Cerro Chirripó Summit

Having come up from the park office in a seven hour slog for 14km and 2000m, we had a 2.30am wake up call at the refuge and hiked for 2hrs to get to the summit of Cerro Chirripo at 5.30am. After watching the sunrise we then decended Chirripo and hiked up Cerro Crestones straight afterwards. A great hike all told with great weather and scenery. We then had a five hour decent from the refuge to the park gate to finish off a hard two days of hiking. A great few days out. For route information click here: komoot.com/tour/292242878

In good weather you can see both oceans. Optimal starting position for this is an ascent in the dry season. In the rainy season, the path is very muddy and it is often very foggy and barely visible on the summit. At the basecamp Crestone it can also have only 15 degrees, a separate sleeping bag is advisable. For the ascents, a permit is required, since only a limited number of people may be in the National Park. The ranger station is located in San Gerardo de Rivas. (Starting point of the tour)

The highlight is sunrise on the summit - this requires a start at the base camp at 3:00 a.m. Then you can be back in time for breakfast.