Chirripo
Elevation: 3819 m (12530 ft)
Location: Costa Rica, San José province, 9° 29′ N; 83° 29′ W
Distinction: Highest mountain in Costa Rica, one of only a few summits from where you can see both the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean.
View from Summit of Chirripo Grande
Photo album of Chirripo Grande.
Back to Peaks page.
Summary: My wife Jill and I jointly climbed Chirripo Grande from the Talamanca reserve over the course of two days. It is a very long trail, 2300m vertical and about 42 km round trip (a classic ‘marathon’ distance) with one overnight stay at the spacious ‘Base Crestones’ refugio. Summit day saw us climbing a few hours before dawn before reaching the summit around 8am with beautiful views all around. The first part of the descent back to the refugio and a little further was uneventful; however, substantial rain started around noon, which made the muddy path very slippery, forcing us to descend slowly and carefully. After 6 dreadful hours we reached the Hotel room completely drenched and exhausted – rarely has a hot shower felt any better than that evening…
See also Blog post Summit on Chirripo Grande.