Mount Chimborazo
On June 3 of every year, adventurers, geographers and nature lovers celebrate Chimborazo Day, which honors Ecuador’s Mount Chimborazo, the point on Earth’s surface farthest from the planet’s center and, technically, the closest point to outer space.
This distinction isn’t about height above sea level, but rather Earth’s equatorial bulge. Our oblate spheroid–shaped planet is thicker at the equator than the poles, and Ecuador’s position along the equator — which gives the country its name — means the globe’s outward curve is most pronounced there. As a result, Chimborazo’s peak is about 7,000 feet farther from the planet’s center than Mount Everest’s.
Rising 20,548 feet above sea level, Chimborazo dominates the skyline of the Ecuadorean Andes, shaping local culture, ecology and history. The dormant stratovolcano’s slopes have long been home to Indigenous communities, and its glaciers have supplied water to surrounding regions for centuries.
Climbers from around the world travel to Ecuador to attempt to reach its icy summit, following in the footsteps of explorers such as Alexander von Humboldt, who climbed it in 1802 while gathering data that helped confirm Earth’s oblate spheroid shape.
For many of these travelers, Chimborazo Day has come to be an occasion to reflect on the idea of reaching their own highest point.