Itinerary 2 days / 1 nights

Day 1: Quito – Ilinizas Mountain Refuge

From Quito in the morning, we will travel north for about one hour and thirty minutes until we reach the parking lot of the Reserva Ecologica Ilinizas at 4,000m. From here we will start hiking to the Nuevos Horizontes Mountain Refuge. This hike takes about three hours through a well-marked trail, around Polylepis trees, and volcanic rock. When arriving to the refuge located at 4,700m, we will rest before having time for a final gear check and a healthy dinner.

Day 2: Summit – Quito

Starting our day around 2am, after some food we will begin our journey traveling through scree and moraine for about one hour an thirty minutes. When reaching the beginning of the glacier and roping up, we will start the ramp, which is a sustained 50 dregree snow and ice ramp. This will take us around three hours, putting us in the summit right when the first sun beams hit the horizon, creating magical color shifts in the sky. After enjoying this moment, we will walk and rappel down to the base of the ramp, walk back through the scree field and pack everything on the refuge. We will arrive in Quito in the afternoon.