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Chimborazo (volcano)
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The inactive stratovolcano Chimborazo is Ecuador's highest summit. Its last eruption is thought to have occurred some time in the first millennium AD. Its summit is generally regarded as the spot on the surface farthest from the center of the Earth (since the Earth is not a perfect sphere), a distance of 6,384.4 km (3,968 mi).
Location
Chimborazo is located in the Cordillera Occidental of the Andes of central Ecuador, 150 km (93 mi) south-southwest of the capital Quito.
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Encyclopedia
The inactive stratovolcano Chimborazo is Ecuador's highest summit. Its last eruption is thought to have occurred some time in the first millennium AD. Its summit is generally regarded as the spot on the surface farthest from the center of the Earth (since the Earth is not a perfect sphere), a distance of 6,384.4 km (3,968 mi).
Geography
Location
Chimborazo is located in the Cordillera Occidental of the Andes of central Ecuador, 150 km (93 mi) south-southwest of the capital Quito. It's neighbored by 5,018 m high Carihuairazo. Chimborazo's majestic summit rises 2,500 m above the surrounding highlands (~3,500 to 4,000 m) with a ~20 km wide base. Under clear conditions the summit of Chimborazo can be seen from the coastal city Guayaquil, ~140 km away. The nearest cities are Riobamba (~30km to the southeast), Ambato (~30km to the northeast) and Guaranda (~25km to the southwest).Chimborazo is surrounded by the "Reserva de Produccion Faunistica Chimborazo" which forms a protected ecosystem to preserve the habitat for the Andes native camelids Vicuña, Llama and Alpaca.
Glacier
The top of Chimborazo is completely covered by glaciers with some north-eastern glacier arms flowing down to 4,600 m. Its glacier is the source of water for the population of the Bolivar and Chimborazo provinces of Ecuador. Chimborazo glacier's ice mass has decreased over the past decades due to the combined influences of global warming, ash covers from recent volcanic activity of Tungurahua and the El Niño phenomenon.
As on other glaciated Ecuadorian mountains, Chimborazo's glacial ice is mined by locals (the so called Hieleros from Spanish Hielo for Ice) to be sold in the markets of Guaranda and Riobamba. In earlier days the ice was transported down to coastal towns like Babahoyo or Vinces.
Volcanism
Chimborazo is a dominantly andesitic-dacitic stratovolcano. About 35,000 years ago a collapse of Chimborazo produced a debris avalanche, the deposits of which underlie Riobamba. Chimborazo then erupted several times during the Holocene, the last time around 640 AD ± 500 years. Today Chimborazo is considered inactive.
Elevation
With an elevation of 6,268 m, Chimborazo is the highest mountain in Ecuador and the Andes north of Peru; it is higher than any more northerly summit in the Americas.
Farthest point from Earth's center
The summit of Mount Everest reaches a higher elevation above sea level, but the summit of Chimborazo is widely reported to be the farthest point from Earth's center,although Huascarán is a near-tie second.[It has been difficult to resolve this issue definitively because of error margins in summit elevations and geoid data. Application of the formula at Earth_radius#Radius_at_a_given_geodetic_latitude shows that earth's radius is 520 metres greater at Chimborazo than at Huascaran, which is 20 metres greater than the sea-level elevation difference (no more than 500 metres), and the most recent data shows that the geoid at Chimborazo is about 5 metres higher than at Huascaran. This suggests that, despite being 42 metres lower than the 6310 metres it was previously thought to be (and is still frequently claimed to be), Chimborazo's summit is about 25 metres further from the earth's centre than that of Huascaran.] Chimborazo is one degree south of the equator and the earth's diameter at the equator is greater than at the latitude of Everest, nearly 28° north, with sea level also elevated. Despite being 2,581 m (8,568 ft) lower in elevation above sea level, it is 6,384.4 km (3,968 mi) from the Earth's center, 2.1 km farther than the summit of Everest.[In this ranking order several other Andean peaks and also Africa's highest mountain, Kilimanjaro, precede Everest.]
History
Etymology
Several theories regarding the origin of the name Chimborazo exist. After one theory it is a combination of the Cayapa Schingbu for Women and the Colorado/Quichua Razo for Ice/Snow resulting in Women of Ice. After another theory Chimbo is Jivaro for Throne of Master/God resulting in Icethrone of God. The locals also used to call the mountain Urcorazo, with the Quichua Urco for Mountain resulting in Mountain of Ice. For the local indigenous mysticism the Chimborazo represents Taita (Father) whereas neighbouring Tungurahua is seen as Mama, Taita Chimborazo and Mama Tungurahua.
First ascent
Until the beginning of the nineteenth century it was thought that Chimborazo was the highest mountain on Earth (measured from sea level), and such reputation led to many attempts on its summit during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
In 1802 during his expedition to South America, Baron Alexander von Humboldt, accompanied by Aimé Bonpland and the Ecuadorian Carlos Montúfar attempted to reach the summit. From his description of the mountain it seems that before he and his companions had to return suffering from altitude sickness they reached a point at 5,875 m, higher than previously attained by any European in recorded history.[Incans reached much higher altitudes already, see Llullaillaco.] In 1831 Jean Baptiste Boussingault and Colonel Hall reached a new "highest point", computed to be 6,006 m. In 1880 Chimborazo's summit was first climbed by Edward Whymper and the brothers Louis and Jean-Antoine Carrel. As there were many critics who doubted that Whymper had reached the summit, later in the same year he climbed to the summit again choosing a different route (Pogyos) with the Ecuadorians David Beltrán and Francisco Campaña.
SAETA Flight 232
In August 1976 SAETA Flight 232 carrying 55 passengers and four crew members aboard a Vickers Viscount from Quito to Cuenca disappeared en route. In October 2002, after 26 years, the aircraft was found with the bodies of its 59 occupants at elevation on Chimborazo by Ecuadorian climbers on the rarely used eastern route Integral.
Other
- Chimborazo is featured on the Ecuadorian coat of arms, to represent the beauty and richness of the Ecuadorian Sierra (Highlands).
- Simón Bolívar's poem, "Mi delirio sobre el Chimborazo", was inspired by the mountain.
- Walter J. Turner's poem,"Romance" contains the couplet "Chimborazo, Cotopaxi/They had stolen my soul away!".
Mountaineering
As Ecuador's highest mountain, Chimborazo is a very popular climb and can be climbed year round with the best seasons being December-January and July-August.
Routes
The easiest (Grade: PD) and most climbed routes are the Normal and the Whymper route. Both are western ridge routes starting at the Whymper hut and leading via the Ventemilla summit to the main (Whymper) summit.
There are several other less used and more challenging routes on the other mountains faces and ridges leading to one of Chimborazo's summits: Main (Whymper, Ecuador), Politecnico (Central), N. Martinez (Eastern). The mountain is contained on the IGM (Instituto Geografico Militar) 1:50000 Map Chimborazo (CT-ÑIV-C1).
Refugios
There are two functioning Huts, the Carrel Hut (4,850 m) and the nearby Whymper Hut (5,000 m). The Carrel Hut can be reached by car from Riobamba, Ambato or Guaranda. On the north-west side there is the now defunct Zurita hut (4,900 m) which served as base for the Pogyos route.
See also
External links
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