07 September 2011

View from the refugio on Cotopaxi

At the refugio the cloud parted briefly, giving us a glimpse of the 300 m climb from the car park and down to the base of the mountain. Then the cloud closed in again, and the snow began. By the time we'd returned to the car park, snow and sleet had partly obscured the cars, which were still driving up in long lines. At least on a weekend, solitude on Cotopaxi seems not to be an option.

See the previous photograph for more about our day.

[27 August 2011 (Ecuador), Panasonic Lumix GH1, 14–45 mm at 45 mm, ISO 400, 1/800 at f13]


All content © 2011 Pete McGregor
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8 comments:

  1. Anonymous7 September 2011 at 09:38

    I'm beginning to think that with nearly 7 billion of us on the planet, it's going to get harder and harder to find solitude. If not there, then where?

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  2. pohanginapete7 September 2011 at 11:00

    It will get harder, Robin. But solitude's still possible, and will be for a while. I know parts of Aotearoa/New Zealand where it's almost guaranteed — one of the reasons I live at the foot of the Ruahine Range.

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  3. Zhoen7 September 2011 at 11:24

    Such a naked landscape.

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  4. Relatively Retiring7 September 2011 at 18:52

    Such a complex view - I have looked at it for some time and appreciate the way you have 'humanised' it by including the car park and the trudging walkers.

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  5. leonie8 September 2011 at 00:30

    stunning

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  6. pohanginapete8 September 2011 at 08:50

    Zhoen, it's pretty barren up there. Further down in the páramo, though, there's a surprising amount to be found.

    RR, thank you. To have not included the human element would have given an impression quite at odds with my feelings.

    Leonie, thanks :^)

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  7. john andresen25 September 2011 at 16:37

    Thanks for these posts on Ecuador which i came to a little late.I have followed your site for a couple of years and enjoying it.I think i came to it via cassandra pages.About your comment on the crowds at cotopaxi,i was there a few years ago.I think i was 58 or 59 when i climbed it from the refugio.Coming from climbing in Canada crowds were a concern but we left the refugio about midnight so while climbing in the dark you don't get a sense of other people and we summitted with the dawn.We were so taken with the views and the whole summit experience the other people weren't really a factor to us.Your pic of the path to the refugio brought back some happy memories

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  8. pohanginapete26 September 2011 at 00:34

    John, I'm glad you're enjoying the posts. You make a good point about the effects of timing on perceptions of crowding. I've often thought some of the relatively crowded places in the New Zealand mountains (the Tararua Range near Wellington, for example) would seem much less crowded during mid week, and early morning's a great time to see most places with at most only a few other people.
        The views from Cotopaxi must have been out of this world, particularly at dawn. Glad you got a cloud-free day :^)

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