Nine summits before the valley
17 kilometres along the roof of the Cordillera de Talamanca — Jaboncillo, Estaquero, Sákira, Sábila, Zacatales, Asunción, Páramo, Buenavista, and an out-and-back to Cerro Frío. Every summit in páramo, the alpine grassland Costa Rica keeps above 3,000 metres.11 miles along the roof of the Cordillera de Talamanca — Jaboncillo, Estaquero, Sákira, Sábila, Zacatales, Asunción, Páramo, Buenavista, and an out-and-back to Cerro Frío. Every summit in páramo, the alpine grassland Costa Rica keeps above 9,800 feet.
Every kilometre, on one map.Every mile, on one map.
The same track recorded on foot — distance, elevation, river crossings, the full shape of the day.
Costa Rica is not supposed to be cold. That is the first thing this day takes from you, and the first thing it gives back. The Nueve Cumbres traverse runs 17 kilometres along the ridgeline of the Macizo del Cerro de la Muerte, the continental divide of southern Costa Rica, and it never once comes down below 3,000 metres.Costa Rica is not supposed to be cold. That is the first thing this day takes from you, and the first thing it gives back. The Nueve Cumbres traverse runs 11 miles along the ridgeline of the Macizo del Cerro de la Muerte, the continental divide of southern Costa Rica, and it never once comes down below 9,800 feet.
I have known this high country for about 15 years, and it still took me 4 attempts to get this traverse right. It is now my favourite highland pass in Costa Rica — the one that contradicts the country most completely — and San Gerardo de Dota, waiting down the other side, is my favourite town in it. I did not bring anyone up here until I knew I had it.
The drive up
On the expedition this is Day 2. Breakfast first, then the support van climbs the Pan-American Highway out of the valley and into the high country of the Cordillera de Talamanca. The road does the early work; the day’s climbing — about 1,640 metres of it, against 1,190 metres of descent — belongs to the trail.On the expedition this is Day 2. Breakfast first, then the support van climbs the Pan-American Highway out of the valley and into the high country of the Cordillera de Talamanca. The road does the early work; the day’s climbing — about 5,380 feet of it, against 3,900 feet of descent — belongs to the trail.
Where the trees stop
The trail starts at the treeline and spends the whole day arguing with it — dipping back under the canopy, breaking out again into páramo, the tropical alpine grassland that exists in Costa Rica only above 3,000 metres. It is a landscape most visitors never learn this country has: low wind-shaped scrub, lichened rock, dwarf bamboo, air that bites at dawn and burns by mid-morning. The Pacific slope falls away on one side. On a clear December morning the clouds sit below you, not above.The trail starts at the treeline and spends the whole day arguing with it — dipping back under the canopy, breaking out again into páramo, the tropical alpine grassland that exists in Costa Rica only above 9,800 feet. It is a landscape most visitors never learn this country has: low wind-shaped scrub, lichened rock, dwarf bamboo, air that bites at dawn and burns by mid-morning. The Pacific slope falls away on one side. On a clear December morning the clouds sit below you, not above.
Nine names
The summits come in order like beads on a cord: Jaboncillo, Estaquero, Sákira, Sábila, Zacatales, Asunción, Páramo, Buenavista — and a final out-and-back to Cerro Frío makes nine. None of them requires your hands. All of them require your legs to still be honest, because a ridgeline never descends for long.
What I remember from this ridge is not a summit. It is the scouting: days up there under rain, at 2 °C. That is not a sentence this country is supposed to allow.What I remember from this ridge is not a summit. It is the scouting: days up there under rain, at 36 °F. That is not a sentence this country is supposed to allow.
Buenavista
Cerro Buenavista, at 3,491 metres, is the highest point of this massif — the peak the highway is named for. I should be precise here, because this cordillera invites exaggeration: the highest mountain in the Talamanca, and in Costa Rica, is Chirripó, further southeast. Buenavista is not that. What it is: the roof of this particular day, with the radio towers to one side and, on the right morning, both oceans somewhere in the haze.Cerro Buenavista, at 11,453 feet, is the highest point of this massif — the peak the highway is named for. I should be precise here, because this cordillera invites exaggeration: the highest mountain in the Talamanca, and in Costa Rica, is Chirripó, further southeast. Buenavista is not that. What it is: the roof of this particular day, with the radio towers to one side and, on the right morning, both oceans somewhere in the haze.
Down to the valley
From Buenavista the van is waiting, and the day performs its last trick: a drop of some 1,500 metres into the Río Savegre Valley, which is a different country at a different altitude — orchards, trout ponds, cloud forest closing back overhead. Tonight is Lauráceas Lodge: 10 chalets in the forest, a family kitchen, trout and apples that grew a few hundred metres from your plate.From Buenavista the van is waiting, and the day performs its last trick: a drop of some 4,900 feet into the Río Savegre Valley, which is a different country at a different altitude — orchards, trout ponds, cloud forest closing back overhead. Tonight is Lauráceas Lodge: 10 chalets in the forest, a family kitchen, trout and apples that grew a few hundred feet from your plate.
The first thing I order is agua dulce — raw cane sugar dissolved in hot water, after 17 kilometres above 3,000 metres.The first thing I order is agua dulce — raw cane sugar dissolved in hot water, after 11 miles above 9,800 feet.
Why this day
Because páramo is the rarest kind of ground this country owns, and the only way to spend a morning on it is on foot. Because nine summits sounds like bravado until you realise the whole ridge sits above 3,000 metres, and then it sounds like arithmetic. And because the expedition needs its athletes to meet the Talamanca on the second day — everything that follows, the queen stage included, descends from here.Because páramo is the rarest kind of ground this country owns, and the only way to spend a morning on it is on foot. Because nine summits sounds like bravado until you realise the whole ridge sits above 9,800 feet, and then it sounds like arithmetic. And because the expedition needs its athletes to meet the Talamanca on the second day — everything that follows, the queen stage included, descends from here.