Christo62 - May 22, 2022 2:51 pm Date Climbed: May 21, 2022
Great experience
We had great weather. A little cloudy on top, but that didn’t matter since we had great weather and clear skies past the refuge. We could see all the volcanoes from Imbabura and Cayambe in the North to Cotopaxi and Corazon. It was worth the hard work.
We took the marked route to the refuge and then proceeded to rope up and make it through the paso de muerte. The scramble continued to the summit. Did not stay long as the summit is very small.
The trip down through the “ardenal” field was the hard part for me. It is a very steep decline. The rest of the way down was easy. It probably took us eight hours including our stops. The trip up was around 4.5-5 hours.
Unless you have experience in sketchy mountain situations, it’s worth hiring a guide. Even if you do have experience I would not climb unroped or alone. You never know what the weather will be. For me and my guide, Fabian, the weather was close to perfect. We were prepared for worse. I was excited that I reached the highest summit of my life at 60 years of aga!
climbvr - Dec 16, 2018 3:02 pm Date Climbed: Dec 13, 2018
Hail/Thunder Storm
Climbed from la Virgen parking lot to summit and back in a single day. The last section of exposed scrambling proved difficult as a severe hail downpours were relentless and a thunderstorm was building nearby. Under the encouragement of our guide, we pushed and made the summit then descended as quickly as possible via the scree slope. 6 hours round trip.
NatureGirl - May 27, 2018 9:11 am Date Climbed: Mar 31, 2018
quick climb
always a nice climb ... last months seems like it's important getting used to snow :)
seano - Jan 29, 2018 5:08 pm Date Climbed: Jan 17, 2018
From hut
Flew into Quito around midnight, bussed and hiked up to the hut the next day, then summited in a bit over an hour the next morning -- it's a really short climb. Fresh snow overnight and clouds meant no views, and no shot at Iliniza Sur the next day. :-( Trip report.
NatureGirl - Jan 20, 2018 12:42 pm Date Climbed: Dec 10, 2017
Baños Trail Running on the top
summited with 16 runners of our trail running team ... what a day!!!! it was snowy, as all over Ecuador ... this season is really strange, but seems to be an allover phenomenon.
Baños Trail Running BTR
Tonka - Jan 3, 2018 12:55 pm Date Climbed: Dec 21, 2017
Slow and steady got the job done
I was on my fourth straight day of climbing and the 15k level had been slowing me down. Weather was very cloudy with no views but the rain and ice pellets held off until about 10 minutes after our summit. This was a single day climb and it took almost 8 hours round trip which included a long lunch at the refuge. We took the scree slope down while my boots filled up. Fun mountain.
johnny boy - Nov 14, 2017 12:10 pm Date Climbed: Oct 31, 2017
Falling rocks are real!
Me plus guide made it to within 50m of the summit but we witnessed and narrowly missed a rock fall down the last gully which would definitely have caused serious or fatal injury. There was no-one else on the mountain above us and so it was just a random fall, possibly caused by warming conditions or thunder. We decided not to risk going up any further, and took the direct N route down, but kept our eyes looking above us on the traverse as we had seen the rocks tumble all the way down across the traverse. Round time from and back to car park was just over 5 hours. In retrospect guess we started too late from the car park (around 11am - we got delayed) so probably should have started earlier or put up with a night in the refuge. Bottom line: all the comments on here about loose falling rocks are to be taken very seriously. Keep your eyes looking up the whole time, of course wear a helmet, but the size of the rocks we saw, even that wouldn't save you.
NatureGirl - Dec 20, 2016 10:23 am Date Climbed: Dec 17, 2016
stormy Iliniza Norte
We went up to approx. 4.900 m and decided to go back due to upcoming storm and it was a good decision ... back soon ;)
NatureGirl - Nov 26, 2016 4:25 pm Date Climbed: Jul 17, 2016
fast climb
good weather, pretty fit after our trail run activities, we did a quite fast ascent & descent. good weather.
seancau - Sep 4, 2016 9:44 am Date Climbed: Mar 5, 2016
Southwest Route
Had heard bad things about the situation on the normal route - having to pay a ridiculous amount of cash for a ride to the start of the trail from El Chaupi, not being able to get by the ranger station without a guide, so we decided to instead follow a rough trail from the southwest I found on a wikiloc map. Long story short, it IS indeed possible to reach the refugio in one (long) day from this route, the start point of which is near a hairpin bend close to Plancha Loma on the Sighos-Pan American road. It is pretty difficult, however, & I wouldn't recommend it for everyone. GPS file & full report can be found elsewhere online. We didn't make the summit unfortunately, as we were caught in a snowstorm at the difficult climbing section just below the top, & without any proper gear decided it was too dangerous to continue. Great acclimatisation for Chimborazo.
georgeuva - Apr 16, 2016 11:14 pm Date Climbed: Aug 13, 2015
Amazing Acclimatization
Great climb prior to a summit attempt on Cayambe. Not too difficult, but rewarding to reach the summit. Do bring some gaiters if you intend to descend via the scree slope directly back to the parking lot at la Virgen. I did not and regretted that decision!
endo.the.timber - May 28, 2015 6:56 pm Date Climbed: Dec 16, 2014
acclimatization climb
direct route
intothewild - Aug 20, 2014 10:58 pm Date Climbed: Aug 4, 2014
Last minute decision
This has been my 4th successful attempt to the peak - first time with my son. We spent the night at the refuge - the weather was cold and dreary in the morning and we had decided to give up and head back. All of a sudden - around 8 AM - the sun had the best over the mist and clouds and the Norte appeared. We couldn't resist, and in spite of the very high winds, and glaciated conditions (which made for some interesting scrambling) we went for it. In slightly less than 2h we were on the top - awesome feeling as usual.
Luciano136 - Aug 3, 2014 3:37 pm Date Climbed: Jun 28, 2013
Very enjoyable scrambling
Did this as a training hike for Cotopaxi. Some of the more enjoyable scrambling I've done, especially since I didn't have to deal with route finding. Some ice and clouds near the top.
Cloud Ocean - Jan 30, 2014 2:00 pm Date Climbed: Jan 18, 2014
Great scrambling!
Left the refuge at 7:45 with light cloud cover and moderate winds. Reached the summit at 8:55 a.m. - fast and enjoyable scrambling! Back in the refuge at 9:30 a.m. after descending by the wide scree slope below the summit. The route felt like easy class 3 the entire way up, but with some considerable exposure around Paso de la Muerte. Climbed unroped with Ecuadorian guide Pato.
scgrant - Jan 29, 2014 9:58 pm Date Climbed: Jan 3, 2014
Illiniza Norte
Spent the night at the Nuevos Horizontes refuge hut on Jan 2 and summited the next day. Fun scramble and killer views of Illinza Sur, Cotopaxi, and Chimborazo.
Bluebell08 - Jan 5, 2014 11:32 am Date Climbed: Dec 18, 2013
Normal Route
From the climber's hut, a very nice hike and scramble up the ridge. Some mist and low clouds and thus not much of a view but a few sun spots at times. Great views of Sur at the start. Shortcut back to the hut on a dirt trail to the right of the ridge on the way back. First party up to summit with early start, several others followed that day.
Vivyenne - Dec 12, 2013 9:27 pm Date Climbed: Jul 9, 2013
Failed attempt No. 2
Second failed attempt on Iliniza Norte; first time (cerca Nov 2012) via the normal route (La Virgen up the ridge to the refugio) abandoned because of an electrical storm about 10 mins below the summit (after the caneleta). We bailed and shortly after a group of about 20 Swiss bailed as well, our hiking poles were vibrating. This time we ascended via the "arenal", the last bit with very strong and icy winds, in fact strong enough that we bailed also shortly before the summit because the final push would have been too dangerous. Un dia será...
lucieb - Nov 27, 2013 11:35 am Date Climbed: Sep 17, 2013
Amazing!
Thoroughly enjoyed this mountain and the route to the norte summit. Climb was varied with some scrambling in places and though I wasn't, some of our group were roped to the guides. Very narrow summit so didn't stay up there for too long!
Bkoziol3 - Jul 9, 2013 9:35 pm Date Climbed: May 3, 2013
always ascending
topped out on a Wednesday and got a new altitude record for myself. The route was easy enough, and even though we had a guide with us, this peak can be obtained without one. Only if you are comfortable with route finding and have studied the map and know the route.
Christo62 - May 22, 2022 2:51 pm Date Climbed: May 21, 2022
Great experienceWe had great weather. A little cloudy on top, but that didn’t matter since we had great weather and clear skies past the refuge. We could see all the volcanoes from Imbabura and Cayambe in the North to Cotopaxi and Corazon. It was worth the hard work.
We took the marked route to the refuge and then proceeded to rope up and make it through the paso de muerte. The scramble continued to the summit. Did not stay long as the summit is very small.
The trip down through the “ardenal” field was the hard part for me. It is a very steep decline. The rest of the way down was easy. It probably took us eight hours including our stops. The trip up was around 4.5-5 hours.
Unless you have experience in sketchy mountain situations, it’s worth hiring a guide. Even if you do have experience I would not climb unroped or alone. You never know what the weather will be. For me and my guide, Fabian, the weather was close to perfect. We were prepared for worse. I was excited that I reached the highest summit of my life at 60 years of aga!
climbvr - Dec 16, 2018 3:02 pm Date Climbed: Dec 13, 2018
Hail/Thunder StormClimbed from la Virgen parking lot to summit and back in a single day. The last section of exposed scrambling proved difficult as a severe hail downpours were relentless and a thunderstorm was building nearby. Under the encouragement of our guide, we pushed and made the summit then descended as quickly as possible via the scree slope. 6 hours round trip.
NatureGirl - May 27, 2018 9:11 am Date Climbed: Mar 31, 2018
quick climbalways a nice climb ... last months seems like it's important getting used to snow :)
seano - Jan 29, 2018 5:08 pm Date Climbed: Jan 17, 2018
From hutFlew into Quito around midnight, bussed and hiked up to the hut the next day, then summited in a bit over an hour the next morning -- it's a really short climb. Fresh snow overnight and clouds meant no views, and no shot at Iliniza Sur the next day. :-( Trip report.
NatureGirl - Jan 20, 2018 12:42 pm Date Climbed: Dec 10, 2017
Baños Trail Running on the topsummited with 16 runners of our trail running team ... what a day!!!! it was snowy, as all over Ecuador ... this season is really strange, but seems to be an allover phenomenon.
Baños Trail Running BTR
Tonka - Jan 3, 2018 12:55 pm Date Climbed: Dec 21, 2017
Slow and steady got the job doneI was on my fourth straight day of climbing and the 15k level had been slowing me down. Weather was very cloudy with no views but the rain and ice pellets held off until about 10 minutes after our summit. This was a single day climb and it took almost 8 hours round trip which included a long lunch at the refuge. We took the scree slope down while my boots filled up. Fun mountain.
johnny boy - Nov 14, 2017 12:10 pm Date Climbed: Oct 31, 2017
Falling rocks are real!Me plus guide made it to within 50m of the summit but we witnessed and narrowly missed a rock fall down the last gully which would definitely have caused serious or fatal injury. There was no-one else on the mountain above us and so it was just a random fall, possibly caused by warming conditions or thunder. We decided not to risk going up any further, and took the direct N route down, but kept our eyes looking above us on the traverse as we had seen the rocks tumble all the way down across the traverse. Round time from and back to car park was just over 5 hours. In retrospect guess we started too late from the car park (around 11am - we got delayed) so probably should have started earlier or put up with a night in the refuge. Bottom line: all the comments on here about loose falling rocks are to be taken very seriously. Keep your eyes looking up the whole time, of course wear a helmet, but the size of the rocks we saw, even that wouldn't save you.
NatureGirl - Dec 20, 2016 10:23 am Date Climbed: Dec 17, 2016
stormy Iliniza NorteWe went up to approx. 4.900 m and decided to go back due to upcoming storm and it was a good decision ... back soon ;)
NatureGirl - Nov 26, 2016 4:25 pm Date Climbed: Jul 17, 2016
fast climbgood weather, pretty fit after our trail run activities, we did a quite fast ascent & descent. good weather.
seancau - Sep 4, 2016 9:44 am Date Climbed: Mar 5, 2016
Southwest RouteHad heard bad things about the situation on the normal route - having to pay a ridiculous amount of cash for a ride to the start of the trail from El Chaupi, not being able to get by the ranger station without a guide, so we decided to instead follow a rough trail from the southwest I found on a wikiloc map. Long story short, it IS indeed possible to reach the refugio in one (long) day from this route, the start point of which is near a hairpin bend close to Plancha Loma on the Sighos-Pan American road. It is pretty difficult, however, & I wouldn't recommend it for everyone. GPS file & full report can be found elsewhere online. We didn't make the summit unfortunately, as we were caught in a snowstorm at the difficult climbing section just below the top, & without any proper gear decided it was too dangerous to continue. Great acclimatisation for Chimborazo.
georgeuva - Apr 16, 2016 11:14 pm Date Climbed: Aug 13, 2015
Amazing AcclimatizationGreat climb prior to a summit attempt on Cayambe. Not too difficult, but rewarding to reach the summit. Do bring some gaiters if you intend to descend via the scree slope directly back to the parking lot at la Virgen. I did not and regretted that decision!
endo.the.timber - May 28, 2015 6:56 pm Date Climbed: Dec 16, 2014
acclimatization climbdirect route
intothewild - Aug 20, 2014 10:58 pm Date Climbed: Aug 4, 2014
Last minute decisionThis has been my 4th successful attempt to the peak - first time with my son. We spent the night at the refuge - the weather was cold and dreary in the morning and we had decided to give up and head back. All of a sudden - around 8 AM - the sun had the best over the mist and clouds and the Norte appeared. We couldn't resist, and in spite of the very high winds, and glaciated conditions (which made for some interesting scrambling) we went for it. In slightly less than 2h we were on the top - awesome feeling as usual.
Luciano136 - Aug 3, 2014 3:37 pm Date Climbed: Jun 28, 2013
Very enjoyable scramblingDid this as a training hike for Cotopaxi. Some of the more enjoyable scrambling I've done, especially since I didn't have to deal with route finding. Some ice and clouds near the top.
Cloud Ocean - Jan 30, 2014 2:00 pm Date Climbed: Jan 18, 2014
Great scrambling!Left the refuge at 7:45 with light cloud cover and moderate winds. Reached the summit at 8:55 a.m. - fast and enjoyable scrambling! Back in the refuge at 9:30 a.m. after descending by the wide scree slope below the summit. The route felt like easy class 3 the entire way up, but with some considerable exposure around Paso de la Muerte. Climbed unroped with Ecuadorian guide Pato.
scgrant - Jan 29, 2014 9:58 pm Date Climbed: Jan 3, 2014
Illiniza NorteSpent the night at the Nuevos Horizontes refuge hut on Jan 2 and summited the next day. Fun scramble and killer views of Illinza Sur, Cotopaxi, and Chimborazo.
Bluebell08 - Jan 5, 2014 11:32 am Date Climbed: Dec 18, 2013
Normal RouteFrom the climber's hut, a very nice hike and scramble up the ridge. Some mist and low clouds and thus not much of a view but a few sun spots at times. Great views of Sur at the start. Shortcut back to the hut on a dirt trail to the right of the ridge on the way back. First party up to summit with early start, several others followed that day.
Vivyenne - Dec 12, 2013 9:27 pm Date Climbed: Jul 9, 2013
Failed attempt No. 2Second failed attempt on Iliniza Norte; first time (cerca Nov 2012) via the normal route (La Virgen up the ridge to the refugio) abandoned because of an electrical storm about 10 mins below the summit (after the caneleta). We bailed and shortly after a group of about 20 Swiss bailed as well, our hiking poles were vibrating. This time we ascended via the "arenal", the last bit with very strong and icy winds, in fact strong enough that we bailed also shortly before the summit because the final push would have been too dangerous. Un dia será...
lucieb - Nov 27, 2013 11:35 am Date Climbed: Sep 17, 2013
Amazing!Thoroughly enjoyed this mountain and the route to the norte summit. Climb was varied with some scrambling in places and though I wasn't, some of our group were roped to the guides. Very narrow summit so didn't stay up there for too long!
Bkoziol3 - Jul 9, 2013 9:35 pm Date Climbed: May 3, 2013
always ascendingtopped out on a Wednesday and got a new altitude record for myself. The route was easy enough, and even though we had a guide with us, this peak can be obtained without one. Only if you are comfortable with route finding and have studied the map and know the route.