El Volcan Corazon

I climbed a dormant volcano last Saturday with my friend Susan and about 25 other people from the South American Explorers Club. The summit of Volcan Corazon is at 4,790 meters (15, 715 ft) but we only made it to right below the summit. The final 200 meters is a rock scramble and it had started to hail and their were concerns about lightening so we had to turn back. The sun was out all morning (my arms got burned!) but the clouds and rain rolled in at about 1 PM.

The views on the way up were incredible!

We started out on roads that sloped upwards fairly gently... and then we started going basically straight up. We made our own path up through the grasslands and at times, it felt as if we were climbing up staircases. The altitude started to bother me- I was breathing really heavily and my legs felt like lead weights. But we kept climbing!

Who needs roads when you can make your own trail? Our first view of the summit.... and five minutes later it was gone. The clouds rolled in quickly and it started to hail.

Susan and me chillin at our end point, right below the rock scramble and about 200 meters below the summit.

I have a video of this point, complete with hail, which will go here (as soon as Susan gets back from the jungle and shows me how to upload it!)
Here´s our motley crew, scrambling to get the rain gear on, and the ¨view¨ looking towards the top :

The view looking downwards wasn´t much either, but it got prettier as we descended out of the clouds.

We finished the day with hot chocolate in the sweet little hostel at the trail head.... and then went out dancing in Quito to make our legs nice and sore. For more pics of the climb, click on the link labeled ¨Volcan Corazon¨ to the right.