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| El Altar | |
|---|---|
| Capak Urcu | |
 El Altar in 2006 | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 5,319 m (17,451 ft)[1] |
| Prominence | 2,072 m (6,798 ft)[1] |
| Listing | Ultra List of volcanoes in Ecuador |
| Coordinates | 01°39′48″S 78°24′33″W / 1.66333°S 78.40917°W[1] |
| Geography | |
  El Altar | |
| Parent range | Andes |
| Geology | |
| Age of rock | Pliocene-Pleistocene |
| Mountain type | Stratovolcano (extinct) |
| Last eruption | Unknown |
| Climbing | |
| First ascent | 7 July 1963 by Marino Tremonti, Ferdinando Gaspard and Claudio Zardini[2] |
| Easiest route | rock/ice climb |
El Altar or Capac Urcu (possibly from Kichwa kapak 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]
- ^ a b c "Ecuador: 15 Mountain Summits with Prominence of 1,500 meters or greater" Peaklist.org. Retrieved 2013-03-01.
- ^ 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"