Volcano·Ecuador

Cotacachi

4,935m

Cordillera Occidental

Arabsalam · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Elevation: 4,935m
Prominence: 1,837m
Relief: 2,166mabove the lowest point within 5 km
Steepest slope: 55°within 1 km of the summit
Snow at the summit: All yearSee month by month ↓
Summit: 0.3603°N, 78.3494°W

Volcano in Ecuador

Cotacachi is a volcano in the Cordillera Occidental (Ecuador). Its summit stands 4,935 m above sea level. Its prominence — how far it rises above the highest saddle linking it to a taller summit — is 1,837 m.

From the lowest point within 5 km (2,769 m), it rises 2,166 m. The steepest side is the east face: 35° on average over the first kilometre. In places the ground near the top reaches 55° — terrain for climbers, not walkers.

The nearest town is Quiroga, 11 km away at 2,486 m: 2,449 m below the summit.

Cotacachi for skiers and climbers

Two scores out of 10, built only from open data — every part is shown. They describe what the mountain offers, not how safe it is.

Hiking & mountaineering

5.5/10

Difficulty to the top

Mountain walk

Most path sections around the top are T3 on the SAC hiking scale. Glaciers around the top.

Indicative only — never a safety assessment. Conditions change: ask local guides and check the forecast.

0.1/2.50 waymarked routes and 1 path sections nearby
0.2/1.51 huts and shelters
2.0/22,449 m of ascent from the valley
1.4/1.51,837 m of prominence
1.5/1.512 months with summit afternoons above −5 °C
0.3/1via ferratas, climbing and glaciers

Ski score

—

No ski runs within 12 km in OpenStreetMap.

How these scores are made

Ski (where OpenStreetMap has skiing within 12 km): up to 4 points for the length of downhill runs (300 km or more = 4), 1.5 for the number of lifts (40+), 1.5 for the vertical between lift stations (1,500 m) and 3 for the snow season — a month counts when the estimated mean temperature at the height of the ski area is −1 °C or lower and snow falls or lies there (NASA POWER, 2001–2020). Hiking & mountaineering: up to 2.5 for waymarked routes and paths, 1.5 for huts, 2 for the ascent from the valley (2,000 m), 1.5 for prominence (3,000 m), 1.5 for the season (months with summit afternoons above −5 °C) and 1 for via ferratas, climbing and glaciers. OpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: where few things are mapped, a score can be lower than reality.

Plan your visit

Stay, climb and get there

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Snow

When there is snow on Cotacachi

At the summit, snow all year round. Month by month below, at different heights on the way up.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Summit4,935 msnow all year round	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month	Snow on the ground all month
Halfway up3,710 mno snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow
Quiroga2,486 mno snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow	No snow

Snow on the ground all month
Snow some of the time
No snow
This month

Estimate for a normal year: average temperature and precipitation from NASA POWER, carried to each height, in a simple model of snow building up and melting. In a given year snow can come earlier or stay longer. It does not replace the local snow and avalanche bulletin.

Summit weather

Cotacachi, month by month

Not a forecast: long-term averages (1991–2020), carried up to the summit. The orange line is where an average afternoon reaches 0 °C; above the dashed blue line it freezes even at dawn.

On an average September afternoon the summit reaches about 4 °C; on August nights it falls to about -8 °C. Afternoons at the top are above freezing in every month of the average year. In September the 0 °C line climbs to about 5,600 m, above the summit: the top thaws on an average afternoon. Across the region, August is the driest month (26 mm) and April the wettest (148 mm).

0 °C on an average afternoon 0 °C at dawn the summit

Month	Summit high °C	Summit low °C	Quiroga high °C	0 °C line (m)	Rain & snow (mm)	Wet days	Sun h/day
January	3	-6	19	5,430	104	21	3.0
February	3	-6	19	5,430	105	21	2.6
March	3	-6	19	5,430	132	24	2.7
April	3	-6	19	5,460	148	24	3.3
May	4	-6	20	5,490	108	21	3.4
June	3	-8	19	5,410	59	14	3.6
July	3	-8	19	5,410	40	10	3.7
August	4	-8	20	5,510	26	8	3.7
September	4	-8	20	5,600	40	10	3.5
October	4	-7	20	5,520	81	18	3.3
November	3	-6	19	5,430	103	19	3.2
December	3	-6	19	5,400	98	19	2.8

Estimate: the NASA POWER climate of a ~55 km cell (average height 2,676 m), adjusted to the summit by −6.5 °C per 1,000 m. Rain, wet days and sunshine are those of the region. Mountain weather changes fast — always check a local forecast. ★ = mildest months at the top.

Relief

The mountain in profile

Two cuts through the summit, 16 km long, from the 30 m Copernicus elevation model. True scale: no vertical exaggeration.

West – east

South – north

Steepness by direction

Average slope of the first kilometre from the summit. The orange petal is the steepest side.

Around the mountain

Huts, lifts and trails around Cotacachi

Counted around the summit in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. The satellite plate shows 14 × 14 km.

N 5 km

HutsViewpointsOther summitsCampsites

Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 14 × 14 km, north up. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.

1mountain huts and shelters
Laguna Cuicocha
—cable cars, gondolas, chairlifts and rack railways
—ski areas
—waymarked hiking routes
—via ferratas
—climbing crags and routes
—named glaciers
10viewpoints
El Arrayan, Vladi mirador, Mirador and 7 more
3campsites
Spot de camping, Ukshapungo
21hotels, B&Bs and chalets
Los Pinos, Spa La Mirage, Hostería Oro Azul, Land of the Sun and 17 more
56restaurants and cafés

Towns at the foot

Quiroga11 km · 2,486 m
Imantag11 km · 2,163 m
Cotacachi12 km · 2,385 m
San Roque14 km · 2,548 m
Atuntaqui15 km · 2,391 m
San José de Quichinche15 km · 2,701 m
San Juan de Ilumán16 km · 2,754 m
San Blas17 km · 2,193 m

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OpenStreetMap is built by volunteers: a low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. Places © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).

Recent years

How each month compared at the summit

Afternoon high at the summit (estimate). The first row is the reference, the 1991–2020 average in °C; the years show only the difference.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1991–2020 average	3	3	3	3	4	3	3	4	4	4	3	3
2020	+0.4	+1.1	+0.5	+0.5	+0.5	+0.2	±0.0	+0.4	±0.0	+0.8	+0.4	−0.3
2021	−0.6	−0.2	−1.2	−0.4	−0.3	−0.3	−0.4	−0.6	−0.8	+0.1	−0.8	±0.0
2022	−0.4	−0.6	−1.1	−0.4	−0.2	−0.7	−0.4	−0.5	−0.4	−0.7	±0.0	−0.3
2023	−1.2	+0.3	−0.7	−0.4	+0.3	+0.2	+0.1	−0.1	+0.3	+0.6	+0.8	+1.0
2024	+1.5	+1.2	+1.6	+0.7	+0.9	+0.5	+0.1	+0.2	+0.4	+1.0	+0.1	+0.6
2025	−0.1	−0.2	−0.6	−0.1	−0.4	−0.5	−0.6	−0.5	−0.3	−0.6	+0.1	+0.4

+1 warmer than usual −1 cooler than usual

Nearby

More mountains nearby

4,610 mImbabura Volcano

4,776 mPichincha Volcano

Ecuador66 km away

4,764 mCumbal

Colombia84 km away

5,758 mAntisana volcano

Ecuador97 km away

About these numbers

Names, elevation, prominence	Wikidata (Q1136571) · CC0
Relief, 3D view, profiles	Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA
Climate	NASA POWER, 1991–2020 · CC BY 4.0
Around the mountain	© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
Images	EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons

Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.

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