I had the opportunity last year to summit one of the highest active volcanoes in the world - Cotopaxi in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador which stands at 19,347 feet (5,897 meters). This resulted in one of coolest looking satellite images of a Garmin track I’ve ever recorded and one of the hardest things I’ve ever done…
The round trip trek from the refugio was only 4.86mi but damn was it steep, loose, gnarly and hard as hell to breathe that high up. My brain and body were just not functioning well at that altitude. At about 18.4k’ I had to take a serious poop. Our guide, who was a shockingly cute Ecuadorian native (pictured below) told me to stay roped in and just “go over there and dig hole in snow” so now my forever-frozen feces will be on that glacier for centuries to come. That is pretty cool.
Imagine pooping in front of her?!? Well I did.
The views from atop that volcano were insane and felt otherworldly. The only downside of being that near the top and within about 300’ of the actual crater, the whole “active volcano” thing became serious and the heinous smell of toxic fumes filling the air made it only possible to breathe with a gas mask on, your eyes burning like hell and your head throbbing. You can imagine that sure killed the “summit vibes” and made me wonder why we didn’t just climb up some other mountain that wasn’t an active volcano… oh well, still had a ton of fun and that was the point.
If you’re wondering, I was wearing KETL Vent pants, Departed LS tee and a Folly hoodie as a baselayer setup under my Stellar EQ shell and insulation layers. This trip made me think a lot about how specialized gear needs to be for actual mountaineering excursions like that. It’s on our radar to make gear for these absolute fringe cases in the future.
Feel free to reply if you’ve got any questions about this escapade, I’m always happy to chat about this stuff :)
- Jeff | KETL CEO
