Guagua Pinchincha, at 4794m (15728 feet) is one of three peaks that comprise the
volcano that the city of Quito is built on. Quito lies in several north-south
valleys along the eastern slopes of the Pinchinchas. The three peaks are Guagua Pinchincha, Rucu
Pinchincha (15413 feet), and Padre Encantado (15370 feet).
Accessing this particular peak involves driving south out of the city and then up
and over mountain ridges before dropping down into a beautiful valley and then
past the city of Lloa. Just past Lloa is a turn off onto a dirt road that meanders
up toward the refugio (climbers refuge or hut) located at the end of the dirt
road at an elevation of 4550m (14900 feet).
For this climb, actually a good hike, we parked Edison's jeep a couple of
kilometers down the road from the hut and then walked up to the hut, and then
took the very obvious trail up to the left to the ridge overlooking the volcano
crater. Pausing at a small religious shrine we caught our breath, ate a couple of
bananas, and I took many pictures and some video.
We then proceeded down slightly into the crater staying below the rim trail and
the very strong winds. After an hour or so we were on the mostly rocky approach
to the summit and following some scrambling over and around rock outcrops we
reached the summit and the cairn marking it.
After a few minutes of viewing the vistas around us and taking some more pictures
we headed back down to the rim trail and followed a slightly different path past
the refuge and then on down the dirt road to Edison's jeep.
This was a really good begining to the next two weeks of mountaineering and
all-in-all summiting Guagua Pinchincha was very straight forward and not that
difficult despite the altitude.
Watch or download a video from this climb. (95 Mb WMV format).
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