Cotopaxi is the highest active volcanoe in the world at 19,348ft (5897m) and is located in the Ecuadorian mainland. Located 1 ½ to 2 hours south of Quito on the eastern flank of the Andes, it is also considered to be the second highest summit in the country. According to Wikipedia, Cotopaxi means "Throne of Moon". The mountain was worshipped as a mountain where the Gods lived by local Andean Indians. 

The first European, who tried to climb the mountain was Alexander fon Humboldt in 1802, however he wasn't successful and only reached a height of about 4500 m. In 1858, Moritz Wagner tried, but he also could not reach summit. On November 27, 1872, geologist Wilhelm Rajss became the first European to reach the summit of Cotopaxi. In 1873 it was summited by Moritz Alfons Shtjubel, then in 1880 by Edward Whymper. Painters Rudolf Reschreiter and Hans Meyer reached the summit in 1903 and many of Reschreiter's paintings feature a view of Cotopaxi. (source wikipedia)

My start in mountaineering

I went to Wharton for my MBA education, never imagined coming out as a mountaineer! 

I did enjoy being out in the nature when I was young, and spent quite some time walking around parks in Beijing to collect samples from trees as part of my extra-curriculum training on Botany. But I didn't play any sports or join any outdoors clubs. I was far from being considered athletic. My mom always called me a book nerd. The “mountain” I frequented during my high school and college years was Xiang Shan, or Fragrance Hill, a 500 meter tall hill in Beijing suburb, and you can go up by following stairs. 

When I heard about a trip to climb Mt Cotopaxi in Ecuador as part of our leadership and team building program in Wharton, I was immediately interested. I love being outdoors, but had no idea what mountaineering was. I had no concept on how high that mountain was, I couldn't relate to it at all.  I was thinking, if a school can organize such trips for nerds like me, then it's easy and doable by nerds like me! 

As a rank beginner, the list of essential items that we needed for the climb was unfamiliar to me. I had no idea what a crampon was and what was a gaiter? I walked into the outdoors store and asked the salesperson to get me everything on the school list. It was an interesting experience trying on all the layers of clothes that I was supposed to wear on the mountain and walk around in hiking boots for the first time. I had no idea what I didn't have to take, or what was necessary among the gear list, and blindly followed the salesperson's advice. 

When we arrived in the region, camping out in a nearby mountain range for acclimatization, I was in awe. For the first time in my life, I saw what a real mountain was -  a beautiful snow mountain in front me! But I was brought to reality when the guide told me that was mountain we were going to climb. My first response was “You've got to be kidding me!” That looked like a mountain in the sky, I couldn't imagine myself climbing something so big. But for some strange reason it also excited me!

Pulling into Refugio, the starting point of the real climb, at 4800 meters was a serious enough challenge for me already. I had never carried a heavy backpack before, and I had to make frequent stops to catch up my breath.

 After a break, I had my first lessons on “climbing”. We put on our crampons, and with ice axe in hand, started practicing traversing in the snow. Needless to say, I had a lot of accidents. One that was dangerous - I had taken a step on a steep slope covered with deep, loose snow. The snow just gave way under my foot, sliding my right foot and barely impaling myself into my left thigh with the crampons! The brand new Goretex pants were ripped! Even when travelling on flat ground, I couldn't count how many times one foot stepped on to the other one with crampons on and ripped the gaiters! It was a funny and awkward experience to be in walking on crampons! 

We had hired a local guide, who spoke very little English, and he seriously under-estimated how inexperienced and out of shape I was. After resting a few hours, we left for summit shortly after midnight along with a big crowd of climbers from all over the world. Putting on crampons in the dark was a big challenge. As I was tired and cold, it took me forever to fumble around the buckles and straps. When we started climbing, I had no sense of pacing at this high altitude, and tried to keep up with the guide. I soon found myself out of breath and had to slow down significantly. At high altitude, it’s important to synchronize your breathing rhythm with your walking pace to be efficient. Unfortunately, I didn't know this and started to feel tired shortly into the climb. The lesson I realized was how important it was to practice the basic skills before getting on the real slope, and how dangerous it was to have untrained people on the slope. 

The false summit

Along the way, we had to cross a crevasse. Staring into its depths was unnerving, but definitely very exciting. However, I didn’t fully understand the extent of its danger. Everyone tried to rush through it, as if an extra second on the ice bridge would kill us. That few seconds of heart pounding definitely got my adrenaline going high.  I was tired, but the idea of giving up did not cross my mind. I kept asking the guide how far away the summit was? He couldn't answer me with his poor English, so he kept pointing up. It was deceptive, as the summit seemed to be always a few feet away!  It was draining as I tapped into my energy reserves to make it to the top, only to realize it was just an illusion!

Because of my inexperience, I didn't know that you cannot see the summit until you're practically on it! What you see most of the time are just a series of false summits, because the mountain is formed with a series of up and down slopes that lead to the summit. Seldom there’s a straight line. So you just climb over one rise after another.  It was disheartening, climbing over every rise, being tired, I always hoped that it would be the actual summit, but realized it was another false summit. 

I was getting so tired that my hike up the mountain was literally becoming a crawl. It was embarassing! I still couldn’t accept failure. The "keep pushing forward" at all costs attitude was something from my Chinese culture. We believed that anyone can achieve by working hard. But achievements have to be built on a proper foundation and I didn’t know what the proper foundation for climbing was. I was barely holding on.  

Be prepared

Pretty soon, the sun was high in the sky. The guide started to worry about all our safety, especially in the descent. Even though it was so cold on the mountain, the sun can still melt the snow and weaken the snow bridge, making it dangerous to cross over the crevasse. People passed us on the way down from the summit, and told me we were two hours away from the top. Realizing that in my weak condition, it would probably take me double that time to reach the top. I realized that I was unfit, inexperienced and was putting the guide and everyone else in a huge risk if I didn't turn back. I finally accepted the decision to give up. 

In hindsight, I knew there was no way I could have made the summit that day. The remaining section  before summiting was much more strenuous than all previous sections. As I was so weak, I would have never been able to complete it. I barely had any strength to walk down safely! From that experience, I also understood that proper fitness and going up with the right guide is very important. An untrained person, especially an uninformed one on the mountain is dangerous for everyone. 

An uninformed person, who didn’t understand the implication of their actions or decisions, would not be able to follow guidance properly, and thus put everyone else in danger. It takes experience for one to get over "summit fever", which had contributed to many disasters on big mountains. It takes years of experience to understand the fine line between perseverance and proper judgment, which is not as obvious it seems to be when you were sitting in front of TV and watching those documentaries or news report. 

The summit!

I was very disappointed. But other climbers at camp encouraged me to take a break and try again. I was told that acclimatization can make a big difference. I didn’t believe it at that time, but I listened to them. I went back down to 2800 meters and rested for a few days. To my surprise, I soon felt much more energetic after filling my lungs with rich oxygen. We returned on New Year’s eve for another attempt. 

This time around, knowing I was slower than most people, I requested an early start at 11pm at night, instead of the standard 1am in the morning. I also learned to walk at a pace that was coordinated with my breathing. It had snowed last night, covering the slope in fresh deep powder, making travel harder than last time. But, this time around I felt fresher all the way to summit bulge. It was amazing how much of a difference acclimatization makes! Another lesson learned from experienced mountaineers! 

The final stretch before the summit was steep and prone to avalanche because of the loose snow. We rushed up as fast as we could and that burned me out quickly. The view on top of the volcanic cone was magnificent, but I was too tired to enjoy myself on summit, and it was cold.