The 7 Summits Club group "Near zero" ascended the summit of the extinct volcano Guagua Pichincha and encountered a wolf

December 6th. Greetings from Ecuador from the "Near zero" group! Today we climbed the first volcano on our program, Guagua Pichincha, at 4,800 meters. On the way up, we encountered Andean wolves (a mountain fox) and caracara birds. We climbed through snow, which is rare here, and barely found the summit in the fog. On the descent, we drank tea made from local Ecuadorian coca (sunfo) at the hut – it immediately invigorated us.

In the evening, we arrived at a very beautiful place – the ancient 17th-century hacienda La Cienega. Each room has a fireplace, there's a church right inside the hacienda, and a beautiful courtyard with a fountain and palm trees. We celebrated our first ascent and Christmas over dinner! Tomorrow we're heading to a unique place – a lake inside a crater!

The 7 Summits Club Guide  Lyudmila Korobeshko.