, but her biggest dream is to come one day in Israel. 

After a while we started descending from the mountain, making many stops to take pictures. Finally we got to the parking lot where the guide was waiting us. The atmosphere was very tense. He took us before to the refuge to have breakfast. There we met the guys that climbed till the top, they were very happy and exhausted. Then we went back to Latacunga. We gave back all the equipment and we went to talk with the owner of the agency explaining him everything happened that night. The guide denied almost everything and asked the other girl to testify against me (unbelievable!). I was making all the talking only because it was easier for me to explain in Spanish what happened. The owner of the agency was very nice and very sad about what happened. He was completely on our side, we weren't the first people complaining about this guide. He proposed us a refund or another solo climb tour to the Cotopaxi for a very good price. I really thought about climbing again because maybe this could be the only occasion that I will ever have to climb till almost 6000m. But on the other side, I didn't want to climb the same mountain and seeing the same landscape twice in 2 days. So I decided to accept the refund and use this money to visit another place. 

Besides the fact we didn't reach the top and that the guide was completely an asshole, I really loved this tour. I climbed till 5000m and over, I climbed for the first time on a glacier and for the first time under the moon light, I saw the world from above, I saw the moon and the sun exchange their place in the sky, but most important I got to know a wonderful girl from one of my neighbour country. This tour wouldn't have been the same without her. People you met travelling are one of the most precious thing that can make our trip an incredible and unforgettable experience. 

Latacunga 

Cotopaxi national park 

I haven't right now pictures of our climb, because we took them with my friend's camera and I'm waiting for her to send them to me. So here are pictures of us getting down from the glacier at night and at the sunrise.