Cotopaxi Summit! Climbing 2 days & 1 night

These photos give you an idea of the conditions. It is not technically difficult, but there are plenty of nice steep bits! Your guide will set the pace, and ensure you take sufficient rest/drink/snack breaks.

Fancy standing on the summit of the world’s highest active volcano? At approx 5900m (nearly 19,000ft), this climb is a once in a lifetime experience. Cotopaxi summit was closed to climbers for more than 2 years, due to the high level of volcanic activity. Thankfully the mountain is quietening down again, and became safe to climb in October 2017.The Secret Garden arranges acclimatisation programs and all-inclusive summit climbs (all equipment, meals, transport, guides, accommodation etc). Summit trips can be arranged once you are at the hostel.

Cotopaxi National Park is the first area of tourist visit in continental Ecuador, is located south of Quito 50 km (31 miles), thousands of tourists seek to reach the top of this volcano a year, because it has several facilities in connectivity, climate, route. In this volcano we do not have walls to climb, we only walk to the top, we start from 4.800m (15.748.03 ft) here we have the José Rivas refuge, with the 4×4 transport we will arrive to the parking lot at 4.600m (15.091.86 ft). If you are a beginner and really want to push your limits, why not climb the “neck of the moon”? Climb one of the highest active volcanoes in the world at 5897 m! Due to its perfectly symmetrical cone, covered in a thick blanket of snow and ice, the Cotopaxi is one of the tourist highlights in Ecuador and it’s most visited and climbed volcano. The climb to the summit occurs during the night; this allows watching the sunrise from the summit and displays unsurpassed views of Quito to the North and Chimboroazo and Tungurahua to the south. At the top you have a magnificent view into the snow capped crater where it is possible to see steam emissions. The ascent departs from the refuge at 4800m normally and climbs through a mixture of volcanic sand, snow, and glacier to the summit. Although the climb is not classified as technically difficult, it is absolutely necessary to go with professional guides and specialized glacier hiking equipment like ropes, ice-axes and crampons.The climber must be in good physical condition and must already have had a good acclimatization. The ascent takes between 6-8 hours while the descent takes 3-4 hours.

There’s some great footage in OUR VIDEO showing guys on a summit trip, and their celebrations on the summit at sunrise.
We strongly recommend spending at least 2 or 3 nights at Secret Garden Cotopaxi before attempting the summit – you’ll read more about that under “acclimatisation” below.

From Quito:
Departure from Quito at 9 am  in private transportation to the Cotopaxi National Park. After a 2 -2 ½-hours-drive south you arrive at the parking lot of the refuge in the Cotopaxi National Park at 4500 m. From there you hike up for about one hour to the Jose Rivas Refuge at 4800m. After lunch, you do some climbing exercises on the glaciers nearby. Back to the refuge you will have dinner and then rest until midnight.

From The Secret garden Cotopaxi:

After your last night at The Secret Garden Cotopaxi you will need to check out by about 10am. You then rest and relax in the hostel, eating lots of banana bread, drinking plenty of fluids.
Do not get sunburned!

Your summit guide arrives around midday (You need to be ready by then). They will drive you for about 45 minutes to a place where you will check all needed equipment for the climb (see below) but you will spend time with them trying things on and deciding which of your things to take (eg use your jacket or theirs, or both?). You will sign to accept responsibility for all the equipment you borrow. It can be expensive to replace, so be careful to not lose anything. Be particularly careful in the refuge – there are often a lot of climbers, with equipment everywhere, and things can get misplaced. Try to keep everything in your bag at all times.

You’ll have lunch in the hostel before heading off into the National Park and up the mountain to the parking area at 4500m. From there it is approx. 45 min trek up to the refuge. You’ll settle in to the refuge, eat some more, and then head back outside with your guide to practice using the equipment and to learn the basic techniques you need for
trekking over ice. After an early dinner, you’ll be in bed by 7pm, try to sleep for a few hours, and then be woken by your guide at 11pm. You’ll eat more, put all your equipment on, and head out into the night at about midnight.

The first section of the climb, about an hour, is over rock/scree to the start of the glacier, where you put your crampons on. This is the point where you rope up – you’ll be secured to your guide for the entire climb. The total ascent will take approx. 6 hours, to reach the summit at sunrise.

The trip back down to the refuge usually takes about 2 hours and also offers some great views (now that you have light!). When all groups have returned, you leave for Quito or The Secret Garden Cotopaxi. Return around 1 to 2 pm.

Bilingual Certified ASEGUIM guide
Accommodation at refuge
Transportation from Quito or The Secret Garden Cotopaxi and back
Entry Fee
Meals from Lunch day 1 until breakfast at 12 pm
bag
waterproof hiking boots
waterproof pants and jacket
fleece pants and jacket
Gloves
balaclava cap
gaiters
crampons
ice ax
headlamp
sleeping bag

Breakfast second day
Additional snacks and drinks
lining gloves
batterys for headlight
Tips

Additional info:
Fitness
You’ll need to have a reasonable level of fitness, but this is not as important as your acclimatisation. If you’re not sure, talk to us over your first day or two at the hostel. We can talk about how you feel doing some of our easier treks to assess how you might feel attempting the summit.

Technical Skills
You do not need any prior technical experience to climb Cotopaxi. The guide will explain
everything you need to know on your first afternoon on the mountain, and during the climb.

Acclimatisation
This is the most important part of your preparation. We cannot stress enough how important your acclimatisation is, but fortunately it is something you can improve a lot in just a few days. Spending time at high altitude in the days before your summit trip is critical, and the more the better. It is essential that you are sleeping at a high altitude (over 3,000m) and spending the days trekking up to even higher altitudes (ideally 4,500m to 5,000m+). Any time spent at altitude in the 3 weeks prior will help, but the last few days before summitting are the most important.

Before coming out here, are you able to spend time trekking/climbing in other nearby mountain areas? At a minimum we’d recommend spending a few days in Quito (2800m) and while you are there taking the “Teleferico” cable car and trekking to the summit of Rucu Pichincha (4,800m). This is a beautiful trek, great acclimatisation, and you can do it on your own – no cost of guide, tour etc. The guys at THE SECRET GARDEN QUITO can give you more info – we have guests doing this trek pretty much every day.

Once at Secret Garden Cotopaxi, your acclimatisation will start with a nice, easy 2 hr forest/waterfall walk on your first afternoon. If you do our 3 DAY/2 NIGHT PACKAGE DEAL plus one extra night, then you could spend your second day trekking to the summit of PASOCHOA (only about 4220m, but a good 5 hr trek), then on your 3rd day our RUMINAHUI day trek (more challenging conditions, 4700m, from $45pp). We run Pasochoa every day, but forRuminahui we need min 2 pax, so you could switch days 2 and 3 if necessary. Your 4th day would be spent resting in the morning before the guide collects you at midday to head off on your summit trip.

Altitude effects everyone differently. The above is what we recommend as a minimum. Guests have made the summit with less acclimatisation than this, but the guides will nearly always recommend more! It’s your decision.

Price
The Secret Garden Cotopaxi helps arrange summit trips, but they are not run by us. Your trip will be organised and operated by a specialist technical climbing agency based in Machachi. You pay them, not us. You do not need to pay for a night at The Secret Garden Cotopaxi on the night you climb the summit – you will be staying in the refuge, we often use Jose Ribas Refuge But sometimes the Refuge might be fully booked, then we have an option of staying at another (3650 m) Lodge at the base of the mountain, that would add a cost per person between $25 and $30.

The price includes all equipment (as mentioned previously), transport, meals & snacks, accommodation in the refuge, licenced guides and permits etc. The price does not include tips for your guide nor insurance of any kind.

The price for 2 climbers with one guide is $310 per person. The price for 1 climber with their own private guide is $410. Payments are cash only, directly to the climbing agency.

We have a deal with the climbing agencies whereby if there are 2 or more climbers, then the price stays at $310pp. Why is this so good?? There will never be more than 2 climbers per guide, so if we have a group of 3 climbers, then you will have 2 guides. This is a great little “insurance policy” – it means that if one of the climbers needs to slow down, or turn back, then the other 2 can keep going. If you only have 2 climbers with one guide, and one climber needs to turn back, then the guide will need to take both climbers back. The guide will never leave a climber unattended at any place on the mountain for any length of time.

We try to organise our guests into groups of 3 or more to save money and to have this “insurance”, but we will not be sure until the day before. Single climbers might need to be flexible, to wait a day or two to join others.

Weather
We’ve left this til last because it should never be a major consideration. There is nothing you can do about it and high up in the Andes it is very unpredictable. Ignore any online weather forecast – they are not accurate. It is very rare that climbers do not make the summit due to weather conditions, but this is obviously a risk anywhere in the world. The view from the summit is not always clear at sunrise, but guests never rate the view as the main reason
they did this, or as the highlight of the experience.
Guests who have done both, rate summitting Cotopaxi as challenging and rewarding as
running a marathon. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience – go for it!