Alpine Climbing in South America

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James198379 20 Apr 2020

I have been planning a trip to the Bolivian Andes later this year but i am interested in finding out about other climbing and alpine destinations people have been to in South or Central America.

We are a capable team in the alpine environment but we are looking for some fun objectives for alpine or rock climbing. Nothing too tough or scary. Any recommendations would be gratefully received.

In reply to James198379:

I lived in Colombia for a couple of years, about 30 years ago. There is some climbing there in the Sierra Nevada del Cocuy and also good mountaineering walks up isolated volcanoes like Nevado del Tolima. I also spent a month in Patagonia, trying and failing to cross the southern Patagonian icecap, before climbing the North and Central Towers of Paine.

Peru is excellent for alpinism. We based ourselves in Huarez and climbed in both the Blanca and the Huayhuash. We climbed seven 6000m peaks in 6 weeks including Yerapuja, Alpamayo and Huascaran. 

We climbed in Ecuador, about four volcanoes in 2 weeks but like Colombia it was more adventurous high altitude mountaineering rather than alpinism.

Another holiday was spent in Bolivia climbing a couple of the obvious big peaks there. 

We tried Venezuela but it was difficult to cross the border in those days and after spending some time in a rather dangerous situation, I went to the coast and slept in a hammock instead. 

Best to learn Spanish if you can. I was living at 2600m permanently at the time so it reduced the problem of acclimatisation and gave us a high success rate in the mountains. 

Good luck with your adventures. Its an interesting continent. 


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