The summit
A slow walk.
Isabel Moreno Rivadeneira — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Christian Mehlführer, User:Chmehl — CC BY 3.0 · Milenqv — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Antonee Lens — CC BY 4.0
A mountain in the Cordillera Real rising to about 5,395 metres, which until the early twenty-first century had the world's highest ski slope on a glacier thousands of years old. The glacier melted away completely by 2009, making the mountain living evidence of climate change. Buses and cars climb a winding dirt road to the old ski lodge at about 5,200 metres, then visitors walk slowly for about half an hour to the summit. From there the view is astonishing: snowy Huayna Potosí close by, Mount Illimani, the high plateau and, on clear days, Lake Titicaca. Along the road are small mountain lakes, herds of llamas and alpacas, and an old cosmic-ray research observatory. The mountain is often paired with Valle de la Luna on one tour. This is one of the highest places tourists reach easily, and the air is very thin: don't come before acclimatising for days in La Paz, walk very slowly and turn back at once if you get a strong headache. Bolivia is under a state of emergency with protests and road blockades, so check road conditions and your government's travel advice before the trip.
A slow walk.
A snowy neighbour.
A glacier memory.
Cordillera Real, about an hour and a half north of La Paz
It needs days of acclimatising in La Paz, as the air above 5,000 m is very thin, and is unsuitable for people with heart or breathing problems.