Wharton Leadership Ventures:  
Ecuador Mountaineering 

Leadership Lessons from Climbing the Mountains of Ecuador

Annually in January and March 

Other Wharton Leadership Ventures

the mountaineering experience

The Wharton Leadership Venture to Ecuador offers a weeklong mountaineering and leadership development program designed to provide MBA students and graduates with a unique learning experience.  Modeled after the annual Wharton Leadership Trek to Mount Everest, the Ecuador expedition enables MBA students and graduates the opportunity to ascend one of the highest peaks in the Western Hemisphere and further develop their leadership skills while doing so.  

The Ecuador mountaineering venture provides an opportunity to continue your leadership development, exercise your body, cross-train your mind, and reflect on your leadership with fellow Wharton students and graduates among the awe-inspiring peaks of the northern Andes.  This is a skill development program, and prior mountaineering experience is not a prerequisite for participation. The expedition seeks to ascend Cotopaxi (19,347 ft.). 

Wharton Climbers Nearing the Summit of Cotopaxi

The Ecuador venture is intended to help build 1) technical skills to safely summit a high altitude peak, 2) communication, leadership, and teamwork skills essential to functioning within a group in a demanding situation, and 3) methods for sharing knowledge and understanding with others.  The expedition uses mountains, mountaineering, and climbing as cross-cultural metaphors to expand and deepen our understanding of leadership and teamwork.  With daily seminars and evening discussions, we explore metaphors and analogies between mountain travel and organization leadership.   

                                                              Conditioning

High altitude mountaineering demands great physical endurance and emotional strength.  The itinerary places great emphasis on acclimating, the process by which your body adapts to the unique stresses placed upon it at altitude.  A high degree of aerobic conditioning is required.  Rigorous preparation is imperative, with emphasis on the cardiovascular system and leg and back strength. The climb involves technical mountaineering, and instruction in the the use of ropes, crampons. and other climbing equipment is provided.   

COST & EQUIPMENT

This trip costs $2,000. This includes all land costs, and mountaineering equipment rented from Earthtreks. All flights and meals must be paid for separately.

A list of suggested equipment for the expedition is available here. 

The expedition is open to 22 students in January and 22 students in March.

PRIOR EXPEDITIONS 

LEADERSHIP

Continuous learning is emphasized through daily pre-planned seminars and many unanticipated events.  Most days have a noontime seminar on a topic related to leadership and teamwork, and an evening discussion generally related to the day’s experience and plans for the next day.  We devote time to considering leadership and team dynamics on the historic climbs of Ecuador’s central highlands and other peaks, across organizations and cultures, and within our own climbing party.  

The Ecuador Mountaineering Venture is supported by Earth Treks, a mountaineering guide service, and they are orchestrated by Wharton Leadership Venture Fellows (2nd-year MBA students).