Day 1

We La Paz and drive for 3 hours through valleys and streams before hiking to Mururata’s base camp (4700m).

Day 2

We start early and approach the glacier on rocky ground. Once we hit ice we have a very gentle 5-6 ascent to Mururata’s summit (5871m), navigating large, clearly visible crevasses as we go. At the summit we have incredible views of Illimani as well as the formation of several rivers which flow into the low-altitude Yungas. We return to base camp and continue onwards to a nearby valley (3800m) to spend the night.

Day 3

Today we return to the car and drive to Pinaya (3800m) where we load our equipment onto donkeys. We then hike for 2 hours to reach Puente Roto (4600m), our base camp for Illimani.

Day 4

After breakfast we organize our equipment for and give it to local porters. We then hike up a moraine and rocky ridge 5 hours to reach Nido de Condores (5550m), our high camp at the base of Illimani’s glacier.

Day 5

We start our summit attempt at 1AM, aiming to reach the summit between 7 and 8AM. The route zig-zags up the glacier with inclinations up to 50° before reaching a ridge which takes us to the summit - the highest point in the Cordillera Real (6442m)! We return by the same path, pack up our things at the high camp, and return to base camp. This is a long but rewarding day.

Day 6

We have a large breakfast before packing our equipment and returning to Pinaya where our car will be waiting to drive us back to La Paz.