No 7. Cerro Chirripo 3,819m, Costa Rica.

Updated: Jun 23, 2022

20.01.2012 - Cerro Chirripo 3,819m Costa Rica (UN Country High Point).

Information

Cerro Chirripó is the highest mountain in Costa Rica with an elevation of 3,819 meters (12,536 feet). It is located in Chirripó National Park and is noted for its ecological wealth. The mountain was named "Chirripo", meaning "land of eternal waters", by Native Americans because there are many lakes and streams around the mountain.[2] Snow has not fallen on the peak in the past 100 years or so, according to the University of Costa Rica.

Summary

This trip came straight off the back of doing the Coast to Coast hike, bike, raft and kayak adventure from the Pacific to the Caribbean which took about ten days and that was pretty fantastic. Now we were looking forward to hiking Costa Rica’s highest peak. Having come from San Jose to San Gerardo we got an early morning taxi from the hotel to the park office at the start point for a 5.30am start. Then it was a seven hour uphill slog for 14km and over 2,000m of height gain to the Base Crestones refuge which is at roughly 3,400m. However this was a great hike on good trails going through lush rainforest with so much wildlife it was simply an open air zoo!

We relaxed and ate at the refuge, had some sleep and then with a 2.30am wake up call we hiked for 2hrs to get to the summit of Cerro Chirripo at 5.30am some five or so kilometres away. After watching the sunrise we then decended Chirripo a short way and headed North over to the Lagos de las Morrenas before returning and hiking up Cerro Terbi and Cerro Crestones before dropping back down to the refuge. The views all round were stunning throughout and well worth the effort we put in. After a lunch respite at the refuge we then had a five hour walk back down to the trail head. All in all a great two day hike with great weather and scenery.

FROM MY NOTES:

D13. 4am get up, breakfast at 4.30am. Started from 0km marker post at 5.30am. Packs weight about 13kgs. No thermarest needed. 1km marker boards with altitude marked on. Lush vegetation & a lord of the rings type of path. Very pretty, saw wild pig, white faced monkey, brown squirrels, turkey vultures& lizards.

Hike profile: steady up hill for 1st 7km steepest sections between 7-10km. Plenty of shade before Egressing out into the tree-line at 10km and then a flat downhill section.

Rest: At 7km there is a wooden building/rest stop with toilets & water. There is another water stop (pipe) at around 12kms.

Refuge:sleeps 40 but 60 beds.

Costs: park entry $15 accommodation +1 night $45 accommodation +2 nights $60

D14. 2.30am wake up, coffee & biscuits & then out on trail at 3.30am. Not that cold, jumper & rain jacket. 5km to summit, most of the height gain was in the last 1.5km, 2hr hike. Dawn in progress at 5.30am on a windy cold summit. Beautiful views of surrounding lakes & hills, reminisce of north Wales. Came off summit at 6.30am & headed off to lakes and Crestones, nice walk beautiful views & a stiff hike to CC. This is actually a more spectacular hike & summit than Chirripo. Great rock formations & views. This is a 2 hr hike from Chirripo & a 1 hr hike down back to the refuge. We were back down for breakfast at 10am.

Left the hut at 11.30am & back at the park entrance at 4.45pm, 4.15hrs. Note that none of the hike times were at speed, just average with lots of stops.

Notes: beautiful hike all round. Good huts, 4 person rooms, 2 bunks, communal kitchen & Internet access. Power is limited due to solar power. Sleeps 60, 40 clients. 25 booking reservations & 10 turn up bookings & 5 for admin staff & emergency bookings that they sell off. Turn up at the park office before 6am for the turn up bookings.

Parking: N/A

Route: A hard two day hike but well worth the effort. The wildlife and rainforest was superb on the first day and the mountain scenery equally so on the 2nd. Good footpaths, markers and well signposted. Lots of ascent.

Route Statistics: Trailhead to Refuge - 14km to refuge with 2,000+ m of ascent. Refuge to Summit. 5km with 400m of ascent to summit. Total Recorded: 42km with 2,500m of ascent.

Ascent Entry on Peakbagger: Cerro Chirripo

GPX files: For gpx files click on the below (sorry only have the summit day).