Jozef on Cotopaxi - 2 of 4

Day one involved driving to the base of the mountain, a short hours hike to the refuge (base camp) at 4700 meters [ed: the tallest mountain in New England stands about 2000m above sea level], and an afternoon ice-climbing lesson.

I had joined a group of 4 other climbers and 3 local guides who between them [the guides] had made over 1200 Cotopaxi climbs, a statistic that to be honest rang rather nicely in my ear. During the afternoon session the lead guide joked that although I was competent on the ice, I was Dutch and therefore didn’t have enough stamina to make the top. We split into three teams each with one guide, myself with an Argentinean, two Germans in another group and a roaming “roo” of an Aussie was assigned a guide to himself.