Carihuairazo

The Carihuairazo seen left of the larger Chimborazo from the north

The volcano Carihuairazo (also Carihuayrazo ) is the highly eroded remnant of a volcanic caldera. He is the smaller neighbor of Ecuador's highest mountain, Chimborazo.

  • 3.1 routes

Geography & Geology

Location

The Carihuairazo is located in the Western Cordillera of the Ecuadorian Andes, 150 km south-southwest of Ecuador's capital Quito. Its immediate neighbor is the 6267 meter high Chimborazo. The nearest towns are Riobamba ( about 30 km southeast ), Ambato ( 30 km to the northwest ) and Guaranda ( about 30 km south-west ). Carihuairazos 1.5 km wide, heavily eroded caldera open to the east.

The Carihuairazo is within the nature reserve Reserva de Produccion Faunistica Chimborazo, which serves the habitat for native species of the Andean camelid vicuña, llama and alpaca to protect.

Glacier

Carihuairazos glacier has lost significant ground in the last decades due to global warming and ash cover as a result of the current volcanic activity of its eastern neighbor Tungurahua.

Volcanism

Originally de Carihuairazo was a volcano of similar dimensions as the Chimborazo. Today's Caldera is the leftover after explosions during his last period of activity rest There is no historical evidence of activity, the Carihuairazo is considered inactive.

History

Etymology

The name probably originates from the Quichua and is a composition of the words Cari (man ), ( wind) and Razu ( ice / snow) huay ( Schmudlach 2001). According to the local Native American mythology Carihuairazo and El Altar were (both heavily eroded calderas ) of Taita (father) Chimborazo destroyed in the battle for the favor of Mama Tungurahua.

First ascent

Carihuayrazo was climbed by Edward Whymper and the brothers Louis and Jean -Antoine Carrel during their 1880 expedition to Ecuador. From the descriptions of Whymper It is not clear what peaks they have climbed, it is conjectured that they have the Mocha (4960 m) and not the maxima summit climb ( 5018 m).

The first ascent of the maxima Summit ( 1951) is Arturo Eichler, Horacio Lopez Uribe and Jean Morawiecki attributed ( Neate 1994).

Mountaineering

Due to the disappearance of glaciers, the difficulty for the ascent of Carihuairazo increases. Where it used to be mainly concerned a glacier climb, technical climbing is necessary in many places today, the most complicated point represents the summit tower ( maxima, 5018 m).

  • The Carihuairazo can be climbed all year round. The best seasons are December-January and July-August.
  • A good altitude acclimatization is recommended.
  • The mountain is 1:50000 Map Chimborazo listed on the IGM (Instituto Militar Geografico ) (CT - NIV -C1).

Routes

The normal route to Carihuairazo Maxima ( 5018 m) starts from a bivouac at 4600 m. You reach the summit either via the SW ridge or directly from the west over the glacier. For the ascent of the summit tower difficult technical climbing is required.

Pictures of Carihuairazo

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