Our first Ecuador Volcanoes Expedition of the season is underway!

Yesterday the team had a busy day doing gear checks, taking an acclimatization hike, visiting the Equator, and topping the whole day off with a fantastic Welcome Dinner. Sitting between 9,500ft and 10,000ft Quito is an uniquely good city for the start of a mountaineering expedition, your acclimatization starts at the hotel! Our teams build on this by taking a local Teleferique (Gondola) up to 13,000ft before completing a light acclimatization hike.

Today the team loaded up their bus and drove out of Quito and into Cotopaxi National Park to hike Ruminahui Central as a way to acclimatize and fully stretch their legs after long plane flights. Topping out at 15,190 feet Ruminahui Central is directly across a small valley from Cotopaxi. With Beautiful weather our team was treated to an amazing set of views culminating in an amazing sunset.

Tomorrow the team will head up to the lower slopes of Cotopaxi for skills training. Though Cotopaxi is still closed for climbing all the way up to the summit, the park allows climbers to go up to the base of the snow for training. Recent reports suggest that the volcanic activity has settled down again, hopefully we’re back climbing Cotopaxi soon.

Congrats to the team on a great start to their trip!