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Looks like a fair number of folks tapping into this information - let's keep updating with our experiences. My wife and I will be trying Cayambe around the 22nd, and moving on towards Cotopaxi and Chimborazo after Christmas. All and any route/conditions reports are much appreciated!
Cheers,
J

Just came back from Cotopaxi yesterday (Sun). Lots of snow below the parking lot. Nobody had summited in the last week or so. We all felt electric static while heading down from the refuge, my ice axe (attached to my backpack) started buzzing loud. We saw many one day hikers coming down from the refuge with their hairs risen up, kind of punk style because of the static. Many people summited Cotopaxi today (Mon) despite the snow accumulation.

The road to Cayambe was in very bad conditions two days ago, very muddy and slippery. Lots of snow in Chimborazo as well.

Meanwhile in Antisana, Nuevos Horizontes Mountaineering Club from Ecuador got as high as to BC due to the new snow accumulation.

In resume, lots of snow, warm days and thunderstorms. The snow is hardly getting compacted.

Weather and mountain conditions can change in a day to another for good or bad, though. Hope this crazy weather gets better soon.

PAROFES wrote:Well i hope things get better in the next weeks because i'll be there at jan 1st!

Good luck to us all.

i´m looking for someone to rope up with to hopefully summit on the first weekend of jan (1st-2nd). drop me a line if you´re interested.

cheers, galen

Summited Cotopaxi yesterday in 8"+ new snow. There were five other parties behind us but none of them made it.
According to the folks in the refugio, 55 of 58 climbers had summitted the previous day in excellent conditions.

Sunny and pleasant today here in Quito. And I´m off to Cayambe in the morning.

Cheers

We had great success on Cayambe yesterday; in all, 9 summited, as well as a handful the previous day. The road up to the hut isn't the best, but still quite doable with 4wd. Now at Tambopaxi and at least one group summited Cotopaxi this morning. Also received a first hand account from a man who climbed Antisana two days ago, though he said it was in challenging conditions with a lot of trail breaking (10-12hr rt?). Looks like the regional weather is improving!

czycat wrote: Looks like the regional weather is improving!

It really looks like improving. I missed the clear blue sky and the equatorial sun.

Summitted Cayambe this morning in light, icy snow and strong wind. There´s a nice little bridge over the bergschrund but it´s going to need some reinforcement soon or it´ll be gone. Route was lightly wanded. You´d need to all ready know where you´re going to find them in the dark.

A party of 2 and one of 4 were climbing the final bit as we descended so a pretty busy monday.

Road to the refugio is currently fine for a 4x4.

Forgot to mention it in my post on Cotopaxi above, but the new route is a lot more interesting than the old Normal that I did in 1993. It goes straight above the hut and over and around lots of crevasses before joing the old route high up. There was one short section of maybe 60 degree snow, nice hard stuff when we were there.

Any updates here? We are in Quito now hoping to move down by Cotopaxi on Monday. Still so much snow?

Summitted Chimborazo on saturday. There was snow all the way to the highway, and between 2¨ and 2´ on the route.

A friend who was trying to summit the next day turned around at about 5800 due to conditions and was hit with an avalanche on the retreat. He said it was still snowing when they left.

Conditions are highly variable day to day.

Has anyone been up Cotopaxi recently that can share an update on conditions?

Just climbed Illiniza Norte on saturday and met with a friend in Machachi. He was coming down from Cotopaxi and said Cotopaxi conditions were perfect, crunchy snow and great weather.

The weather is still holding, summer is almost here!, it rains in the afternoon hours but you'll be back at the refuge by then.

The refuge is gonna be costing us more starting in June 1st, though. Many people are gonna start complaining about it, I know, but we still need to wait and see if the refuge's new fares are gonna be worth it or not. Hope it will.

Have fun!

Boriss...

Thanks Boriss, I almost just sent you a PM since you're the Summitpost Resident Expert on all things Ecuador. We will be down there June 2-16 and hope to give Cotopaxi a try toward the end of our trip.

Weather and conditions are awesome now. Way more different than last year´s.

You'll enjoy it!, I know!

Good to hear! I'll be out there in a little over a week and planning on bringing the skis. Hope there are still good conditions and preferably some skiable terrain as well.

Lots of soft wet snow in Cotopaxi now. Climbing parties got just a couple meters above the refuge last night. Nobody couldn't even reach the glacier. Weather's variable again. Hopefully it'll improve by next week.