Mountaineering Ecuador's Cotopaxi Volcano

Wednesday, March 19, 2014 at 7:00pm

Fuller Lodge

The Los Alamos Mountaineers are pleased to welcome Kelly Gallagher and Don Krier for an exciting evening of mountaineering in Ecuador. Kelly and Don recently returned from Cotopaxi, Ecuador. Kelly and Don will talk about the acclimatization efforts and rewards, ice training, and share a bit of Ecuadorian travelog from the Indian markets to the hapless but tasty cuy. This will be an exciting night for all!

Set between Ecuador’s coast and its rainforests rises the greatest concentration of volcanoes in the world. The spectacular glaciated peaks of Cotopaxi (19,348'), located in the Ecuadorian Andes, offer exciting and accessible high altitude mountaineering.

Cotopaxi - an active volcano that last erupted in 1940 - lies on a long and narrow Andean valley surrounded by high volcanoes. Alexander von Humboldt said: "Cotopaxi's shape is the most beautiful and regular of all the colossal peaks in the high Andes. It is a perfect cone covered by a thick blanket of snow..." 

In late December 2013, Kelly and Don flew to Quito, Ecuador, and spent several weeks climbing four volcanic peaks with elevations of: 15,413 ft (Rucu Pichincha), 15,692 (Guagua Pichina) 16,818 ft (Illiniza Norte) and 19,348 ft (Cotopaxi).  Besides being great fun and a new country to visit, the goal was to gain mountaineering experience, especially at relatively high elevations.