El Altar

 ( Stratovolcanoes Of Ecuador ) 

El Altar or Capac Urcu (possibly from Kichwa language kapak principal, great, important / magnificence, urku mountain)Kichwa Yachakukkunapa Shimiyuk Kamu (Ministry of Education, Ecuador) (Kichwa-Spanish dictionary), 2009Miñaca Rea Silvia Patricia, Vallejo Lara Vicente Orlando, Diseño de paquetes turísticos para el Nevado Los Altares por el sector Inguisay, Universidad de Chimborazo, 2010 (in Spanish) is an extinct volcano on the western side of Sangay National Park in Ecuador, south of Quito, with a highest point of . Spaniards named it so because it resembled two nuns and four friars listening to a bishop around a church altar. In older English sources it is also called The Altar. The New International Encyclopaedia Volume 1 ed Frank Moore Colby, Talcott Williams 1918 Page 618 "The northern group, mainly comprised in Ecuador, is the most imposing collection of active and extinct volcanoes on earth. ... The Altar, a truncated mountain, 17,736 feet in height, is said to have once been the highest in the region"

---

Geology El Altar consists of a large stratovolcano of Pliocene-Pleistocene age with a caldera breached to the west. Inca legends report that the top of El Altar collapsed after seven years of activity in about 1460, but the caldera is considered to be much older than this by . Nine major peaks over form a horseshoe-shaped ridge about across, surrounding a central basin that contains a crater lake at about , known as Laguna Collanes or Laguna Amarilla.

---

Access and recreation El Altar is perhaps the most technically demanding climb in Ecuador. The route to the El Obispo summit is graded D+. December through February are the best months to attempt an ascent. Much more accessible is the hike to the lake within the caldera of the mountain. From Riobamba, one takes a bus for about an hour to Candelaria and then checks in at the ranger station to enter the Sangay park. About 4–7 hours of an extremely muddy trail (knee-high rubber boots are recommended) leaves one at the refuge belonging to Hacienda Releche, which can be rented. The refuge has many beds, and a kitchen. To hike to the lake is another 1.5h - 2 hours from the refuge across a valley and up a steep hill.

---

List of peaks The nine peaks of El Altar, starting with the highest summit on the south side and proceeding counterclockwise:

July 7, 1963, Ferdinando Gaspard, Marino Tremonti, Claudio Zardini

August 17, 1968, Bill Ross and Margaret Young

January 16, 1971, Peter Bednar and party

September 28, 1979, Fernando Jaramillo, Danny Moreno, Luis Naranjo, Hernán Reinoso, Mauricio Reinoso and Marcos Serrano

December 1, 1972, Lorenzo Lorenzi, Armando Perron, Marino Tremonti

March 7, 1965, Ferdinando Gaspard, Lorenzo Lorenzi, Marino Tremonti, Claudio Zardini

---

See also

• Geography of Ecuador
• List of mountains in Ecuador
• List of Ultras of South America
• Lists of volcanoes
• List of volcanoes in Ecuador

---

Sources

• Yossi Brain (2025). 9780898867299, Mountaineers Books. ISBN 9780898867299
• (in Spanish)
• John Biggar (2025). 9780953608720, Andes Publishing (Scotland). . ISBN 9780953608720

---

External links

• Altar: Etymology
• "Volcán Altar, Ecuador" on Peakbagger

Post Comment