Summiting Cotopaxi. That was the highlight of our 2025 December trip to Ecuador. It was fantastic experience.
Cotopaxi is 5897 meters (19347 feet). High. The highest point I had ever been before was Mount Whitney in California, USA, which is 4421 meters/14505 feet. That means almost 1500 meters/4500 feet higher than Mt.Whitney.
To climb high, the most important thing is acclimatization. We planned carefully and took time to acclimatize. Living in Boston, sea level, 5897 meters is quite a big difference. To do so, we stayed in Quito (~3000 meters) for a day, then we did Quilotoa loop (3000-4000 meters) for 3 days, then day hike to Ruca Pichincha (4776 meters). After that we went to a hostel in Cotopaxi area at ~3500 meters and did an easy waterfall hike. The next day was day hike to Ruminahui Central (4631 meters), then day hike to Sincholagua (4899 meters). One day before the Cotopaxi basecamp hike day, we took an easy day of horseback riding. I will have separate blog entries for each climb. These mountain climbings were not just set as acclimatizing hike, but each individual was wonderful trek.
On the day of Christmas Eve 2025/12/24 around noon, we met a guide (legally guide is required to climb Cotopaxi (and many other mountains) in Ecuador). I brought my personal base layer, middle layer, outer shell, helmet, headlamp, sunglasses, and gloves. I rented harness, climbing boots, and crampons. Then we drove to a parking lot at trailhead inside Cotopaxi National park from hostel, which took about 1.5 hours. To enter Cotopaxi National Park, everyone needs to provide passport number. From the parking lot to the hut is 45 minutes hike with ~250 meter elevation gain. On the way a guy who went to only a hut was coming down and asked us with surprise, "Are you going to the summit?!?!" in OMG tone. Mr.N answered, "That's the plan." Yes, it is not the hike for most people.
We arrived at hut around 4 p.m., got a bank bed and set a sleeping bag, then had dinner at 5 p.m. It is amazing to have nice dinner at 4864 meters (15953 feet). It was chicken soup with daikon radish and carrots, then main dish was calf. The daikon radish in the soup was very very good! Also I had hot chocolate. Apparently many people hike just to the hut and have hot chocolate. If you search on Youtube, most Cotopaxi videos are going to the hut for hot chocolate. At 6 p.m. we went to bed. I got up at 9 p.m. to pee. Then 11p.m. we got up, had a piece of bread and hot chocolate, then midnight we started hiking. The first 1 hour is on the dirt. Then we had crampons and tied with rope. Our guide, Marco's pace was great. Slow and steady. That is the key in the high altitude. We went on a steady pace, and we passed several groups on the way. For the last 30 minutes, I noticed Marco sped up and we passed more groups. Then, whoa, we were the first group to reach the summit!! Cotopaxi is an active volcano. Near the summit sulfur smell was very strong. It reminded me of my country, Japan, that has many places with sulfur smells with Onsen (hot springs). Indeed Cotopaxi is known to be similar shape to Mt.Fuji, which is the highest mountain in Japan, also an active volcano. Both are cone shapes with half snow capped, although Cotopaxi is significantly higher than Mt.Fuji. Personally this fact added additional memorial aspect to me. Even though Mt.Fuji and Cotopaxi are so far away on the globe, big common thing is beauty of mountain.
We reached the summit a little before sunrise and we saw an amazing Christmas sunrise. We said each other Merry Christmas! Sun came to light the crater. That was very unique scenery. Smoke was coming for 5 minutes, then not for 5 minutes then again smoke came from crater. We saw every single high mountains from the summit including Chimborazo. The below picture is just after sunrise and right behind the crater you see the Chimborazo. What a view! This memory will stay in my heart whole life.
About 30 minutes we were on the top, then it was time to go down. It took 6 hours to climb but it was only 2 hours to go down to the hut. Light breakfast was served at the hut, but I didn't eat much, because I was so exhausted and got a headache once I came back there. We collected the sleeping bag etc then we hiked down to the parking lot. Then we drove back to the hostel. It was so nice to lay down on a bed at the hostel. We came back to the hostel around 10 a.m. and usually room can't be checked in until 1 p.m. but the manager made it ready for us to be able to rest (thanks Secret Garden Cotopaxi!) The next day at the hostel, we met again Marco there. He was going to Cotopaxi again with different clients. OMG he is a machine! Actually a day before he did Cotopaxi with us, he climbed Chimborazo with other clients. He said 3 times/week in high season he guides to the big mountains. For him, this is just a sea level-like easy hike (the guides must be completely acclimatized for sure).
Conclusion: incredible experience.
