Qualla: Carihuairazo https://qualla.com/carihuairazo en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:08 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/6/p/x/z/carihuairazo-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Carihuairazo https://qualla.com/carihuairazo Carihuairazo: Introduction https://qualla.com/carihuairazo/ Photo credit Gersonmeza, CC BY-SA 3.0. In Quichua, the name breaks into three pieces: Cari meaning man, huay meaning wind, razu meaning ice or snow. Man of ice and wind. The Andean storytellers who named this mountain and its neighbor, El Altar, knew what had happened to them both: each was once a great peak, and each was destroyed. The local story explains it directly. Taita Chimborazo - Father Chimborazo - fought them both for the grace of Mama Tungurahua, and he won. What is left of Carihuairazo today is the eroded caldera the fight left behind, a 1.5-kilometer-wide scar opening to the east, a few ragged summits still clawing toward 5,018 meters. The name survives. The mountain it describes does not, quite.

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Image: Gersonmeza | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/p/x/z/carihuairazo-wp/6pxz-carihuairazo-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Carihuairazo: A Ruined Peak https://qualla.com/carihuairazo/ Photo credit Albert Backer, CC BY-SA 3.0. Carihuairazo sits in the Cordillera Occidental of central Ecuador, 150 kilometers south-southwest of Quito. Its nearest human neighbors are the cities of Riobamba, Ambato, and Guaranda - each about thirty kilometers from the mountain, each in a different direction. Its nearest mo...

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Image: Albert Backer | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/p/x/z/carihuairazo-wp/6pxz-carihuairazo-a-ruined-peak.mp3 0:06 2 full Carihuairazo: The Glacier That Is Almost Gone https://qualla.com/carihuairazo/ Photo credit Bbb-Commons, CC BY 3.0. Carihuairazo's glacier has nearly disappeared. The cause is twofold - global warming, which is doing the same to tropical glaciers across the Andes, and ash covers from the eastern neighbor Tungurahua, whose recent eruptions have repeatedly coated Carihuairazo's ice in dark volca...

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Image: Bbb-Commons | CC BY 3.0

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/p/x/z/carihuairazo-wp/6pxz-carihuairazo-the-glacier-that-is-almost-gone.mp3 0:06 3 full Carihuairazo: Whymper's Cloudy Ascent https://qualla.com/carihuairazo/ Photo credit Buaidh, CC BY-SA 4.0. Carihuairazo was climbed in 1880 by Edward Whymper - the English mountaineer famous for the first ascent of the Matterhorn - together with his Italian guides, the cousins Louis and Jean-Antoine Carrel, and two Ecuadorians, David Beltran and Francisco Campana. Whymper's team reach...

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Image: Buaidh | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/p/x/z/carihuairazo-wp/6pxz-carihuairazo-whympers-cloudy-ascent.mp3 0:06 4 full Carihuairazo: The Vicuna Reserve https://qualla.com/carihuairazo/ Photo credit Bbb-Commons, CC BY 3.0. Carihuairazo lies within the Reserva de Produccion Faunistica Chimborazo, a protected area designed around its larger neighbor but extending to cover Carihuairazo as well. The reserve exists to preserve the paramo ecosystem - the high-altitude grasslands above 3,500 meters - and ...

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Image: Bbb-Commons | CC BY 3.0

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/p/x/z/carihuairazo-wp/6pxz-carihuairazo-the-vicuna-reserve.mp3 0:06 5 full Carihuairazo: Climbing What Is Left https://qualla.com/carihuairazo/ Photo credit Public domain. Carihuairazo can be climbed year-round, but the best seasons run December through January and July through August. Good acclimatization is essential - the normal route starts from a camping spot at around 4,600 meters and reaches Maxima via the southwest ridge or from the west vi...

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Image: Public domain

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/p/x/z/carihuairazo-wp/6pxz-carihuairazo-climbing-what-is-left.mp3 0:06 6 full