Week Ten – Cotopaxi

Author: Masha

Photos by Stephen, Masha, And Andy

Week Ten – Cotopaxi

July/August 2019

When I started thinking about this blog post, I wasn’t sure if it would be about success or failure, and it turns out it’s about neither. Let me give some background: Months ago, I got the idea to climb Cotopaxi while in Ecuador this summer, and my step-dad enthusiastically agreed to do it with me. We have both done a decent amount of hiking and have both summited Mt. Kilimanjaro, which is about the same height as Cotopaxi.

Thus, when I arrived in Ecuador over two months, I started light training, meaning, runs with a lot of hills, which thankfully the area around the field school was decently hilly. Then, when I arrived in Quito two weeks ago, I started acclimatization training, and my husband graciously helped me train. Quito lies at 9,200 feet above sea level, and so after a few days of getting used to that level, we did what we learned on Mt. Kilimanjaro: Climb High, Sleep Low. In the ten days my husband was with me in Quito, we spent about half of those changing altitudes and hiking to help me training. First, we went to Pululahua, which lies at 12,000 feet above sea level. Then, we made an attempt at Volcan Pichincha, and made it to 14,137 feet above sea level. Following two days off, we went up the Teleferico of Pichchina this last Monday and had lunch and walked around a bike at 13,000 feet. On Tuesday, we hiked up to 15,000 feet on Pichincha. Finally, we spent some time changing elevations on the way to and from Otavalo. Additionally, on the Pichincha hikes, I did weighted carries, to prep for carrying my gear up Cotopaxi. Finally, I utilized the hotel’s gym to do more cardio and weight training. I felt great and very relieved; I had struggled at 15,000 feet on Kilimanjaro the night before summit day. Yet, training this time around, I had no soreness, no altitude issues, and felt very ready for Cotopaxi. I had also brought a lot of gear to Ecuador, hiking books, snow/wind pants, long underwear, a thick down jacket with an outer shell, headlamps, a ski mask, and many other hiking appropriate clothes for cold wear. However, upon meeting with the guide he said my boots would not be appropriate and gave me another pair of boots, but I never had the opportunity to break them in.

So, finally, my step-dad, our guide, and myself set out for the base camp lodge at Cotopaxi. The lodge sits in the mid 15,000s. That evening we practiced using an ice ax and crampons for walking on glaciers the next day. The night, we awoke at midnight in the freezing lodge, got all our gear on, ate “breakfast”, and set off into howling 30-40mph gusts… I will spare you all the unpleasant details but we did not summit and I had painful bone bruising around my ankles for the next week.

It was a lot of fun to learn how to use crampons and an ice ax, and to feel properly prepared in terms of acclimatization and physical fitness. Yet, it was frustrating to put in so much time and effort and to feel so prepared and a series of events beyond your control keep you from submitting.

I love hiking, and I love mountaineering. Mountaineering was something I didn’t even know I liked until my Peace Corps service in Uganda, when my husband and I did a lot of hiking and climbed Kilimanjaro. Thus, when I applied to study in Ecuador for three months this summer, hiking and mountaineering were some of the things I was looking forward to most. And while I have taken full advantage of those things, it was disappointing not to get further or summit Cotopaxi.

Photos courtesy of Andy