Ruca Pichincha

On our continued quest for altitude training with a Cotopaxi climb in mind, we took the teleferico from Quito up to 4000m.

We then started the climb to the top of Rucu Pichincha, which at 4700m towers over Quito. We could definitely feel the altitude but most of the climb was fairly gentle until the a scramble up a scree slope followed by some full on rock climbing, that I and Maya certainly struggled with, especially as it started to hail (again!), but we triumphantly made it up and got back down to tell the tale! It's a good job we didn't take the alternative route, called Death Pass!

We both had free showers at the public sports facility next to our $2 camping spot (mine was nice and hot but there were only cold showers in the men's...) and rewarded ourselves with a trip back to the food trucks :)Read more