Sajama

A 6,542-metre extinct volcano in western Bolivia, near the Chilean border, the highest peak in Bolivia. Sajama is a near-perfect cone rising in isolation from the Altiplano — the high Bolivian plain at 4,200 metres — with no other significant peaks within fifty kilometres. From a distance, the mountain appears to float above the plateau, the symmetry and the isolation creating a visual presence that has made Sajama the dominant landmark of western Bolivia for as long as people have lived in the region.

The first ascent came in 1939, by a small Bolivian-American expedition. Wilfrid Kühm and Joseph Prem reached the summit via the standard southwestern route, which remains the established line today. The peak is technically modest — glacier travel on the upper mountain, no significant ice climbing, no rock pitches. What separates Sajama from a long high-altitude walk is the altitude itself and the high-altitude vegetation zone that the mountain supports. The Sajama queñua forest, on the lower slopes, contains the highest-altitude trees on Earth — the species Polylepis tarapacana grows up to 5,200 metres on the volcano's flanks.

The mountain sits within Sajama National Park, Bolivia's first national park, established in 1939 after the Bolivian government recognized the ecological significance of the queñua forest and the surrounding Altiplano wetlands. The climbing infrastructure has been deliberately minimal. Refuges are simple, guides are local Aymara residents of the surrounding villages, and permits are managed through the park system. The fatality rate has been low. The mountain receives perhaps a few hundred summit attempts per year.

For climbers who have built up through Huayna Potosí and Illimani in the Bolivian Cordillera Real, Sajama represents a different kind of Andean objective. The mountain is taller, more remote, and slower in pace — the approach requires several days to acclimatize at the village of Sajama before beginning the climb. The summit views, on a clear morning, extend across the Bolivian Altiplano into Chile, with Lake Titicaca visible to the north on exceptional days.