Mt. Chimborazo
- April 22, 2007
- Rated 3 of 5 by
Wasatch from heber ctity, Utah
The train from Quito to Guayaquil passes three outstanding scenic areas– The Nose, the climb out of the valley where Quito is, and Mt. Chimborazo. The train trip across the lower slopes of Mt Chimborazo is also notable because the summit of Chimborazo is the highest point on the surface of the Earth. You thought it was Mt Everest, didn’t you? Here’s the story. Planet Earth is not a perfect sphere. The rotation of the planet flattens the poles and creates a bulge at the Equator. The Equatorial bulge is about 13 miles thick at the Equator, which is not far from Mt Chimborazo. Mt Everest is 29,000 feet above sea level. Chimborazo is 20,700 feet above sea level, but Chimborazo, being much closer to the Equator is, when measured from the center of the Earth rather than from sea level, considerably higher than Everest, and lot easier to get to.
The tracks cross Chimborazo about 17,000 feet above sea level, well above the tree line, so the views of the snow capped cone of the volcano are unobstructed by vegetation. Traveling from Quito to Rio Bamba, the best views of the mountain are from the right side of the train, first and second class. The roof top view from third class gives everyone a great view. The first class train made a short photo-op stop.
Like Mt Fuji, Mt Hood, Mt Shasta, or Mt Drum, Mt Chimborazo is a textbook example of a large volcano cone, which makes it very photogenic.
From journal Running 'The Nose'