View from the summit of Rucu Pichincha

At the summit, only one other person had already arrived, just a minute or so earlier. Cloud had already begun to close in, and the play of light and shadow on the surrounding mountains and valleys meant this was close to an ideal time to have arrived. Even at just under 4700 m, the temperature wasn't cool enough to be unpleasant — quite the contrary, in fact. [The wide angle and the need to tilt the camera down slightly makes the scene appear less steep than it appeared at the time.]

After about quarter of an hour, others began to arrive. Time to head down. By the time we were halfway down, the summit had been enveloped in cloud.


[20 August 2011 (Ecuador), Panasonic Lumix GH1, 14–45 mm at 16 mm, ISO 200, 1/320 at f11]

All content © 2011 Pete McGregor