The Mountain (well, actually it’s a volcano…)

Cotopaxi is the world’s highest active volcano.

At 19,388 feet (5,911m) in the Andes - the spinal column of South America - it dominates the country of Ecuador. It has an almost perfectly symmetrical cone and is capped above 5,000m by a mighty glacier. The summit crater is 600m by 800m and several hundred meters deep.

In the Inca language of Quechua, Cotopaxi means smooth neck of the moon. It was first climbed in 1872 and since then the adventurous and the brave have been conquering its peak.

The Man

Tim Gosling is the founder and Managing Partner of Gosling.

At 6 feet (1.83m) tall he is the backbone of the UK’s most active small design agency.

Tim thrives on challenge and achieving impossible deadlines.

Gosling is derived from the Indo-European word ghans, meaning baby goose.

The Challenge

What brings these two together is Whizz-Kidz, a national charity giving disabled children the independence to be themselves by providing them with customised mobility equipment, training and advice that is not available from the NHS.

In September, Whizz-Kidz joined the Charity Challenge expedition of The Avenue of the Volcanoes to reach the summit of four volcanoes, the highest being Cotopaxi. Tim set about some serious training and fundraising to prepare for the challenge and you can read his journal by following the links above. Whizz-Kidz set a target of £2,750 and Tim exceeded this with the fund closing at £4,449.42. Many thanks for all your generous donations.

Gosling