Cerro Chirripó is the highest mountain in
Costa Rica
Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...
, with an
elevation
The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...
of 3,821 meters (12,536 feet). It is part of the
Cordillera de Talamanca
The Cordillera de Talamanca is a mountain range that lies in the southeast half of Costa Rica and the far west of Panama. Much of the range and the area around it is included in La Amistad International Park, which also is shared between the two ...
, and the range's highest point. It is located in
Chirripó National Park and is noted for its ecological wealth. The mountain was named "Chirripo", meaning "land of eternal waters", by
indigenous Costa Ricans because there are many lakes and streams around the mountain. The high peaks in Chirripó National Park and
La Amistad International Park host important areas of
Talamancan montane forest and
Costa Rican Páramo
The Costa Rican páramo, also known as the Talamanca páramo, is a natural region of montane grassland and shrubland of Costa Rica and western Panama.
Setting
The Costa Rican páramo includes several enclaves on the highest peaks of the Cordi ...
with high
endemism
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
and extremely high
biodiversity
Biodiversity is the variability of life, life on Earth. It can be measured on various levels. There is for example genetic variability, species diversity, ecosystem diversity and Phylogenetics, phylogenetic diversity. Diversity is not distribut ...
. The peaks of these mountains constitute
sky islands for many species of plants and animals.
Snow
Snow consists of individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes.
It consists of frozen crystalline water througho ...
has not fallen on the peak in the past 100 years or so, according to the
University of Costa Rica, but
hail
Hail is a form of solid Precipitation (meteorology), precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailsto ...
is sometimes reported.
The great height of Mount Chirripó relative to its surroundings is also evidenced by its particularly high
topographic prominence
In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling ...
of ,
which makes it the
37th most prominent peak in the world. On clear days it is possible to see across the country from the
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
to the
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...
.
Climbing Mount Chirripó is possible by obtaining a permit from the National Park office in
San Gerardo de Rivas. From the trailhead, the summit can be reached via a 19.5-kilometer (12.1 mile) hike.
Geography
Chirripó is the
37th most prominent peak in the world. The most abundant
ecosystem
An ecosystem (or ecological system) is a system formed by Organism, organisms in interaction with their Biophysical environment, environment. The Biotic material, biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and en ...
in the mountains is the
páramo
Páramo () may refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...
, extending across almost all the mountains. It also has a large number of lakes on the top, this is because during the
ice age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...
it was covered with snow, but when the ice melted these unique
glacial lakes were formed.
Climate
Temperatures on Mount Chirripo during the day can range between , and at night they can drop from . The coldest temperature ever documented in Costa Rica was recorded here ().
History
The earliest known civilization to inhabit the area of Chirripó was the indigenous
Cabécar people. In 1904,
Agustín Blessing Presinger became the first known European to climb the peak.
The first official hiking trail was constructed in 1965; it led to a small sheet-metal hut five kilometers away from the peak. Today, the hut has been replaced by a concrete building visited by 7,000 people each year. In 1975, Chirripó National Park was founded, enclosing and protecting 500 square kilometers of rain forest and mountains around the peak.
Since 1953, there have been five major
wildfire
A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...
s in the area. Forest fires occurred in 1976,
in the 1990s,
and in 2012.
Ecology
The biodiversity on Chirripó is diverse, in the lowest parts of the mountains, dominate the
cloud forest
A cloud forest, also called a water forest, primas forest, or tropical montane cloud forest, is a generally tropical or subtropical, evergreen, Montane forest, montane, Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist forest characteri ...
, with
oak
An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
trees no higher than 50 meters, accompanied with
mosses
Mosses are small, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic division Bryophyta (, ) '' sensu stricto''. Bryophyta ('' sensu lato'', Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryophytes, which comprise liverworts, mosses, and ho ...
,
lichen
A lichen ( , ) is a hybrid colony (biology), colony of algae or cyanobacteria living symbiotically among hypha, filaments of multiple fungus species, along with yeasts and bacteria embedded in the cortex or "skin", in a mutualism (biology), m ...
and
orchids
Orchids are plants that belong to the family Orchidaceae (), a diverse and widespread group of flowering plants with blooms that are often colourful and fragrant. Orchids are cosmopolitan plants that are found in almost every habitat on Earth ...
. While in the upper parts of the mountain the
páramo
Páramo () may refer to a variety of alpine tundra ecosystems located in the Andes Mountain Range, South America. Some ecologists describe the páramo broadly as "all high, tropical, montane vegetation above the continuous timberline". A narrower ...
predominates, an ecosystem characterized by short and dry grass.
Among the animals that inhabit the area,
squirrels
Squirrels are members of the family (biology), family Sciuridae (), a family that includes small or medium-sized rodents. The squirrel family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels (including chipmunks and prairie dogs, among others), and ...
,
hummingbirds
Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Cen ...
,
rabbits
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated form ...
,
quetzals,
frogs
A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough skin texture due to ...
,
white-nosed coati
The white-nosed coati (''Nasua narica''), also known as the coatimundi (), is a species of coati and a member of the family Procyonidae (raccoons and their relatives). Local Spanish names for the species include ''antoon'', ''gato solo'', ''pi ...
and even
jaguars
The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat species in the Americas an ...
habit the mountains.
Route
The hike starts 1,500 meters (4,900 ft) above sea level in the village of
San Gerardo in the
Talamanca Range. From the valley, the path rises through fields and woodlands before ascending through
lush rainforest. The forest gradually turns into scrubland. The trail continuously ascends and descends through ridges and valleys until it reaches the final visitors' refuge at 3,392 meters. From the refuge, there is a remaining two hour hike. Once the last ridge is crossed, there is a remaining 200 meters of steep path. The summit is a 6-meter wide platform of rocks.
See also
*
Mountain peaks of North America
*
List of Ultras of Central America
References
External links
"Chirripó Grande, Costa Rica" on PeakbaggerCerro Chirripó on SummitPost
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cerro Chirripo
Chirripo
Highest points of countries
Places in Mesoamerican mythology
North American 3000 m summits