Pico Bolívar is a climb, not a walk. The Mukumbarí cable car takes the approach out of the equation and puts the party at 4,765 m in a morning — which makes acclimatisation, not fitness, the thing to plan for. Clients need rock experience or a guide ratio that compensates for the lack of it.
Day by day
Day 1 — Mérida and the cable car
Four stages up to Pico Espejo at 4,765 m, with an acclimatisation walk and the first night high.
Day 2 — Pico Espejo to Laguna Timoncito
Two to four hours over moraine and loose rock to the high camp at about 4,650 m.
Day 3 — Summit day
Four to ten hours there and back on the Weiss route: roped pitches, the cable traverse, and the abseil descent.
Day 4 — Descent to Mérida
Down to Pico Espejo and out by cable car, or on foot via Los Nevados if it is not running.
Make it yours
Run it as the six-day Travesía from La Mucuy via Laguna Coromoto and Laguna Verde, combine it with Pico Humboldt, or add acclimatisation days in the páramo.
