These two active volcanoes covered with snow (5248 mts. Illiniza South, 5126 meters - Illiniza North) are located south from the city of Quito just 2 hours away driving by car. This unique twin picks formation is the only mountain in Ecuador that offers treks and climbing sections of several levels and degrees of difficulty. In a clear day you can appreciate them toward the south of the city.
The same highway that takes us to the Cotopaxi national park, leads us to the Illnizas Ecological reserve, named after its 2 maximum representatives.

Due to the difficult of the access, this ecological reserve is still a mystery. The reservation is divided in three sectors. The first one covers the mountain range of Zarapullo and Tenefuerte, the Illnizas and Corazon Mountain and the river Toachi. The second, it is located in the south and it has an extension of 23,600 hectares. The last area is a small area that covers an extension of hardly 800 hectares and it corresponds to the lagoon Quilotoa.
From the main highway, we drive 2 hours through a small road until we arrive to a sector named La Virgen. In this place we leave the car and we take our gear to continue for 2 to 4 hours until arriving at the refuge of the first one of the picks. The northern Iliniza.
From this point you have a spectacular view of the area. The wide landscapes covered with paramo vegetation enclose many endemic species of flora and fauna, many of them can only be found inside the limits of the reserve.
Once you arrive to the refuge and depending on the hour, you can decide to continue between 1 one an a half hour and three hours until the summit of the north Iliniza or you can stay at the refuge and rest to attack the summit in the following morning.
To climb this section of the Iliniza, you don’t require climbing experience or specialized gear. Only in the final approach to the summit, there is a short part of the road where you must be careful. This route is ideal people who are planning to conquer summits like the Chimborazo and the Cotopaxi.
Once we return to the base refuge and to the left of this mountain we see His bigger brother the South Iliniza.
For this ascension it is required to have the knowledge on ice climbing and rescue techniques, since its ascent is considered difficult and dangerous. It is essential to have at least a day of acclimatization on the 4000 meters.
The South Iliniza is consider one of the 3 most difficult climbing in Ecuador, after El Altar in Chimborazo Province and Antisana between Pichincha and Napo provinces, specially when there isn’t enough snow on the mountain and most of the route is covered only with ice. Experience on ice climbing is necessary due to the existence of cracks and sheer slopes of snow and ice with 70 degrees on inclination. It is necessary to cross several cracks of up to 4 meters wide and many meters deep. Similar to the ascensions to the North Iliniza, the beginning point is the refuge. From the same one, the road will take us for 6 hours to arrive to the summit depending on the conditions of the normal route. From the south summit, the view of the Cotopaxi volcano is incomparable.