Qualla: Cotopaxi

Cotopaxi: Introduction

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Simon Matzinger, CC BY-SA 3.0. On a clear morning from Quito, the cone is visible sixty kilometers to the south - a nearly symmetrical white pyramid rising against blue sky. Ecuadorians know its moods well enough to read them from the capital. A thin wisp of steam from the summit means quiet. A thick plume means something else. In August 2015, the plume grew thick and stayed that way for five months. People who had forgotten that Cotopaxi was alive remembered quickly. The volcano is one of the highest active ones on Earth, and it has erupted repeatedly across recorded history, and it is not finished.

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Image: Simon Matzinger | CC BY-SA 3.0

Cotopaxi: A Perfect Cone

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Quiz, CC BY-SA 3.0. Cotopaxi stands at 5,897 meters - roughly 19,347 feet - making it the second-highest peak in Ecuador after Chimborazo and one of the most iconic stratovolcanoes on Earth. The shape is textbook: a perfect conical mountain with a crater 800 meters wide and 250 meters deep at its su...

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Image: Quiz | CC BY-SA 3.0

Cotopaxi: The National Park

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ljuba brank, CC BY-SA 3.0. Parque Nacional Cotopaxi was established in 1975 as part of Ecuador's national park system. It covers ground typical of active volcanic areas - broad paramo grasslands at higher elevations, scrubby Andean woodlands in protected valleys, and several peaks above 4,000 meters includ...

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Image: Ljuba brank | CC BY-SA 3.0

Cotopaxi: What Lives Here

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. Cotopaxi's protected areas shelter wildlife that has mostly retreated from the lower altitudes where people have settled. Andean condors - increasingly rare, their numbers threatened across their range - can still be seen here on lucky days, soaring on thermals that rise off the ...

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Image: Public domain

Cotopaxi: The Climb

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Photography, Scan and postprocessing by Hubertl, CC BY-SA 4.0. By Ecuadorian law, Cotopaxi's summit can only be climbed with a registered guide. The reasons are practical: crevasses open across the upper glaciers, weather changes fast at altitude, and the slope from the refuge to the summit demands genuine mountaineering experience. The José...

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Image: Photography, Scan and postprocessing by Hubertl | CC BY-SA 4.0

Cotopaxi: August 2015 and After

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Muddymorn (talk · contribs), CC BY-SA 3.0. The 2015 eruption ended a period of relative quiet that had lasted since the nineteenth century. It began with ash emissions on August 14 and continued through January 2016, producing moderate explosions and persistent ash plumes that dusted nearby farms and closed Mariscal Sucre...

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Image: Muddymorn (talk · contribs) | CC BY-SA 3.0