Home |About Bolivia | Azimut Explorer | Tailor made packages | How to plan your trip | Do's and don't's | New events

CLIMBING  SAJAMA   AND PARINACOTA   (6 DAYS)

The glaciated dome shaped Sajama is Bolivia’s highest peak at 6549m high. Next to this extinct volcano we find the snow capped Parinacota which still contains, on the top, a huge inactive crater at 6330 m high. Parinacota and Pomerata sit to the west side of Sajama and are called the twins “Payachatas” and mark the border between Bolivia and Chile.

The routes are technically easy but physically hard and long.

Day 1 : We drive 5 hours, on asphalt road, to Sajama village , on our way visiting prehistoric tombs and the church of Curawara de Carangas “the Andean Cistine chapel” to enjoy a  variety of old paintings. From the village of Sajama we continue by a sandy track for 30 minutes to reach up the Sajama base camp at 4700 m high. 

Day 2 : 5 hours up along scree slopes. Porters help with extra luggage up to the high camp. Belongings not needed for high camp stay in base camp watched by a guardian.

Day 3: 2 hours of mixed technical PD+ climbing at times through loose rocks to finally catch the main glacier which is often covered with “penitentes” (ice stalactites). According to how tall they are we take  more or less time to walk up to the summit but frequently it takes 4 hours. Return to base camp where our car waits    for us for a short transfer to a little country hotel in Tomarapi for our accommodation.

Day 4: Lazy day to relax while we visit the geysers of Pomerata and hot springs available for bath.

Day 5: An hour drive across a sandy track up to 5400 m high at the base of Parinacota mountain. 6 hour walk up along a scree slope easier than Sajama`s, climbing PD- on snow the last 100 meters. Return to our car and return to Tomarapi.

Day 6: Return to La Paz.

EXTENSIONS: You can link it to “Deserts of Sajama, Lauca, Atacama, Uyuni and San Pedro in 4wd”.