Cerro Chirripo - Q&A
Cerro Chirripo - a beast of a mountain, the tallest in Costa Rica. Touring at 12,536 feet, this mountain may not sound so intense, but when the only way up is crawling, starting at a measly 4,987 feet, it’s a real kick in the pants. One of the thrills of this mountain is that on a clear day, you can see both the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. So we signed up and put together some hopefully helpful information for YOU based on our single-day trek success!
Can YOU do it in one day?
As shared in THIS post, we did it in one day, so it is possible and we only did it in one day because we read other success stories of a one-day Chirripo summit. I will try my best to lay out PROs and CONs of a single-day Chirripo trek.
PROS: you do it all in a single day, non-stop! you don’t have to sacrifice a night of sub-par sleep. you don’t have to carry extra gear for a 2-day hike and 1 night of sleep. you only have to eat 1 meal at base camp (expensive + not v.good). you don’t have a backup plan (thus, forced motivation).
CONS: you hike 17 hours within a 24hour time period (no rest or recover time). you likely won’t see Chirripo for sunrise. you may be somewhat rushed as you are racing daylight or a day period anyways.
From what I observed, base camp is very simple. I know Jake & myself and we don’t have a problem with this, but I do believe we would have gotten quite bored spending an entire afternoon and evening around base camp, just waiting for the AM to come to do a sunrise hike. Especially knowing what I do now about the benefits of night hiking, I would have still wanted to start the trek to Base by ~3AM, so we would have had an entire day to kill. It is very secluded with a single “gathering space/cafeteria”. The rooms are also just mattresses. If you read, they will suggest you bring a sleeping bag/your own sheets as Base is not suited like a hotel (i.e. more gear to carry). So the “one day” venture fit us well. :D But be smart, know yourselves and your fitness level, and plan accordingly. If you have never done a hike longer than 10km and it was 5 years ago, you may want to either GTF to the gym to train or make a new plan. Tough love, sometimes you need it.
What should you suit up in?
We hiked Chirripo in mid-January 2020 (the start of summer in Costa). I woke breathable hiking pants with a pair of spandex underneath, an athletic t with a Smartwool quarter zip and my Patagonia medium-thick rain coat. I also brought both a bandanna and a hat just in case of the sun.
Jake wore a t-shirt with a thicker Nike long sleeve and a thin rain coat over the top. For pants, he wore a medium/light pair of hiking pants. Both of us had long-ish socks that went up to the top of our hiking boots as well.
Lessons learned:
A Smartwool was WAY too warm and I took it off before we hit 1km sign. It also fell out of my backpack and was the only casualty of the hike #sigh.
Rain coat is a must as the weather is wicked as explained. Mine could have been thinner though as you really only need it to keep you dry.
Hats were awesome to have especially in the sunny parts of the trail. If you get sunburnt easily or even medium-easily, I would suggest a hat or something that covers the back of your neck as well. Jakers is learning the hard way!
Hiking boots - don’t be dumb. You need them or be prepared to break or sprain and ankle and have tools to deal with it!
Sweat wicking - I highly suggest you to use all dry-fit kind of clothes or at least something that does well in loads of sweat because you likely will be dripping for a lot of the hike.
4 things I would NOT hike without
Headlamp - absolutely necessary, especially if ANY of your hike will be in the dark. Make sure you carry an extra set of batteries if the ones you have in aren’t fresh!! We passed some girls that were holding a flashlight and it looked miserable. Remember that you may be hiking in the dark up to 5+ hours! 10/10 for a MUST.
Water reservoir - another seriously essential item. We have 2.5-3L reservoirs, nothing fancy, but they hold water and you have don’t have to stop to drink out of them. We each had a reservoir and each had a day pack, so we hung the mouthpieces through the pack and around to our chest. It’s less hard to forget to drink water when the spout is basically licking your face! 9/10 for a MUST.
Trekking poles - we brought a single set of trekking poles and shared them, as in we each used a single pole for the entirety of the trek. It worked pretty well. I am not used to hiking with trekking poles and sometimes found it a nuisance, especially when you needed your hands on some of the climbs, but by the end of the trip when you’re needing it as a crutch, it’s nice to have. 8.5/10 for a MUST.
Headgear - as I mentioned in the “what should I wear” section, you really want something to protect your face. Even when it’s cloudy at the top, you are at 12,000+ft of elevation. You are 12,000ft closer to the sun & it feels like the sun is 12,000x as strong. #PROTECTyo’self
What kind of fuel should you bring?
For fuel, we tried to plan ahead and bring things from home, but if you are traveling for a longer period of time and not able to do this, you will have to adjust your sources likely. We packed: 2 Cliff bars, 1 Rx bar, 2 Jiffy to-go packs of PB, a sandwich bag of pistachios, a bag of trail mix, our bagged lunches our hotel made us (too sweet), and our best BEEF JERKY. The hotel bagged lunches actually came in clutch - the whole peanut butter schmear + white bread and pack of cookies with pear juice. Jake definitely was on more of a consistent fuel pattern than I, but it started to catch up with me after a couple hours in, so be careful! Don’t let your body get too depleted or getting up again will be really tough.
I also definitely recommend pre-buying a meal at base camp as well. You can do this at an office in San Gerardo, just to the left of the soccer field. They told us about it when we checked in the day before, so I assume that’s part of their schpeel! Even though the food isn’t great, you need calories!
Overall, our food sitch was fine. We were pretty much out of everything by the end of the trip. We both LOVE beef jerky when working up a sweat, so we could have used more of that. I also seem to crave salty over sweet when hiking, so just know your body and your tendencies and try to prepare for that! Just to give an idea of how much fuel we are talking - my watch tells me I burned 5,460 calories on the day of the hike. I spent 95% of my awake hours on the trail that day. Be smart & pre-fuel (the night before) and post-fuel (once you return).
What’s the water sitch along the trail?
H2O! I suggest so very much bringing a full or partially full reservoir on the hike, but there are really helpful water stops set up conveniently on the trek! Just after 7km, there is a shelter with free drinking water. At base camp (14.5km), there is also a free drinking water fill-up station. Past base camp, there are also accessible streams in the valley. If you prefer filtering your own water or want to carry less and fill up more often, that is also an option.
Summary, if you know how much water you need in a typical 7km hike, double it and you should be safe! It also really depends if you are hiking in the day or night, from what I found. The daytime got SO hot, that we were drinking water so much faster once the sun came out. It’s better to carry too much.
What time should you start?
Prior to this experience, I am not super versed in night hiking, but I absolutely loved it and have found so many perks with it. I suggest starting the trek in the dark/early hours of the AM or late hours of the PM no matter if your destination is just Base camp or all the way up! The bugs in the jungle are a nuisance. We met people coming up while we were on our way down and they said the black flies were horrific in the jungle (first 10km….). They were hiking in the dead center of the day. We hit some nats and such on the way down, but nothing too bad. It’s also REALLY FREAKING HOT hiking during the day or at least it was for us. I would bet the night was at least 20F cooler than the day time, so if you are bothered by the heat, night hiking may be for you!
Other advice…
If you know you want to stay at least one night at base camp, there are a couple options for route planning. Some people choose to hike to base the prior day, and then summit for sunrise the next morning. I’m not doubting that Chirripo at sunrise is beautiful, but guys! There are handfuls of mountains accessible from base camp. If you care at all about avoiding crowds and having your own time with nature, I would not suggest this plan. It’s also worth noting that the top of Chirripo is maybe a 15ft diameter area (aka not spacious). Imagine sharing that with 30 other people!!
What I do suggest / passing along advice we were told - Cerro Terbi is just past Los Crestones (which is also beautiful, but on the opposite side of the valley from Chirripo). Terbi is a measly 200ft lower than Chirripo making the view equally beautiful and you’ll likely have it to yourselves!! If you still want to hike Chirripo, you can head there after when everyone is already down or on their way down :) As I mentioned in THIS post, we had Chirripo to OURSELVES and we hit summit around 11AM. Do be aware that Terbi is on the other side of the valley though, so signing up for Terbi does mean some extra km, but most soul-crushingly, it means another 1,100ft ascend and 1,100ft descend back to the valley just to get the to the Chirripo trail head. Do as you date :P
Peace, love, & adventure on, friends!
yo’ girl Jen
