The Refuge on The Throne of the Moon

After doing some shopping for more cold weather gear in preparation for heading to volcano Cotopaxi, we went to a fishing shop that Christian had told us about. It was called ‘Pro Trout’, so we were optimistic that they might have some fly fishing gear. When we were robbed in Colombia, all of our gear in our bags was taken, but luckily our rods were in another compartment, so at this point we need reels and some fly line to at least become functional. We went in hoping for the best, but within a few minutes we realized that this was more of a tackle shop than fly shop. The owner did have a couple of cheaply made, albeit expensive ‘all in one’ fly rod kits, but they just didn’t look like they’d fit the bill. We decided to hold off for now, and hopefully find something further south or work out the logistics to have something sent down to us.

We all climbed in the van, excited to have it back in one piece, and headed south towards Cotopaxi (Throne of Moon), a 19,348 foot volcano that Dave was going to attempt to summit. After about an hour or so of driving, Dave told us to take a left off the PanAmerican highway, and we slowly wound our way up a rough, old and narrow cobblestone road through the countryside. If Dave hadn’t known that this was the road, I wouldn’t have believed that this was the way to a national park! After climbing slowly for a solid hour and a half, we came around a corner and got a peek of the mountain. The glacier covered top beamed in the sunlight, while clouds and mist swirled around its flanks.

Our task was to deliver Dave to the climbers’ refuge, where he would spend the evening, and then get up a 1 a.m. to start climbing. The road below the refuge stops at 15,000 ft. where you then have to climb up the mountain to the hut that sits at 15,750 ft. We seriously questioned whether or not the van would be able to make it up there, but figured we’d give it a shot. We kept slowly winding our way up, one switchback after another, until we finally were in first gear with the pedal floored and barely making any speed. Just about the time we were questioning our decision to try this, we rounded a corner and the final parking lot was in front of us. We got out and took in the spectacular view of the glacier and the refuge above us. The daylight was fading, so we quickly geared up and started climbing, trying to get Dave to the refuge and us to the glacier field (at 16,400 ft.) before it got completely dark. This was the highest Noah and I had both ever been, so the climb wasn’t quick, but we eventually got Dave to the refuge, and then made our way up higher to the edge of the glacier. As we topped a ridge, a large group of climbers were descending from the glacier after completing what looked like some glacier travel training. Soon we were the only ones on the mountain, and we just stood there taking in the incredible scenery as the light lit up different parts of the mountain when the clouds rolled and swirled.

We got back to the van just as it was getting dark, and made our way back down into the valley, where we found the ‘campground’ (in actuality it was just a big field with a primitive road through it). It was amazing to think that we were in a national park campground, and we had the place entirely to ourselves.