Cayambe

Cayambe is a volcano located in the Central Andes of Northern Ecuador. It is the third highest volcano in Ecuador, behind Chimborazo and Cotopaxi, and has an altitude of 5.790 metres above sea level.

Cayambe is the well kept secret of many mountaineers in Ecuador. Less popular than Cotopaxi, it offers an ascent which is just as beautiful, but along a much less trodden route.

Humboldt, after his visit to Ecuador, wrote about the volcano saying that this mountain can be considered as one of Mother Nature’s monuments.

Cayambe, which is formed from the remnants of an old volcano (although you can still feel some gas escaping when on the summit), is located 20km to the north of the town of the same name and its summit is just 3km north of the Equator Line. Where the Equator Line crosses one of Cayambe’s glaciers it reaches its highest point in the world and the only point where permanent ice is found along this line.

At an altitude of 4,600m the Ruales–Oleas–Berge refuge is found, accessible by vehicle along a road which is normally in bad conditions. Despite the great quantity of crevasses that one finds here, Cayambe is no more dangerous than other nearby volcanoes, such as Cotopaxi and Antisana. From the refuge you can contemplate and easily gain access to the ‘Beautiful Glacier’, an ideal spot for mountaineering training.