El Altar or Capac Urcu (possibly from Kichwakapak principal, great, important / magnificence, urku mountain)[3][4] is an extinct volcano on the western side of Sangay National Park in Ecuador, 170 km (110 mi) south of Quito, with a highest point of 5,319 m (17,451 ft). 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.[5]
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 geologists. Nine major peaks over 5,000 metres (16,400 ft) form a horseshoe-shaped ridge about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) across, surrounding a central basin that contains a crater lake at about 4,200 m (13,800 ft), known as Laguna Collanes or Laguna Amarilla.
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+.[6] 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:
Peak name
Translation
Elevation
Direction from lake
First ascent
Obispo
Bishop
5,319 m (17,451 ft)
South
July 7, 1963, Ferdinando Gaspard, Marino Tremonti, Claudio Zardini
Monja Grande
Great Nun
5,160 m (16,929 ft)
Southeast
August 17, 1968, Bill Ross and Margaret Young
Monja Chica
Small Nun
5,080 m (16,667 ft)
East-Southeast
January 16, 1971, Peter Bednar and party
Tabernáculo
Tabernacle
5,180 m (16,995 ft)
East
Fraile Oriental
Eastern Friar
5,060 m (16,601 ft)
East-Northeast
September 28, 1979, Fernando Jaramillo, Danny Moreno, Luis Naranjo, Hernán Reinoso, Mauricio Reinoso and Marcos Serrano
Fraile Beato
Devout Friar
5,050 m (16,568 ft)
East-Northeast
Fraile Central
Central Friar
5,070 m (16,634 ft)
Northeast
Fraile Grande
Great Friar
5,180 m (16,995 ft)
North-Northeast
December 1, 1972, Lorenzo Lorenzi, Armando Perron, Marino Tremonti
Canónigo
Canon
5,260 m (17,257 ft)
North
March 7, 1965, Ferdinando Gaspard, Lorenzo Lorenzi, Marino Tremonti, Claudio Zardini
^Neate, Jill. Mountaineering in the Andes: A Sourcebook for Climbers. Royal Geographical Society, 1994, p.26.
^Kichwa Yachakukkunapa Shimiyuk Kamu (Ministry of Education, Ecuador) (Kichwa-Spanish dictionary), 2009
^Miñaca 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)
^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"
