Chimborazo (volcano)

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The Chimborazo is an extinct volcano located in the Andes mountains of central Ecuador, 150 kilometres (93 miles) south-southwest of the capital Quito. Its summit is the spot on the surface farthest from the center of the Earth.

Although the summit of Mount Everest reaches a higher elevation above sea level, the Earth's diameter at the equator is greater than at Everest's latitude (nearly 28° north), with sea level also being elevated. The summit of Chimborazo is just one degree south of the equator. So despite being 2547 meters (8457 feet) lower in elevation above sea level, it is 6384.4 km (3968 mi) from the Earth's center, 2.1 km farther than the summit of Everest. Chimborazo is higher in elevation above sea level than any other mountain in the Americas north of it.

Until the beginning of the nineteenth century it was thought that Chimborazo was the highest mountain on Earth (measured from sea level), and such reputation led to many attempts on its summit during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In 1802 during his expedition to South America, Baron Alexander von Humboldt, accompanied by Aimé Bonpland and the Ecuadorian Carlos Montúfar attempted to reach the summit. From his description of the mountain it seems he reached a point at 5,875 metres, from where he and his companions returned suffering from altitude sickness. At that point they had reached the highest point attained by any European in recorded history (Incans reached much farther, see Llullaillaco). Finally it was climbed by Briton Edward Whymper and the brothers Louis and Jean-Antoine Carrel in 1880. As there were many critics who doubted that Whymper had reached the summit, later in the same year he climbed to the summit again choosing a different route with the Ecuadorians David Beltrán and Francisco Campaña.

The Chimborazo glacier is the source of water for the population of the Bolivar and Chimborazo cantons of Ecuador. The capital of Bolivar, Guaranda (25,000 inhabitants) is supplied by "vertientes" in the high "páramo" (arid Andean plateaus over 4,000 m) situated 25 km from the city. In the summer of 2005 the water supply of the city suffered severe crisis, probably due to the fast disappearance of the ice cover of the Chimborazo. According to French researchers, Andean high glaciers are melting at an accelerated rate and most are fated to disappear within the coming decades. Therefore, Quito, Lima, La Paz and other cities founded on glacial flows are bound to find themselves fighting severe water supply problems in the near future.

Simón Bolívar wrote a poem inspired by the mountain, entitled "Mi delirio sobre el Chimborazo".

The elevation was measured by a differential GPS survey in the 1990s and is generally accepted.

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