AAI guide Pepe Landazuri called at 8:40am Ecuador time (5:40am Pacific time) this morning from the slopes of Cotopaxi with the following report:
“Good morning. This is Pepe calling from Cotopaxi. We had a successful climb this morning. We had excellent conditions, we made good time, and we summited around 6:30. I climbed with Charles and Rebecca. Brian climbed with Ramiro and wasn’t able to make it all the way. There were some low clouds over the Amazon Basin, and we has some very nice colors during the sunrise.
It is such a beautiful day today. It is sunny and clear, and the views are great. We can see all the peaks to the north and to the south. Antisana and the Illinizas are the closest, and they are looking very beautiful in their fresh snow cover. There was a little snow yesterday, but it was no problem for us at all.
So after a little rest and some food at the hut, we plan to head back to Quito. We’ll have our final dinner in the capital, and then folks will head home tomorrow. It’s been a great trip, and of course we are really happy about the good conditions and making it to the top.”
Photo: a fresh dusting of snow on Cotopaxi http://tinyurl.com/ycwolc3
This photo shows the team's route well. It starts at the top of the snow triangle at the base of the mountain (directly below the rock wall), ascends fairly directly toward the rock (Yanasacha), veers to the right before reaching the rock, and then ascends to the summit just to the left of the right skyline.
The trip they were on is described here: http://aai.cc/ProgramDetail/ecuador_volcanoes/
