Table of Contents:
What To Do In The Cordillera Real
Reputable Agencies In La Paz
The Trans-Cordillera Trek: The Classic Route Maps and Itinerary
The Trans-Cordillera Trek: The West Side Route Maps and Itinerary
KML and GPX Track of Our West Side Route
Maps
See also –Mapping Bolivia’s Cordillera Real Trekking Routes
Getting Real High in Bolivia – La Paz, Lake Titicaca, and The Cordillera Real
Detailed Day-By-Day Reports
Also, check out the comments at the end of the post for lots of useful information and advice.
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Cordillera Real – S. America’s #1 High-Altitude Trek?
Over the past decade, I have had the free time, a decent fitness level, and available cash to trek and climb South America’s Andes Mountains on a half-dozen three-week trips. From Ecuador’s highest peaks to southern Patagonia’s hiking trails, the reward for meeting the challenge of an often high-altitude alpine environment is a stunning mountainscape and photo opportunities that few get to walk into.
After one trip – the trek in Peru’s Ancash region south of Huaraz, I posted this trip report:
“The Cordillera Huayhuash Circuit – South America’s Finest High-Altitude Trek
Cordillera Huayuaush peaks
We spent sixteen days in the compact cordillera, which Joe Simpson helped to bring to the mountaineering world’s attention as the location of Siula Grande in his Touching the Void. It was the most amazing high-altitude trek!
As great as that trek was, handing out the first prize to the Huayhuash before I have seen all the contestants was probably not a good idea! I have just returned from Bolivia and a walk down the Cordillera Real – Spanish for Royal Range. My heart and my head tell me of my experience: “This just has to be the finest high-altitude trek in South America!”
Over fourteen days, we walked about 120 kilometers from the north end of the Cordillera below the west face of Nevado Illampu down to the north side of Nevado Huayna Potosi. We passed hundreds of peaks over 5000 meters and five over 6000. We also walked up a couple of trekking peaks in the 5300-meter range and almost daily crossed passes of 5000. To put all the numbers into perspective, North America has one 6000-meter-plus peak (Denali) and only ten at 5000 meters or higher.
Illampu (6,368 m (20,892 ft)) and Jankuma (6,427 m (21,086 ft)) from the Isla del Sol mirador
While the Himalayas and the Karakoram clearly dominate any global list of high-altitude peaks, Bolivia’s Cordillera Real comes close to Peru’s Cordillera Blanca for the most stunning collection of high-altitude summits outside of Asia.
And how about the already-mentioned Cordillera Huayhuash? It also remains in the conversation! A look at this list of the dozen 6000-meter+ peaks in the 30-kilometer range, and you can see why it is in the running for South America’s best high-altitude trek. In the end, I’ll just forget about naming one of them as the best. Let’s just say I’d be happy to have visited any, or even better, all of them!
I’ve put together a series of posts detailing our Cordillera Real route with Google satellite maps and elevation charts to give you an idea of what the trek involves. To create the route map, I used the GPS tracks recorded by my Spot Connect. While not as accurate as the Garmin Oregon I decided to leave at home, the results are usable. (The Spot only records a location every ten minutes while the Garmin does so each second.)
Cordillera Real Trek Route – west side
The images from the two cameras (the Sony A77 and the Sony A6000) and the lenses I brought along will show a little of the breathtaking views that were the daily reward for being in the Cordillera. I’ve also added a few of the many excellent photos taken by my trekking mates.
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When To Go:
I did the trip in September, from the 11th to the 24th, which is near the end of the Bolivian dry season, the stretch from May to October when the skies are more likely to be clear, and there is less chance of rain. It is also when nighttime temperatures dip close to freezing, even in La Paz at 3800 meters.
La Paz temperature range and rainfall
July and August are considered high season but we would have excellent weather during our two weeks in September. It only rained twice – once on our rest day at Chachakumani and then on the last afternoon as we walked down a valley to the east side of the Cordillera and the humid air of the Yungas and Amazonia. The typical campsite altitude was around 4500 meters. On a few occasions, I found the contents of my water bottle frozen in the morning. Daytime temperatures were in the 15ºC range.
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The Need For Acclimatization Time:
Before you head for the Cordillera and a typical altitude in the 4500 to 5400-meter range, you need to give your body some time to adapt to the new situation. (I flew in from Toronto, which is 100 meters above sea level!)
Here is a graph that clarifies the impact of decreasing air pressure as you gain altitude. While the percentage of oxygen in the air remains the same – i.e. 21% – no matter the altitude, the column labelled “Effective Oxygen” shows that the number of oxygen molecules per given air volume decreases. People are referring to this when they say the air gets thinner as you ascend. You need to breathe a greater volume of air to get the same oxygen that you get at lower altitudes. So at 5500 meters, for example, the “effective” oxygen level is 10.5% or half of what it is at sea level. That is quite a decrease.
Given that La Paz itself is at 3800 meters and a walk down the Cordillera Real will have you in the 4000- to 5000-meter range for almost two weeks, you can see the need to spend some time acclimatizing. The key is not to rush things – and a week spent in and around La Paz will give your body that time.
the amazing city of Cuzco, once the centre of the short-lived Inca Empire
La Paz is an incredible experience worth a few days of your time. Nearby are excellent cultural day trips. The visit to Tiwanaku is the most popular one. As well, an overnight visit to Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca and then a trip to nearby Isla del Sol will have you up just above 4000 meters. You’ll also get to know a little about the people living with the Cordillera Real daily! See the following posts for more information:
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What To Do In the Cordillera Real:
When it comes time to head for the mountains, you can do one of two things:
The Mountaineering Option –
You can climb some of those peaks. With a week of basic acclimatization, you can follow that up with a week at Condoriri Base Camp on Chiar Khota doing some climbs that will take you up to 5500 meters or so. Then, in the third week, the climax – summits of Huayna Potosi and/or Illimani and Sajama, all in the 6000+ range. The current Lonely Planet Bolivia guidebook has a chapter on mountaineering in Bolivia with specific info on climbing the peaks I mentioned above.
our Tocllaraju high camp in the Cordillera Blanca’s Ishinca Valley
The image below shows some of the Condoriri peaks that we saw on a somewhat cloudy afternoon from Pico Austria, a 5400-meter trekking peak that does not require any specialized mountaineering gear to climb.
Basecamp for Condoriri would be down below on the shore of Chiar Khota. Yossi Brain’s 1999 Bolivia: A Climbing Guide is still the best thing out there in English if the climbing option is your choice.
the Condoriri Massif – the left wing of the Condor
Huayna Potosi Peaks and High Camps – enlarge to see annotations
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The Trekking Option:
You can trek alongside and through the Cordillera Real and experience its grandeur from the various passes and trekking peaks that will take you up to 5400 meters. No crampons, ice axes, ropes, or harnesses are required – only a little tilting of your head upwards! I went for this less intense option, figuring it would provide an excellent introduction to Bolivia and to a mountain range that deserves a return visit with my mountaineering gear.
a Cordillera Real view from Isla del Sol – 70 km. away! red tip of [Isla de la Luna middle right
The trek turned out to be fairly intense. On ascents, I sometimes felt like I was running on empty. Stepping on the scale when I returned home, the numbers told me that I had lost 6.4 kilograms (14 pounds) in three weeks!
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Going With A Trekking Agency
While the Torres del Paine Circuit or the W in Chile’s southern Patagonia is totally do-able on your own, as are the trails in Argentina near El Chaltén and Fitz Roy or up in northern Patagonia near Bariloche, a multi-day trek down the Cordillera Real would not be easy for independent hikers. Unlike Patagonia, trekking infrastructure is all but non-existent, and even the trails – of our route at least – were often little more than shepherd trails and faint llama tracks. Supplies would have to be brought from La Paz since there are no nearby villages to replenish your food.
There is also the safety issue – being with a guide, arrieros, and other trekkers provides you with built-in protection and security. You become part of a family, where everyone looks after one another. Our trekking group was mostly comprised of middle-aged or older individuals (I was the second oldest at 64). Most of us could also be labelled as Type A personalities, somewhat obsessed with setting goals and meeting them. Three of them had done Bhutan’s month-long Snowball trek the previous year. [On their recommendations, I did it a couple of years later! At the end of this Bolivia trip, most said that, while half as long, it had been more technically difficult than the one in Bhutan!]
Bhutan’s Snowman Trek Preview: Part 1 – Paro To Shana To Laya
Given the cost of the trip, all had white-collar jobs or comfortable pensions back home to support their quest for a new challenge! I felt right at home!
our trekking team atop Pico Austria –
The most recent Lonely Planet Bolivia guidebook (8th edition 2013) dealt briefly with the safety issue with comments specifically about the Sorata area at the north end of the Cordillera –
“With Sorata’s economy turning from tourism to mining and farming, there are fewer guides offering services here, and fewer pack animals for hire. Reports indicate that this could be a dangerous area for trekking and many agencies are no longer offering treks in the region. The El Camino de Oro trek is reportedly seeing little traffic these days, meaning you’ll have to clear the trail with a machete and may face some tough locals along the way. The Mapiri trek has an even rougher record, with increased reports of robberies. The villages along the way are now charging passage fees and are said to have become quite aggressive with those who do not pay.”
While the quote specifically talks about treks down into the Yungas from Sorata and not the journey down the Cordillera Real, it is still worth considering. The Laguna San Francisco area has a history – perhaps not recent – of trekkers being robbed.
Given the reality of trekking in the Cordillera Real area, the best plan is to find a reputable agency in La Paz to organize the logistics of the trek for you. Guide, donkeys, muleteers, tents, food, shuttle to and from the trek – you are paying people with the contacts, experience, and equipment necessary to make it all work.
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Doing The Trek On Your Own:
While I sound very sure about hiring at least an arriero and a donkey for your trek down the Cordillera, I keep hearing from readers of my posts who have done just fine on their own. Here are a few things I should note that may explain my personal preference for a guided trip:
- I leave home on my own
- I am retired with a cushy pension to burn
- My wife worries less when I join a group.
If I were in my 20s or 30s and with a trekking buddy, I might also consider doing it independently. While it is not a trek for novice hikers and campers, it is doable, especially if you have a good GPS track to follow and some paper maps to back it up. You will have to carry your food and shelter. The biggest potential danger is bad weather – for example, a snowstorm covering all trail traces.
On the plus side, no matter where you are, there is a village down the valley within a day’s walk. The only animals you’ll see are domestic. Unlike an adventure in the Canadian boreal forest, for example, there are no bears to worry about! Human banditos take their place in some trekkers’ tales.
If you are thinking of doing this on your own, at the least read the very useful comments by Felix, Cam from the Hiking Life, and Camilla at the end of this post. They have much good advice on the route and the issue of food. Also, note that I have included Camilla’s GPS track in the Map section below; it is much better than the track my Spot Connect recorded with its once-every-ten-minute tracking.
Note: For an alternative view, see what Felix has to say in the Comments section below. The two German hikers did a fifteen-day version of the hike – and they did it unsupported and without resupplying en route, except for stocking up on a few treats in Cocoyo. They also did it in April, the tail end of the wet season. Snow occasionally covered the faint trail and they made use of cairns to find their way.
For another inspiring comment, check out Frida’s from August of 2019. She did the whole trek along with an add-on by herself and unsupported.
Another two experienced trekkers did the route from Illimani to Sorata – 241 km. – in an amazing nine days! They did it in mid-August 2017. If you are contemplating doing this trek without a guide, Cam’s blog, The Hiking Life, has a trip report (see here) which will prove you have made an excellent trek choice and also point out some things you need to know!
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Cheap Ways of Getting To The Start of the Trail near Sorata and Back To La Paz
Here is some advice from Matthias – see his comments from April 2024 in the Comments section below – about how he and his partner got to the start of the trail near Sorata from La Paz and then their return to La Paz nine days later from Chacapampa (Botijlaca). They did the west side route described below
To reach the trailhead we took a trufi in the direction of Sorata leaving from Calle Bustillos, close to the Cementerio General in La Paz.(16.49425° S, 68.15328° W). This cost us 20BS each. The trufis leave all day. We got to the bus station at 8:00 and the trufi left around 9:00. We started the trek around 11:30.
We left Botilaja by calling a taxi from La Paz for around 350BS. The internet connection is good there. However, if you want to save some money, we were told that twice a day, a bus will go in direction La Paz and there is also traffic from workers and tourists alike. If you can’t find a direct connection to La Paz, it might be easier to get to Refugio Casa Blanca, close to Laguna Zongo. The refugio is the base for the really popular Huayna Potosi trek and people arrive from and leave to La Paz all day long.
As always in Bolivia, if you are on a tight schedule, I recommend arranging transportation in advance. Otherwise things will always work out somehow. It just takes more time. Our taxi for instance went to the wrong location and we had to wait for hours, not sure if anybody will pick us up.
Another recommendation from our side is not to care too much about the weather forecast for the region. For our trip the forecast was horrible but we had mostly sun. Also when there was rain and snow in one valley, there was often sun in the next one. Quite curious.
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Reputable Agencies in La Paz:
For me, finding a reliable agency to go with usually begins with a look at various guidebooks like Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, and Footprint. That is how I ended up with SAS Travel in Cusco for my Machu Picchu Inca Trail trek and found a mountaineering agency in Quito for a couple of climbing trips. If I can find out which local company a U.S. or British agency like Mountain Madness or Exodus turns to, then I take that as a sign that it must be doing a very good job.
My research led me to a handful of agencies – click on the name to access the website.
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Andean Summits
In The Lonely Planet’s Bolivia guide-book you’ll find this brief and fairly bland mention of Andean Summits:
Offers a variety of outdoor activities from mountaineering and trekking to 4WD tours in Bolivia and beyond. The owners are professional UIAGM/IFMGA mountain guides.
James Read’s current edition of The Rough Guide To Bolivia has a more enthusiastic review.
Professional and much respected adventure tour operator with an excellent reputation that runs “off the beaten track” mountaineering and trekking expeditions throughout Bolivia, led by experienced and highly qualified English-speaking guides,
Googling Andean Summits did result in a bit of confusion. There is another company in Huaraz, Peru named Andean Summit (no s). It gets great reviews, but it is not the agency based in La Paz!
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Climbing South America
Another climbing/trekking agency with guidebook mentions is Climbing South America. Based in La Paz, it offers trips throughout the Andes. Again, the Lonely Planet entry is brief and bland. You will read this – “Climbing South America is a reputable operator.” Read’s Rough Guide entry is more positive –
Sharing the same colonial space as Café Illampu and run by affable Australian Jeff Sandifort, this professional and dedicated company offers trips to all the Bolivian peaks…
Given the reluctance of many agencies to actually post their prices on their website, it was a nice change to see this agency do that for some of their trips. I take that as a sign of a company’s confidence in what it is offering.
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Bolivian Journeys
Bolivian Journeys is another la Paz agency that the Lonely Planet writers mention. The summary reads like this –
A specialist in climbing, mountaineering and trekking, this company does guided climbs to Huayna Potosí. Equipment rental is available, with maps and gas for MSR stoves for sale.
A bit of surfing the net turned up this recent (Sept. 2015) thread at TripAdvisor’s Bolivia forum – click here to access. The reviewer did the section of the trek from Chiar Khota to the end in Chacapampa/Botijlaca – the last three days of the two-week trip I did – and while it seems he enjoyed the walk, he did not think he got value for money. “Third-world service for first-world prices” is how he put it. The responses to his post are also interesting.
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Bolivian Mountain Guides
Bolivian Mountain Guides is a La Paz agency which I did not find mentioned in the guidebooks, but it does get discussed in the trip advisor’s Bolivia forum. The comments are definitely positive. (See here.) So are those of these members of the Alpine Club of Canada whose Bolivian climbing trip it organized. See here for the article. More recently, it was revealed by BMG that they had organized Malia Obama’s Cordillera Real Trek. (see here for the story). A much less positive review of BMG appeared in The Lonely Planet forum in August 2018. See here for the client’s experience. Other responses to his thread confirm his view.
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Andean Ascents
Update: Since I posted this blog, a trip advisor thread on a guide service I had not heard of – Andean Ascents – has caught my eye. It is a La Paz agency managed by Alex von Ungern, a German/Swiss guide in his early 30s. You can find the thread here. You’ll see a comment I made, a few very positive comments by satisfied clients (mostly Swiss like the manager), and one by Von Ungern himself.
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U.K.’s Mountain Kingdoms
When I discovered that the English trekking agency Mountain Kingdoms used Andean Summits to run their Cordillera Real trek, I decided to focus on it. My reasoning is that if the local agency is not delivering a quality service, it is unlikely that a U.K. or North American agency will deal with them. A few emails went back and forth – I was impressed by their prompt and no-bullshit replies – and it became clear that I, as a lone trekker, would have more difficulty in making something happen than a party of, let’s say, three or four.
They also seemed to be incredibly busy – I would later find out that they were running tours and treks flat-out through September! Then Andean Summits did a funny thing – they suggested that if I wanted to join a group, there was one that they would be organizing for Mountain Kingdoms!
It turns out that over half the trips Andean Summits does are under the name of European or British, or American agencies. What Mountain Kingdoms (or any other decent adventure travel company) does is find a capable local agency to handle the actual tour. It may work with the local company to develop trips it thinks will attract potential clients. Then it packages the trips, promotes them with top-notch website support, puts together the group which will do the trip, and takes care of all the money issues. If you are on your own, this is the easiest way to find yourself a group of like-minded travellers.
The local agency also has a strong incentive to deliver an A+ trip since it would like to keep handling the tours. My wife also felt safer knowing I was with a small group organized by a quality outfit and not off on my own with god knows whom!
And me? I was able to do the trek thanks to Mountain Kingdoms. Of the nine of us in the group, seven were single travellers who would have had difficulty putting something together without finding a partner or two or three. Most impressive was the detailed preparatory information sent via email; I had little to organize or worry about. This is the way to go if you’ve got the money and value your time. Everything is taken care of for you, including a ride from the airport!
Click here to access the Mountain Kingdoms home page for the Bolivia trip
Our guide for the trek – on the AGMT ( Asociación de Guias de Montaña y Trekking) Bolivia’s website, he is listed as Oscar Javier Thellaeche Urdin. Along with his partner Jose Fidel Camarlinghi Mendoza, he has been running Andean Summits for over twenty years. Not only is Javier an excellent trekking and mountain guide, his wide-ranging knowledge of the mountain environment and of Bolivia – culture, history, politics – in general, made for an enriched experience for all of us gringos. The fact that he could express himself effortlessly in English made it even better – even if it meant that the Spanish I’d been working on wasn’t really necessary. (It was very useful during the week I was on my own in La Paz!)
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The Trans-Cordillera Trek: The Classic Route
Yossi Brain, whose climbing guide to Bolivian peaks I mentioned above, also did a trekking guidebook. Trekking In Bolivia: A Traveller’s Guide, released in 1997, was perhaps the first book in English to provide a comprehensive introduction to Bolivia’s trekking possibilities. With Brain, as well as Andrew North, and Isobel Stoddart as the authors, it was published by The Mountaineers, it is still useful almost twenty years later.
The route that they describe is what I will call the “classic” route. It begins in Sorata at the north end of the Cordillera and then heads to the east side of the mountain range before cutting across to the west side near Condoriri and then continuing on down to Botijlaca on the north side of Huayna Potosi. Most trekking agencies in La Paz still offer this trek – or sections of it – to prospective trekkers.
Another book, The Andes: 28 Treks and Climbing Peaks, written by Val Pitkethly and Kate Harper and published in 2009, describes a version of this mostly east side of the Cordillera trek. Since Google Books has a copy of their book online, you can read what they have to say here. (Just go back to page 94 for the start of their six-page treatment.)
Here is a map of a typical itinerary for the classic route from north of Sorata (seems like a bit odd of a starting point) down the east side of the range (until Day 8 when it does cut through the Cordillera for the west side) –
Bolivia’s Cordillera Real – Classic east side route – see here for the source at Elma Tours website.
And here is the map from the above-mentioned The Andes: 28 Treks …by the way, an incredible goldmine of trip ideas if you’re looking for inspiration! Unlike the map above, this one actually starts in Sorata.
- Day 1 – La Paz – Sorata
- Day 2 – Sorata – Ancoma
- Day 3 – Ancoma – Cocoyo
- Day 4 – Cocooyo – Chajolpaya
- Day 5 – Chajolpaya – Chacapa
- Day 6 – Chacapa – Palca
- Day 7 – Palca – Huarihuarini
- Day 8 – Huarihuarini – Lake Kottia (aka Laguna Khotia)
- Day 9 – Kottia Laguna – Laguna Ajuani
- Day 10 – Ajuani – Jurikhota
- Day 11 – Jurikhota – Cerro Austria – Laguna Chiari Khota
- Day 12 – CB Condoriri
- Day 13 – Condoriri – Liviñosa
- Day 14 – Liviñosa – Chacapampa (Botijlaca) – La Paz
- A Point of Clarification – Chakapampa or Botijlaca?
Some trek itineraries use the name Chakapampa (or Chacapampa with a “c” instead of a “k”) to indicate the endpoint; others use the name Botijlaca. Both are correct. Chaka Pampa literally means “the flat place with a bridge.” It was there that the electric company built the hydroelectric plant called “Botijlaca”. Andean Summits is one of the agencies that use the name Botijlaca in its itineraries.
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The Alternative Trans-Cordillera Real Route: The West Side
Cordillera Real – West Side Trekking Route
Given increased mining activity in the Sorata area and on the east side of the Cordillera, the Andean Summits team and others have developed an alternative route that stays on the west side of the Cordillera until the last full day of the trek. Instead of the traditional first eight days of the classic route, which goes north and east from Sorata, this one heads southeast from Sorata to Millipaya and Alto Llojena and then on to Lago San Francisco. Doing so avoids the mining roads and the potential for trouble in the sometimes boisterous mining communities on the east side.
This is the route we took. Often the “trail” is no more than shepherds’ paths, and llama tracks up and down and across valleys; just as often, we relied on our guide’s experience (he has done the route several times) and the GPS track on his Garmin device. To restate the obvious, this is not like walking the Huayhuash Circuit trail, along the Inca Trail, or Torres Del Paine Park trails.
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KML/GPS Track of Our Route:
Update – May 2024
You can see our entire route here.
- Our 2014 campsites are in red (12 of them) and
- the 8 campsites of Mattias and his partner who did the route in April 2024 are in blue.
Note that our campsites for the first four or five days had road access so the supply vehicles could access our campsite. After Day 5 we switched to donkeys and llamas to carry the supplies. We also spent two nights at Chachakumani.
Mattias did the trek with his girlfriend in 9 days. They carried their own supplies and tent.
Screenshot
The track created by my Spot Connect with its once-every-ten-minutes location when it was working as it should. It occasionally missed recording a location for an hour or more, so it is less than perfect! If you have a better track and would not mind sharing, please email me!
My Track From September 2014
Kml format for Google Earth
GPS format
Camilla’s New Track from 2018 (an improved version of mine!)
Camilla’s GPS Track from August 2018
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Maps:
I found a copy of the Liam O’Brien map in a La Paz bookstore called The Spitting Llama at Linares 947. Titled A New Map of The Cordillera Real De Los Andes, the map is a 2009 reprint of the original from 1995. The scale is 1:135,000. It is unclear if any changes were made in the reprint; the glacier limits shown on the map are based on Landsat images from 1989 and 1992 and are thus about twenty-five years old.
Update: The Spitting Llama is closed as of 2019. Here is a comment from Frida from August 2019 about where to get maps:
About to buy maps in La Paz, the bookstore The Spitting Lama has closed down, but at calle Illampu there are several shops that sells maps including Liam O’Brian A New Map of The Cordillera Real De los Andes and outdoor equipment, for example Sampaya at Illampu 803.
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Chearuku, Chiaroco or Ch’iyaruq’u!
The O’Brien map definitely illustrates the confusing state of transcribing Aymara names into English. For example, the massif referred to as Chearuku or Chiaroco on other maps appears as Ch’iyaruq’u on the O’Brien map. Ancohuma becomes Janq’uma. It will probably take a few more years before a uniform English spelling of the various peaks and valleys of the Cordillera develops. Using Spanish language rules to transcribe Aymara sounds into English seems a bit silly. Until the dust settles, Google a different spelling, and you often get different websites!
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US Defence Dept Topographic maps:
Another map set was published in the late 1990s by NIMA (National Imagery and Mapping Agency), a U.S. government agency and branch of the Defence Dept.
The 1:100,000 maps, which cover the Sorata to Illimani stretch of the Cordillera Real, can be downloaded below –
Even if you have a good map and compass reading skills, an extended walk down the west side route of the Cordillera Real is not the place for an unguided adventure. At the very least, you could arrange a muleteer (arriero is the Spanish term) and a donkey or two to carry food and supplies. The arriero would also serve as your guide and help you negotiate with any locals you might meet.
We saw one other trekking group in two weeks; we did not pass through any villages – they were all much lower down in the valleys we traversed. On occasion, we met people who – I learned later – had come to collect a fee for passing through or camping on their land, the Campesinos seeing the upper reaches of the valley as a part of their communidad.
Cordillera Real Trek Route – west side
Here is a list of our camp spots over the roughly 110 kilometers of the route and the daily lowest, average, and highest altitudes. It makes clear the high-altitude nature of the trek and puts the 1420 meters of the Torres del Paine’s highest point (Gardner Pass) or even Machu Picchu (2430 meters) and the Inca Trail’s Dead Woman’s Pass (4,215 m) into perspective. (Click on the blue to access that day’s maps, images, and summary.)
Day To Dist Min Ave Max
1 Alto Llojena 8.6 3696 3870 4042
2 Lago San Francisco 9.7 4042 4559 4889
3 Chojña Khota 10.1 4504 4769 5129
4 Jistaña Khota 5.6 4567 4898 5188
5 Upper Kelluani Valley 9.1 4460 4924 5348
6 Upper Chachakumani 8.9 4460 4933 5350
7 rest day Chachakumani
8 Rio Jallyawaya Valley 11 4461 4623 5040
9 Laguna Khotia 11.5 4453 4790 5038
10 Alka Khotia 8.6 4395 4537 4784
11 Juri Khota 10 4515 4815 5096
12 Chiar Khota 7.1 4669 4895 5306
13 above Botijlaca 7.5 3811 4509 4995
14 Botijlaca 2 3578 3669 3806
The kml tracks for the entire trek (a 205 kb kml file) are in my Dropbox folder. Download here. You will need to have the free Google Earth app installed on your computer or mobile device to open it.
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Update: In July 2018, I uploaded an expanded and more detailed version of the section dealing with route choices and maps. If you think of doing this trek independently, it may have some useful information, especially about the Wikiloc GPS tracks.
If you’d like to see more about each day’s route – maps, elevation gain and loss, and the photos I took along the way, it all starts with the link to the next post in blue below.
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You can access the day-by-day posts with the following links –
Day 1: South of Sorata to Alto Llojena
Cordillera Real Trek Day 1: South Of Sorata To Alto Llojena
Day 2: Alto Llojena To Lago San Francisco
Cordillera Real Trek Day 2: Alto Llojena To Lago San Francisco
Day 3: Lago San Francisco To Chojña Khota
Cordillera Real Trek Day 3: Lago San Francisco To Chojña Khota
Day 4: Chojña Khota To Rio Jallpa Below Jistaña Khota
Cordillera Real Trek Day 4: Chojna Khota To Jistaña Khota
Day 5: Rio Jallpa Below Jistaña Khota To The Upper Kelluani Valley
Cordillera Real Trek Day 5: Jistana Khota To the Upper Kelluani Valley
Day 6: The Upper Kelluani Valley To Chachakumani
Cordillera Real Trek Day 6: Kelluani To The Upper Chachakumani Valley
Day 7: Rest Day In the Upper Chachakumani Valley
Cordillera Real Trek Day 7: Rest Day in The Upper Chachakumani Valley
Day 8: Chachakumani To The Rio Jaillawaya Valley
Cordillera Real Trek Day 8: Chachakumani To The Jaillahuaya Valley
Day 9: Rio Jaillawaya Valley To Laguna Khotia
Cordillera Real Trek Day 9: Jaillahuaya Valley To Laguna Khotia
Day 10: Laguna Khotia To Alka Khota
Cordillera Real Trek Day 10: Laguna Khotia To Alka Khota
Day 11: Alka Khota To Juri Khota
Cordillera Real Trek Day 11: Alka Khota To Juri Khota
Day 12: Juri Khota To Chiar Khota
Cordillera Real Trek Day 12: Juri Khota To Chiar Khota
Day 13: Chiar Khota To Just Above Botijlaca
Cordillera Real Trek Day 13: Chiar Khota To Campsite Above Botijlaca
Day 14: To Botijlaca/Return To La Paz
Cordillera Real Trek Day 14: To Botijlaca / Return To La Paz
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