Climbing Cotopaxi

Sinead, Briana and I went on a trip to Cotopaxi at the weekend. It is the highest active volcano in the world (5897m) and we attempted to climb it! We set off early on Saturday morning and headed to a tour company in Quito to try all the gear on. We then headed to the national park, which is only about 55km from Quito. It took about 2 hours to get to the car park, but the views on the way were amazing. We were extremely lucky because the weather was fine and you could see for miles. Previous weeks have been cloudy...





We then changed into our hiking gear and trekked up to the refuge, only 300m from the car park. Due to the altitude and cold conditions, this took us an hour!


We arrived at the refuge and had a rest before setting out to practise using crampons on the glacier, just above the refuge. It was great fun, we had to practise using the cranpons and ice pick. It was lots of fun crawling up the mountain and falling down using the ice pick to prevent you falling.



The next morning we woke up at midnight and had breakfast before setting off at 1am to attempt the climb. I only made it to just over 5000m before feeling really sick and faint and having to turn back! I did not get to walk on the snow and ice with crampons as I turned back just below the higher glacier. I was really gutted, but it was definitely the right decision. One of the guides, Kristian came all the way back with me and caught me as I fainted when I reached the refuge! I proceeded to sleep until the girls got back after their 7 hour hike up and 3 hour descent! It was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I wish I could have attempted it feeling 100% but I'll never know! The pictures below are of the girls at the summit.