The volcano Chimborazo, 93 miles south-southwest of Quito in the Andes, is the highest (at 20,564ft) mountain in Ecuador, and the highest peak near the Equator. It was thought in the 18th and 19th centuries to be the highest mountain on earth. Humboldt, Bonpland and the Ecuadorian Montufar attempted unsuccessfully to summit in 1802 (the mountain and its assailants recorded in Friedrich Weitzsch’s painting of 1810). Whymper, the conqueror of the Matterhorn, made the first successful climb with two Italian guides in 1884. The iconic mountain features on Ecuador’s coat-of-arms and inspired Simon Bolivar’s poem, "Mi delirio sobre el Chimborazo".