Competitors in the Ruta del Hielo (Ice Route) competition, take a walk at the slopes of the Cayambe .....
Competitors in the Ruta del Hielo (Ice Route) competition, take a walk at the slopes of the Cayambe Volcano before lugging down the mountain in a race that ends in the town of Cayambe, 45 kilometers north of Quito, July 27, 2003. Ecuadoreans turned the age-old tradition of ice harvesting to make ice cream, a practice that died with the advent of electric ice-makers, into an annual competition just three years ago, as dozens of people climb up the 5,790 meter-high volcano to race down with part of a glacier on their back.