Ecuador School Pushes Through Hard Conditions to Summit Cotopaxi

Sebas­t­ian writes in with an update from our Ecuador Moun­taineer­ing School. The team has bat­tled some dif­fi­cult con­di­tions on both Cayambe and Cotopaxi, but they are now rest­ing in the beau­ti­ful 400-year-old hacien­da, La Ciene­ga, dry­ing out gear and restor­ing ener­gy after a suc­cess­ful sum­mit of Cotopaxi. The team gained some use­ful skills dur­ing the Glac­i­er Moun­taineer­ing School to pre­pare them for these tough objec­tives and give them the con­fi­dence to push through windy and cold con­di­tions toward the summit. 

This morn­ing, Sebas­t­ian led the first group, Nor­man and Bryce, up Cotopaxi and reach­ing the 19,342 foot sum­mit at 5:45 a.m. Robert and Eduar­do, led by Mar­co, fol­lowed close behind and sum­mit­ed at 6:25 a.m. Bar­bara and Fletch­er were able to push through the strong cold winds to 19,014 feet before they turned around to descend in white-out con­di­tions. Con­grat­u­la­tions to every­one for their incred­i­ble efforts and good luck as they pre­pare for their last objec­tive on Sun­day, 20,752 foot Chimborazo!

(pho­to from pre­vi­ous expedition)

Beau­ti­ful glac­i­er on Cotopaxi. Ter­ry Tra­cy photo