Cotopaxi General Information
Location
Province: Cotopaxi Latitude: 0.38° S Longitude: 78.43° W Mountain range: Eastern Cordillera of the Andes Section: Limpiopungo’s Valley, this is 21 miles (35 Km) from the northeast of Latacunga |
Physiographic Data
Summit elevation: 19,393 ft (5,897 m) Type of volcano: young stratovolcano, with conical and symmetrical shapes Typical eruption style: explosive Diameter of the base: 12.4 miles (20 km) Range of the slope’s flanks: 30° - 35° |
Curious facts
Last known eruption: 1942 minor eruptions, 1877 last major eruption Geological epoch: Middle of Pleistocene, between 1,000, 0000 to 200,000 years ago First ascender: Wilhelm Reiss and Angel Escobar in 1872 Route to climb: North side wall, type of glacier and snow climb Grade of climbing difficulty: not difficult, but technical climbing gear necessary. |
Description
![Picture](/uploads/2/4/9/9/24996277/1385603276.jpg)
Cotopaxi is one of the most active volcanoes in the Ecuadorian Andes and one of the highest active volcanoes in the world, with an almost perfectly symmetrical cone, covered by a perpetual glacier. “Three important rivers head on the volcano: the Rios Pita-Esmeraldas to the north; the Rio Cutuchi-Pastaza system to the southwest; and the Rio Tambo-Tamboyacu-Napo system to the east” (Mothes et al., 1998).
This majestic volcano is visible from the city of Quito and form part of what in Ecuador is known as the “Avenue of volcanoes”, named by Alexander von Humboldt, the German explorer and naturalist, who visited Ecuador at the beginning of the 19th century.
In August, 1975, the government of Ecuador declared an area of 8,400 acres (34,000 ha), including the volcano itself and its surrounding valleys as a National Park, in order to protect this unique ecosystem in the paramo (a high, treeless plateau in tropical South America) of the Andes. The national park and the volcano are one of the most important destinations for domestic and international tourism in the highlands.
This majestic volcano is visible from the city of Quito and form part of what in Ecuador is known as the “Avenue of volcanoes”, named by Alexander von Humboldt, the German explorer and naturalist, who visited Ecuador at the beginning of the 19th century.
In August, 1975, the government of Ecuador declared an area of 8,400 acres (34,000 ha), including the volcano itself and its surrounding valleys as a National Park, in order to protect this unique ecosystem in the paramo (a high, treeless plateau in tropical South America) of the Andes. The national park and the volcano are one of the most important destinations for domestic and international tourism in the highlands.