Cotopaxi

This week we (Eddie, Sarah, and I) were finally able to complete our goal of climbing Cotopaxi volcano, the mountain pictured in our blog header. Ecuador is a natural world marvel with several very tall peaks close to Quito. I never really thought about doing anything but Eddie (the doc working with FHN) suggested we give it a try. We were going to try to summit two weeks ago but there was too much fresh snow on the mountain. We saw our window this Sunday and headed up to the mountain. We arrived at the refuge ate lunch and dinner and settled in to sleep at around 6:30 pm to wake up at midnight. Midnight means the glacier will be frozen top to bottom and we can climb it easier. We left around 1am. This was the first part (picture taken on the way down) that we climbed in the wee hours of the morning.

Here's a shot of the glacier formations up on the volcano.

We arrived at the summit around 5:45 just as the light of dawn was peaking over the horizon. It was really windy and cold so there aren't too many pictures.

But here's the proof. Here I am at the summit of Cotopaxi, 19,347 feet, and lovin' life.

Climbing Cotopaxi was one of those great physical challenges that I probably won't do again. However, many other mountains loom in the horizon, which one is next?