Illimani the castle mountain in La Paz

The French Charles Wiener, Jose Ocampo and I. Bremblow were the first to attempt to climb the Illimani in 1877 failing to reach the main summit, but managed to top a subsummit called “Pico Paris” where they left a French flag. In 1898 the British William Martin Conwoy and two Swiss guides A. Maquignaz and L. Pellisier managed to reach the summit of the southern peak of the Illimani is the ascension that has been registered although at 6000 meters they found a piece of Aymara rope for which presumes that before there were locals who had reached the summit of the southern peak before them. Illimani is the second highest mountain in Bolivia and the highest in the Andes Mountains. Located at the top of the city of La Paz, with three majestically elevated peaks (South Peak, Central Peak and North Peak) seen from the main streets of this city. The South Peak of Illimani has not very difficult access and the other two smaller peaks provide a more technical rise.

Why climb the Illimani?

The majesty of the mountain is what most calls the attention to climbers. With spectacular views from High Camp (Condors’ Nest) to the city of La Paz and part of the Cordillera Real, they are more than a pretext to live this adventure.

Technicality:

With a 1842 meter (6,043 feet) slope from base camp (Broken Bridge 4600 meters / 15,091 feet) to the summit of the South Peak (6442 m / 21,135 ft) makes it a great expedition Height and resistance, hiking up to High Camp (Condors’ Nest 5550 meters / 18,208) is a steep path, exposed with loose rock, rocks of 10 m. approximately before reaching the High Camp platform. In the climb to the South Peak, there are many cracks and compact ice at 6,120 m / 20,078 feet we will find a wall called “Stairway to Heaven” of 60 ° and with approximately 50 m long, for which it is highly recommended to have prior knowledge of the use of the technical team.

Itinerary

4-day Schedule:

DAY 1: Four hours by private transport to the south of La Paz crossing beautiful rock formations and canyons until arriving at the town of Pinaya (3800 m / 12.460 feet). Where mules of load await us to take our equipment of camping and climbing and it is from there we walked 3 hours to reach the plains of Broken Bridge (4,600 m-15,091 feet), our base camp.

DAY 2: After breakfast we pick up our camp to start a 5-hour hike, that day, we will help with our camping and climbing equipment. The climb will be done with great care as we will do it through rocky and rocky slopes until reaching a small sheltered rock ledge at 5,550 m / 18,208 ft., called the Condor’s Nest (our High Camp).

DAY 3: As at 01.00am we start the climb which will last approximately 7 hours. During the ascent we will find many open cracks and climb the main crest of the glacier, with two brief technical entries of 50 ° to reach the summit of the South Peak (6442 m / 21,135 feet). We will return in about 4 hours to the Condor’s Nest, pick up our camp and descend again to base camp (Broken Bridge) and rest there on the last night.

DAY 4: After breakfast, we pick up our camp and then return to Pinaya where our private transportation awaits us to take us back to La Paz.