Chirripó National Park

“Best just before sunset”

Chirripó stands at 3,821 metres, the highest point in Costa Rica and in all of Central America. The summit is reached via a 14-kilometre trail from San Gerardo de Rivas that climbs through cloud forest, sub-alpine oak forest, and then emerges onto the open páramo — a high-altitude ecosystem of tussock grasses, dwarf shrubs, and bare volcanic rock that exists only at elevations above 3,000 metres in Costa Rica. At the top, glacier-carved lakes occupy the high cirques: Los Crestones, a formation of pale quartzite ridges, and the Valle de los Conejos below the summit plateau give the landscape a quality unlike anything at lower elevations in the tropics. Permits are issued through the SINAC reservation system months in advance and sell out entirely for the January-March peak season. The mountain refuge at 3,400 metres must be booked alongside the summit permit. Most ascents require two days minimum. The descent is harder on the knees than the ascent is on the lungs.