Cotopaxi - Elevation 19,347 ft

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Nov 29th

I woke up at around 8am for a quick breakfast and headed straight back to bed, there's a long day ahead. At 11 we were fitted by our guides Jose and Nueto (Milton). The gear includes crampons and ice
picks. After the fitting we started our drive to Cotopaxi and stopped for a quick chicken foot lunch. Protein! The drive into Cotopaxi was long but the park definitely stands alone. Three Massive mountains surrounding a plateau that dwarfed us in comparison. We crossed rivers and streams as we climbed higher and higher. Clouds soon appeared overhead followed by rain and then snow. It would best be described as a scene out of lord of the rings. As the terrain steepened the 4x4 we were in began to have problems with its gears and cut out on every dirt incline we went up. A 45 minute journey took 130 mins. A least we made it to base camp parking lot. The parking lot consisted of volcanic ash flow, talk about low maintenance. We spent 15 min prepping our gear for the 45 minute hike to the Refugio. The hike to the refuge seemed tough enough I didn't want to think what lay ahead. Nueto darted ahead and had a full spread of hot food and drink ready for dinner. We stuffed ourselves and headed straight for bed to prepare for the night hike up Cotopaxi. Night hikes are a must as the glacier is considerably weakened by the sun.

Nov. 30th

It's been a short 4 days of acclimatization and I didn't sleep very well last night. The little sleep I had was interrupted by a violent kick to the head, couldn't sleep after that. Refuge bunk beds are 3
high and 4 across, you could feel the vibration of a fart. Nueto had a high carb meal prepared for me in the eating hall, I polished three bananas, a pint of yoghurt, 3 cups of coca tea, 3 slices of
communal bread, and a whole lot of sugar. As we walked out the refuge door Cotopaxi sat right on front of us, its glacier lit by the full moon. Looking up I saw a part of the glacier sheered off exposing a rock cliff, it was so far up I tried not to let it concern me. Nueto and I stated out on what was the start of the
hardest climb I've ever attempted. The first part of the hike covered soft volcanic ash covered with a light layer of snow or graupel, it was similar to climbing a large sand dune but this was the easy part. It took a
hour to reach the start of the glacier where we put on our ice climbing gear.

Nueto took the first step onto the glacier. I knew then this was something I've never done before and I had to trust that the crampons attached to my boots would stop me from falling into the depths of a
crevasse. Nueto kept my mind off fist part of the hike by teaching me Spanish. I didn't mind learning as he spoke no English and I needed to communicate any symptoms of HACE or HAPE.
Hiking without headlamps under the moonlight was awesome. A few hours passed and we stopped for a much needed break. I finished a family sized chocolate bar, coca tea, Gatorade, and an acai booster. Nothing like a sugar and a coca high to keep you moving. Looking down over the moonlight glacier I saw the teams below lighting their path with headlamps. This really put into perspective how far we hiked and how much further we needed to go. The 5 minute break was far too long, my body was frozen and everything turned to ice. The zipper on my backpack gave out at this point. I knew then that it was our very last break.

Hiking on we crossed the neck of Cotopaxi which looped us around to the climb up to the summit. Rounding Cotopaxi’s neck the moon began to set and its color turned orange lighting the clouds around it. We we're now in complete darkness and turned our headlamps on for the first time. The 75 degree incline really took it out of me, every step I took felt like a marathon, every two steps felt like my mind was about to explode. The altitude has caught up to me. I knew that I could continue by the fact that when I stopped I could regain normal breathing and heart rate. Now taking 5 steps at a time a French team passed us for the first time. They were hoping to summit first and were happy I slowed down. For the first time I asked Nueto, "how far to the top?" he said 100 meters. The steep slope then flattened out a little only to turn into an ice wall which we rounded with ice picks. For 4 minutes I ignored the fact I couldn't breath and I gave all upper body strength to prevent myself from falling down the 1000 ft drop. My head now felt like a pressure cooker. Recovering from a pounding headache Nueto asked me in Spanish, "did you not know what you were getting into, did you not read about this mountain?" those were the right words and Nueto knew it. It gave me the strength to throw in everything I had left and we made it to the top just before sunrise.

Nueto and I were the second to summit after the French team, it took a total of 3 hrs 45 min, 20 minutes behind the French. Looking in the crater of Cotopaxi the sun appeared on the horizon and lit up the other 10 volcanic mountains surrounding us. It looked as if giants were holding torches above the clouds lighting the way to Cotopaxi. I spent 15 minutes soaking it all in before the altitude began to hitting. I wish I could have stayed longer but didn't want to risk getting sick at 20,000 ft. One look at Nueto and we were on our way back down. Each step down felt like someone was taking a brick off my head and breathing became easier. With the sun now fully up you could now see the entire northern face of Cotopaxi, I could not believe the immensity of the glacier nor how far I'd climbed. The sun exposed the depths of the crevasses we crossed some easily 1000 ft + in depth, there were ice shelves and thousands of stalactites hanging off of them. The sun also exposed the remnants of the night. The trail was littered with vomit, a testament to the stress on the body. Walking into the refuge I felt like 1 million dollars. Out of +-40 people going up only 15 made it. Those who made it gathered to tell stories and those who didn't were resting up for another day.

Sitting in the refuge I knew I could not have done it without God. He showed me just how big He is.

Nueto dropped me off at 10 am this morning. I had all intention of heading straight back to Quito but there was no energy left to move a muscle. I asked Newton, at Papagayo, for a room and I went straight to bed. Reaching the summit of Cotopaxi was one of the hardest and rewarding experiences I've had. I would recommend it over and over to all those able.

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Comments

[Asian Invasion]

Hard Core...
Wow, this is amazing, I'm so happy and proud of you for making it to the summit. As always, you're discriptiveness has made me feel like I was right there with you. I admire your strength, courage, and wisdom to know that He was the one who got you to the top. What a glorious adventure :) Thanks for the blog....