Climbing the Tallest Mountain in Costa Rica - Part 2: The Hike

              Last week I wrote about the preparations necessary for hiking Cerro Chirripó in Costa Rica and now I will share the specifics of the trek. My trip took place between the 14th and 16th of February and all the preparation came in really handy. I had a long day before arriving to San Gerardo, travelling from San José to Perez Zeledon by bus at dawn and then changing to another bus from Perez to San Gerardo. I was surprised by how hot and dry the air was both in Perez and San Gerardo and I was happy to have brough light clothes with me.

              Arriving to San Gerardo, I dropped my backpack at Casa Colibrí, a lovely hostel in the side of the mountain, and I headed down to the municipality to pay for my food and accommodation up in the base camp. I knew that there was an early morning start waiting for me the next day, so after stocking up on trail snacks, I returned to the hostel and got ready to sleep.

              The next morning me and a couple of Brits I met at the hostel hiked out at 4:45 in the morning to get ahead of the heat of the sun. That’s when the headlamp came in really handy, since without it I would have been in trouble hiking up the mountain. The entrance to the trail starts with an immediate steep inclination up a rocky path, so we needed to be extra careful going up. Eventually the path led into the forest and the inclination became a bit more leveled. At that point it was a pleasant morning walk up the mountain. Every now and then the forest cleared and I could get a glimpse of the sun illuminating the surrounding mountains and grazing cows peering at me with great curiosity.

              The official entry to the national park is at km 4 and anyone can hike up there with or without a permit, but not beyond. Eventually, at kilometer 7 - which is exactly halfway up the mountain - you reach a café, where you can stock up of food and water, have a coffee, use the toilets, and catch up with hikers going up or down the mountain. After a brief break, I continued my trek up.

Many times on the way up I crossed paths with horses and their handlers hauling equipment up and down to the basecamp. Initially, I was concerned for the wellbeing of the animals, but apparently they are trained specifically for his terrain and they have plenty of rest days between their days going up the mountain. I also met people who have been working on the mountain for more than 15 years, going up and down with the horses almost every day.

Eventually as I got closer to the top the path cleared up and for the last 4 kilometers I was walking almost without any shade. This was a bit concerning because I was at around 3000 meters of altitude, at noon and the sun was relentlessly powerful. I did my best to cover myself and put as much sunscreen on as I could. Luckily clouds started rolling up through the valley, giving me a much needed break from the sun every now and then.

After a grueling last kilometer walking up an almost vertical climb, fittingly called The Repentants, I arrived to the basecamp. I was in a state of euphoria and was really happy to catch up with my hiking buddies from the hostel. We sat outside the basecamp building, watching clouds roll in right in front of us. I had time for a quick shower before dinner, and man it had to be quick. The water was notoriously cold and my hand kept going numb as I was trying to splash some of it on my shivering body.

After a hearty dinner of pasta Bolognese and some card games with friends I was off to bed at around 8PM ready to hit the road for the summit push at 2 AM. I slept like a baby and didn’t find it particularly difficult to wake up so early. Once I was out the door, I was energized by the fresh air nearing 0 degrees and the hundreds of thousands of stars visible in the pitch darkness. I was mesmerized by the glistening ground in the light of my headlamp as everything was covered with a light layer of dew with the occasional mouse scurrying past in front of me.

The summit is only 6 kilometers from the basecamp and for me it was a really pleasant walk, with only a gradual inclination. Every now and then I would look back and see the headlamps of other hikers flickering in the darkness, which was a reassuring feeling. I had to be very attentive throughout as I passed some forks in the road and the path to Cerro Chirripó could have been easy to miss.

The last 100meters of the hike was a true challenge though. It’s a proper climb un to the peak. You still don’t need ropes to get up there, but you will need to climb with your hands and be extremely careful of where you step. Occasionally, I was unsure if I was still on the path as you only see your next step in the darkness and there aren’t any signpost on that part of the trail. Eventually I looked up only to glimpse the board signaling the peak of the mountain. Elated doesn’t even begin to describe the feeling I had to finally be there.

As people were arriving one by one, we all shared in this wonderful moment of achievement and waited together for the sun to rise. It was really cold on the top with a chilly breeze, so the sun popping out from behind the horizon was a very welcome event. We couldn’t bask in its warmth for too long though, because soon after it rose, we could feel its immense power. One by one we started heading back to basecamp to have breakfast and then head down the mountain. It was imperative once again that we got an early start in as to avoid the possibility of sunburn or even sunstroke.

Even though some people warned me that the way down would be more difficult than going up, I didn’t find this to be true for me. I felt energized by the early start and the hearty breakfast and going downhill I felt I was almost flying. It’s true that I had to stop every couple hundred meters to give my knees a break, as the way down has put enormous pressure on them. After a quick break and catch-up with my fellow travellers at the café, I was again on my way back to the hostel by early afternoon.

Once again, I found the last bit of the trek the hardest. By that point I was truly exhausted and I had to slow way down to get past the big, slippery rocks one step at a time. Eventually I arrived back in San Gerardo. Every couple of minutes someone pulled over offering to give me a lift to the hostel, and as tempting as that was, I wanted to finish the hike on foot. Back at the hostel I went down to the river and laid in it for what seemed like forever, but probably just about 10 minutes. It helped me feel composed and refreshed and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and catching up with the other hikers.

I felt that climbing Chirripó was an experience of a lifetime and I would definitely love to go back one day and do it again. If you are thinking about doing it or you have already been and want to share I would love to hear from you in the comments or in an email.