Trek & Mountain Magazine’ Highlights Mountain Madness in Ecuador

The Feb­ru­ary 2014 issue of ​‘Trek & Moun­tain Mag­a­zine’ fea­tures a won­der­ful arti­cle about moun­tain climb­ing in Ecuador with pho­tos from pre­vi­ous Moun­tain Mad­ness trips as well as top billing in the ​“Who to go with” sec­tion. British author and moun­tain guide Alun Richard­son takes read­ers on a trip he led to Ecuador’s Avenue of Vol­ca­noes at the end of last year.

While the arti­cle high­lights three moun­tains in par­tic­u­lar, which we offer in our climb­ing school and Vol­ca­noes Expe­di­tion, and include Chimb­o­ra­zo (6268m), Cotopaxi (5897m), Cayambe (5790m), Moun­tain Mad­ness offers trips to these peaks as well as Anti­sana (5758m), Illiniza Sur (5263m) and El Altar/​Obispo (5318m). One of our most pop­u­lar inter­na­tion­al des­ti­na­tions, our Ecuador trips offer clients an incred­i­ble adven­ture and fab­u­lous, unique­ly Ecuado­ri­an food and lodging. 

Last steps on Cotopaxi. Oswal­do Freire photo

As part of our 30^th Anniver­sary cel­e­bra­tion and our con­tin­ued dri­ve for trav­el excel­lence, we are also proud to announce our exclu­sive part­ner­ship with Hacien­da Rumilo­ma, locat­ed in the Ecuador city of Quito. Rumilo­ma, a 5‑star hotel nes­tled in the hills of Quito, has been wide­ly regard­ed as one of the best hotels in South America. 

Sum­mit day on Chimb­o­ra­zo. Este­ban Mena photo

The own­ers of Hacien­da Rumilo­ma, Amber Freire and Moun­tain Mad­ness guide and Ecuador Pro­gram Direc­tor, Oswal­do Freire, pride them­selves on excep­tion­al ser­vice and per­son­al­ized atten­tion for all their guests. Amber, an Amer­i­can born inte­ri­or design­er and ama­teur chef was liv­ing in Ire­land where she ran a chil­dren’s char­i­ty, which brought her to Ecuador. Here, while climb­ing Cotopaxi, she met and fell in love with her hus­band Oswal­do, a hote­lier and one ofE­cuador’s most accom­plished moun­tain climbers. Since they met they have man­aged to make a real­i­ty of their dream to cre­ate a cozy, lux­u­ry adven­ture lodge on the hacien­da that has been in Oswal­do’s fam­i­ly for over 60 years.

Rumilo­ma pho­to collection

With gourmet meals, top of the line accom­mo­da­tions and breath­tak­ing views, our clients expe­ri­ence lux­u­ry and adven­ture all in one amaz­ing trip. As is true with most of our inter­na­tion­al trips, our clients trav­el to these far off lands for more than just the expe­ri­ence of climb­ing a moun­tain. Add to this stays at his­toric hacien­das, din­ing at unique­ly Ecuado­ri­an restau­rants and fine­ly-tuned adven­ture itin­er­aries, it is clear why Moun­tain Mad­ness is quick­ly becom­ing the top moun­tain climb­ing guide ser­vice in Ecuador.

Rumilo­ma pho­to collection

Each casita, or lit­tle house you’ll be stay­ing in, boasts a min­i­mum of 600 sq. feet. All are filled with a unique mix of antiques, art and col­lec­tables from the far cor­ners of Ecuador. The guest rooms are the epit­o­me of rus­tic lux­u­ry- pot­bel­lied stoves, colo­nial art fluffy down cov­ers, & spec­tac­u­lar bath rooms all housed with­in hand craft­ed walls of adobe and stone made and/​or mined here on the prop­er­ty. All have cozy sit­ting rooms, spa­cious bed­rooms and ter­races or indoor gar­dens, and of course, the best views any­where in Quito.

MM Col­lec­tion