[3] At the end of February 2023, the Geophysical Institute of Ecuador reported that Cotopaxi had produced around 8,000 earthquakes since October 21, 2022, amounting to 1,600 events per month.

It was worshiped as rain sender, which served as the guarantor of the land's fertility, and at the same time its summit was revered as a place where gods lived.

This eruption appears to have deposited an ash layer in the lakes of El Cajas National Park that has been dated to 450±70 cal BP.

During the June 26, 1877 eruption, pyroclastic flows descended on all sides of the mountain melting the entire ice cap, with lahars traveling more than 100 km (62 mi) into the Pacific Ocean and western Amazon basin draining the valley.

The eruption on 19 June 1742 was witnessed by the scientists Pierre Bouguer and Charles-Marie de La Condamine, members of the French Geodesic Mission, as they descended from nearby Guagua Pichincha.

In August, 2,100 earthquakes were recorded and emission rates of sulfur dioxide reach approximately 20,000 tonnes per day (19,700 long ton/d; 22,000 short ton/d).

[citation needed] On November 28, 1872, German geologist Wilhelm Reiss and his Colombian partner, Angel Escobar, finally reached the summit of Cotopaxi.

[15] In 1873 it was summitted by German Geologist Moritz Alphons Stübel and four Ecuadorians, Rafael Jantui, Melchor Páez, Vicente Ramón and Eusebio Rodriguez.

Climbers grade the conventional route alpine PD (Peu Difficile) or WS (Wenig Schwierig) — or PD/WS+ (indicating "Mildly Difficult PLUS").

A 4WD track goes up from the national park entrance to a carpark at 4,600 m (15,100 ft) altitude on north side, just below the José F. Ribas Refuge.

(Typically no more than about half of those attempting to summit Cotopaxi make it to the top after a daunting — though non-technical — six-hour scramble.)

Tour operators shuttle their clients up to the top of the 4WD track once in the afternoon for a glacier skills class, and then again to start the climb around midnight, spending the intervening hours eating dinner and resting at a hostel lower down by the lakes.

Adventure tourism operators in Quito also offer mountain biking tours from the Refuge downhill along the dirt track.

[30] Another city which would be in great danger is the regional capital Latacunga, which is located in the south valley, and has been destroyed at least twice (in 1768, 1877) by lahars caused by volcanic activity.