How light of a boot can I get away with on Illiniza Norte or Corazon? I'm thinking my Trangos may be a little overkill and my old, they've been everywhere, Merrell Moab GTXs are not quite enough. I could leave the Moabs behind which is a benefit, just planing on needing waterproof or I could go lighter I guess. leaving next week. Thanks,

I haven't been up Corazon but I've done Illiniza Norte on 4 trips as acclimatization. If Norte is dry, which is normal, you won't need anything special. I've used trail runners 3 times. The fourth time there was significant snow so I used the plastic doubles I'd brought for the higher peaks. All climbs were in December.

If there's been no significant recent snowfall, the normal route from the hut on the Illinizas can be done in pretty much anything. I'm less familiar with the more direct route from the trailhead. That was the snowy year. With decent weather, you should get a view from Rucu. I'm thinking you can see it just from the top of the teleferico.

JimS

Corazon is technically easier than Illiniza Norte. Depending on the conditions, you might need crampons on Illiniza Norte, but not on Corazon. If it's not too cold, you can use trail runners there too. I went up there in December 2010, and there was a thin layer of snow high up on the mountain. No need for plastic doubles, even fairly light mountain boots sufficed.

By the way, there was a lot of precipitation in December 2010, which rather interfered with my ambitious plans. I spent a lot more time waiting for improvement than I had wished for, and climbed a whole lot less.