Location: Ecuador
Dates: January 2-11, 2025
I rang in the New Year (2025) on equatorial glaciers atop two Ecuadorian giants: Cotopaxi and Chimborazo (5,897m / 19,347’ ft. and 6,263m / 20,549.4 ft. respectively).
The latter has the distinction of being the earth’s closest glacier to the sun, and farthest point from the earth’s centre due to the equatorial bulge (the earth is not a perfect sphere).
Everyone arrived from sea level and we acclimatized with several days in the capital city of Quito (just over 9,000 ft.), a hike up Pasochoa (4,200 m / 13,776 ft.), and followed with a successful summit of Iliniza Norte (5,248 m / 16,818 ft.) before attempting the big boys. Even so, it was a fast acclimatization schedule and pushed my limits.
(Cotopaxi, 0.8384° S, 78.6663° W - summit push, January 8, 2025)
(Glacial ice cave below the headwall on Cotopaxi)
(due to Cotopaxi’s particularly strong volcanic fumes - it is extremely active, and was closed for over a year during its most recent eruption between 2022-2024 - gas masks (3M half face respirators) are commonly worn by climbers near the summit crater and according to the day’s wind direction. On our summit morning, I was glad to have one even if it made the already thin air feel much thinner!)
(Cotopaxi descent)
(High camp on Chimborazo 1.4693° S, 78.8169° W at 5,350m / 17,552 ft, and toe of the glacier - January 11, 2025 - calm before the storm - later that night we would start off in gale force winds which continued unabated for the next 10-12 hours, as a result, I have few photos from the climb aside from the summit photos below)
(summit of Chimborazo, closest point on earth to the sun)
(Human icicles)
(I’m told the humidity from the Amazon rainforest on the eastern edge of Ecuador rises up and turns into/covers climbs with rim ice at over 20,000 ft. - it’s a unique phenomenon of climbing at high altitude above the world’s largest rainforest near the equator)
(climb to high camp on Chimborazo with the glacier in the background)
(Drone shots capture the enormity of Chimborazo’s glaciers - she makes Rainier look small. Drone shots courtesy of Estalin Suárez, IFMGA certified guide - Madison Mountaineering / AGR Expeditions)