- Country: Bolivia
- Mountain system: Andes
- Height: 6439 m
- The first ascent: 1877 and 1898.
Travel to Bolivia is now not an exotic journey, but rather a common type of travel for tourists from all over the world. Bolivia - a unique country with a bright authentic culture, ancient monuments of architecture, the richest nature. It is nature, and, more precisely, some of it attracts to itself a certain category of travelers - athletes, adventurers, climbers, in a word, extremals. Of course, these are mountains, and in this review we will talk about one of them.
General information about Ilimani
Ilimani is the famous mountain in Bolivia, which is the second highest in the country. Other options for sounding the name of the mountain are Illimani or Iyimani. The mountain is located not far from La Paz and is its symbol, landmark, and the route to its summit is one of the most popular sightseeing routes from La Paz.
Ilimani - a small array with 4 peaks. The height of Ilimani's highest point in Bolivia is 6439 m above sea level. Starting at 4570 m, Ilimani covers the snow layer, and from the 4,900 m mark - glaciers.
Ilimani and mountaineering
As mentioned above, Ilimani is one of the most popular tourist routes from La Paz. To overcome the most difficult path and climb to the top, it will take good physical preparation, special equipment, experience in the highlands.
Conquer Ilimani tried already in the XIX century: in 1877 Carl Wiener with two guides did not reach the highest point, but overcame the ascent to the southeast peak, later named Peak-Paris. It was only in 1898 that Baron Conway, accompanied by two Swiss, managed to reach the summit.
New tourist route Ilimani
More recently, the authorities of Bolivia officially presented a new tourist-research route for Ilimani - "Ruta del Illimani". The fact is that in 2012 in the valley of the mountain river Chunga Mayu was discovered the fortress of Inkatara , which until now was officially not attributed to any of the known civilizations. According to most scientists, the fortress and the buildings in it belong to the pre-Inca civilization and they are already more than 1000 years old.
How to get there and when to visit?
The best time to climb to the summit of Ilimani is the Bolivian winter (the period from May to September). At this time, there are stable weather conditions: a small amount of precipitation and virtually no winds.
You can get to Ilimani from La Paz by rented car, taxi or special buses. With buses there can be difficulties: they are often canceled without explanation, so we recommend you to insure yourself: to find in the hotel or on the special sites of fellow travelers and to share all the transportation costs in equal parts.