Cerro Chirripó - Costa Rica's Highest Peak (3820m)

As always, this post was written to give you a general idea of how "Chirripó Works", but it is in no way an official source of information. Please call the ICT (Costa Rican Institute of Tourism) several months ahead of your planned visit. Note that all the information given here is as of february 2009.

Steps to get there:
1- Call the ICT aprox. 6 months before your planned trip date. Many people want to go, so do that ASAP. A permit is necessary to climb the mountain. 2- Once you have your permit,get a bus from San Jose to San Isidro del General. I reccomend Transportes MUSOC(Tel. 2222-2422). The bus terminal is located in the downtown area of San José, close to the Pacific Train Station. Buses leave each hour starting at 5:30am (It is wise to arrive 2hrs before the hour you plan to leave). The trip takes from 2.5-3hours, and it costs 2185 colones. Once you get to San Isidro, find the central market, there is a bus terminal there where you will take a 700 colones bus to San Gerardo de Rivas (there are only 2 buses, one at 5:30am and the other at 2pm. Call the company at 2771-2314 to be sure of the times. The trip takes from 1-1.5hrs). If you miss the bus, you have 3 options. 1-pay a taxi to San Gerardo, expect to pay 15000 colones. 2-take a bus to Rivas. Once in Rivas, take a taxi to San Gerardo or start walking towards San Gerardo and ask for rides. 3-sleep in San Isidro and leave the next day at 5:30am.

In San Gerardo de Rivas, there are several hostels, and many offer parking if you are planning to take your car. The average price per night is 10,000 colones. Before climbing Chirripó you MUST go to the MINAE office in San Gerardo in order to get the permit (which you should have reserved before). What if I don't have any reservations? The park leaves 10 open spaces each day, which you can get if you arrive early in the morning. You can take an open space for the same day or the following day only. If you plan to do this, get there as early as possible.

The Hike: You can start at any time, however most people start from 4am-5:30am. If you want to start much earlier, then take a good flashlight with you. If you start later, then take a good hat, you will need it! --- The hike starts at "El termometro Trail" and is marked by a "0 km" sign. Warning: Many people see the Termometro sign, but keep walking in the main trail until they find out several hours after that they took the wrong way. When you see the sign, make a right. This usually happens because it is still too dark to see that there is another trail...

If you see the office to your left it means that you went the wrong way and entered the cloudbridge trail. Go Back!

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Starting at Termometro Trail (0 km) the hike will take 14.5km to Base Crestones (at an altitude of 3400m, the place where you will sleep). When you get to 4km, you will see the official park entrance - just an old gate. At 7.2km you will see Refugio Llano Bonito, which is just a place to drink fresh water and eat whatever you brought with you, there is no park ranger there nor is it a place to sleep.

- Base Crestones - 14.5km. Services: Free Internet from 2pm-7pm // Telephone (National calls only): 50 colones/min house phones and 100 colones/min cell phones. In the past they sold/rented gas cylinders, shirts, sleeping bags, etc. Now they do not, they only let you use their dishware, but you must bring your own stove, gas, food, sleeping bags,etc



The Other Attractions: Chirripó used to be covered with glaciers, so most of the rock formations were shaped by the ice thousands of years ago. The main (or at least famous) rock formation is the Crestones ( right pic), which can be seen from Base Crestones. At sunset, they will sometimes turn orange or redish. You can also climb there, and it usually takes 2 hours.

To the right is a picture of Sabana de los Leones (Lions). It was named after the Jaguars that often go there. There are other nice places to visit such as Valle de los Conejos, Cerro Ventisqueros (3812m) , Lake Ditkevi, Valle de las Morrenas, etc. Talk to the ranger for time estimates and recommendations.






The Main Attraction: The summit (Chirripó Grande) - At 3820m, Chirripó is the highest peak in Costa Rica. - I reccomend to start the 5.1km hike at 3-3:30am, so that you can get there by 5:30 and see the sunrise (and have higer chances of a clear sky). In a clear morning, you will be able to see The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, Volcan Irazu, Cerro de la Muerte, Volcan Barú in Panamá, etc. WARNING: Temperatures below freezing and strong winds - take with you good winter clothing.


On your way down: You will probably see lots of ice/snow, which is rare in Costa Rica. If you are lucky, you might even get a frozen lake!



Additional Info:

1- You can stay 1 or 2 nights, not more.
2- You can pay a porter to get your stuff up the mountain, it usually costs around 17000 for a 15kg backpack. (each way)
3- To make a reservation call: 2771 5116 or 2771 3155
4- For more information check this blog http://ixus-chirripo.blogspot.com/ (spanish) - Note that it is outdated - for example it still mentions that they rent stuff up there, which is no longer true.