Ecuador Volcanos

The Spring 2011 Ecuador Expedition is off to a great start! Daniel Schwartz arrived in Quito Wednesday evening and spent a day acclimatizing and exploring the capital city which sits at 9,500 feet. We received an update from guide Jaime Avila saying they had reached the summit of Rucu Pichincha at 15,700 feet today and were safely on their way down. "There were a lot of high clouds today but the weather has been good so far and Daniel is doing really well" he said. Will post more news soon!

At 7:20 AM the entire team stood on top of Cotopaxi (19,343 feet)! It was a perfect summit day, with starry skies and calm winds. The group left the refuge just after 1am. The strong team moved quickly with perfect glacier conditions and reached the upper headwall just in time for sunrise. After a bit of a break, the team climbed the final steep slopes to the steaming summit crater. The weather was warm enough for a full 40 minutes on top, lots of time to enjoy the endless views and to take plenty of photos.