Cotopaxi at a Glance
Cotopaxi is a 5,911-meter andesitic stratovolcano in the Cordillera Real of the Ecuadorian Andes, roughly 50 km south of Quito and the centerpiece of Cotopaxi National Park. It's among the highest active volcanoes on Earth, second in Ecuador only to the dormant Chimborazo. Its summit carries a glacier — beautiful, and the root of its greatest danger. Our database records its most recent eruption in 2023 and classifies it firmly as active. You can browse the full data record on its Cotopaxi database page.
The Record Most Travel Pages Ignore: 21 VEI 4+ Eruptions
Most pages about Cotopaxi sell the view. Ours reads the data. Across its 86 recorded eruptions, 21 reached VEI 4 or higher on the Volcanic Explosivity Index — 14 at VEI 4 and seven at VEI 5. That's a striking number. When we rank every volcano in our 11,000-eruption database by count of large explosive eruptions, Cotopaxi's 21 ties it with Mount Pelée and Katla, behind only Kamchatka's Sheveluch (43). See the full ranking on our most explosive volcanoes leaderboard.
The everyday pattern is milder — most of Cotopaxi's recent activity, including 2015–16 and 2022–23, has been VEI 2 ash emission. But the long tail of VEI-4 and VEI-5 events, stretching back thousands of years, is what makes hazard planners take it seriously. A volcano that can go big, sitting under a glacier, above populated valleys, is a different proposition from a pretty cone.
Why It's Dangerous: Glacier + Explosions = Lahars
The word that keeps Ecuadorian scientists up at night isn't "lava" — it's lahar. Cotopaxi's summit glacier means that when hot rock and ash erupt, they can flash-melt ice into torrents of water that mix with debris and barrel down the mountain's drainages as fast-moving mudflows. The 1877 eruption is the textbook case: pyroclastic flows swept all sides of the cone, melting glacier ice, and the resulting lahars traveled more than 100 km — reaching the city of Latacunga, about 30 km away, in roughly 30 minutes at speeds over 60 km/h, and continuing toward both the Pacific and the Amazon basin.
That's the scenario modern monitoring is built around. Cotopaxi is watched continuously by Ecuador's Instituto Geofísico (IG-EPN), with seismic, deformation, and gas networks feeding lahar-warning systems along the Latacunga and valley corridors. The 2015 reawakening prompted evacuation planning and drills around Latacunga precisely because officials know the historical lahar paths run straight through towns that have since grown. Lahar risk scales with downstream population, not just eruption size — the same lesson written in blood at Nevado del Ruiz (Armero, 1985) and reflected across our most dangerous volcanoes ranking.
Cotopaxi Among Ecuador's Volcanoes
Ecuador is one of the most volcanically dense countries on Earth, strung along the Ring of Fire where the Nazca Plate dives beneath South America. Cotopaxi is the marquee name, but it shares the Andes with several highly active neighbors — including Reventador and Sangay, both erupting through 2026. Here's how the key Ecuadorian volcanoes compare; most link to their full data pages.
For the full regional picture — all of Ecuador's volcanoes and how the Andean arc is built — see our guide to volcanoes in Ecuador. The same subduction zone continues north into Colombia, where Puracé went to Orange alert in 2026.
Visiting & Climbing Cotopaxi
Cotopaxi is one of South America's classic high-altitude objectives. There are two very different trips. The first is an easy day visit: Cotopaxi National Park is a straightforward excursion from Quito, driving up to the parking area and walking to the José Ribas refuge at around 4,800 m for close-up views of the glaciated cone and the high páramo. The second is the summit climb — a serious, glaciated ascent typically done as a guided overnight, starting around midnight from the refuge to reach the crater rim near dawn. It requires crampons, an ice axe, rope work, a certified mountain guide, and real acclimatization; altitude and glacier travel make it far more demanding than a normal volcano hike.
Whether you day-trip or climb, access is governed by the volcano's current activity: during the 2015 and 2022–23 eruptive phases, the summit and upper park were restricted. Check IG-EPN status before you commit, and book with operators who track official bulletins. For the broader safety picture, see our volcano hiking guide.
How tall is Cotopaxi?
Cotopaxi rises to 5,911 meters (19,393 ft), making it one of the highest active volcanoes on Earth and the second-highest peak in Ecuador after Chimborazo. Its near-perfect glacier-capped cone sits about 50 km south of Quito in the Cordillera Real of the Andes. The summit carries a glacier, which is central to its hazard: meltwater from eruptions is what turns into deadly lahars.
When did Cotopaxi last erupt?
Cotopaxi's most recent eruption ran from October 2022 to July 2023, producing ash plumes and ashfall (VEI 2). Before that, it reawakened in 2015–2016 after roughly 70 years of quiet. So while it looks like a serene tourist mountain, our database confirms it is genuinely active — it is monitored continuously by Ecuador's Instituto Geofísico (IG-EPN) and currently shows low-level unrest such as minor seismicity and degassing.
Is Cotopaxi going to erupt again?
Almost certainly, eventually — Cotopaxi is one of the most active volcanoes in the Andes, with 86 eruptions in our database. It cannot be predicted to a date, but IG-EPN monitors it around the clock precisely because its history shows frequent activity, including the 2015 and 2022–23 events. The concern isn't just whether it erupts, but that its glacier plus explosive history make even a moderate eruption capable of generating lahars toward populated valleys.
How dangerous is Cotopaxi?
More dangerous than its beauty suggests. Our data records 21 eruptions at VEI 4 or higher — including seven at VEI 5 — which ties Cotopaxi with Mount Pelée and Katla near the very top of our 11,000-eruption database, behind only Kamchatka's Sheveluch. Combine that explosive record with a summit glacier and you get a lahar machine: in 1877, mudflows reached Latacunga (30 km away) in about 30 minutes. Today, tens of thousands live in those same drainage valleys.
Can you climb Cotopaxi?
Yes. Cotopaxi is one of the most popular high-altitude climbs in South America, usually done as a guided 1–2 day summit push from the José Ribas refuge at ~4,800 m, with a midnight start to reach the top around dawn. It requires crampons, an ice axe, a mountain guide, and acclimatization — this is a glaciated 5,911 m peak, not a walk-up. The surrounding Cotopaxi National Park is also popular for day trips from Quito to see the cone, the refuge, and the páramo. Access depends on current volcanic activity, so check IG-EPN status before booking.