Illimani

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Illimani (Aymara and Spanish pronunciation: [iʎiˈmani]) is a prominent fold mountain within the Cordillera Real of Bolivia, a subrange of the greater Andes, and located approximately 82 kilometres (51 mi) southeast of La Paz. With an elevation of 6,438 metres (21,120 ft) at its summit, it is the highest mountain in the Cordillera Real and the second-highest in Bolivia, surpassed by Nevado Sajama.

Illimani
Illimani’s southwestern slopes viewed from La Paz in December 2001
Highest point
Elevation6,438 m (21,122 ft)
Prominence2,451 m (8,041 ft)
ListingUltra
Coordinates16°38′00″S 67°47′27″W / 16.63333°S 67.79083°W / -16.63333; -67.79083
Naming
Etymologyilli- (Aymara for “light”), and -mani ("protector")
Language of nameAymara
Geography
Illimani
Bolivia
CountryBolivia
DepartmentLa Paz
Parent rangeCordillera Real, Andes
Geology
Formed bySubduction
OrogenyAndean
Mountain typeFold
Climbing
First ascent1898 by William Martin Conway, A. Maquignaz, and L. Pellissier

The mountain lies in the transitional zone between the high Altiplano plateau to the west and the deep valleys of the Yungas region to the east. Its snow-capped massif consists of four major peaks arranged on a north–south axis. Its composition is of made of metamorphic rock and intrusive granites. Its formation results from the ancient folding associated with the Andean orogeny, as with the majority of the neighboring mountains in the cordillera. The snow line lies at about 4,570 metres (15,000 ft) above sea level, and glaciers are found on the northern face at 4,982 metres (16,350 ft).

Illimani's topographic prominence, with its large massif and symmetrical snow-capped peaks towering over the valley around La Paz, have made it a landmark of the central Andes and as well as a cultural and geographical symbol for the city. In Andean tradition, Illimani is revered as an apu, a mythological tutelary spirit of the mountain regarded as the guardian of La Paz and protector of the balance between the Altiplano and the valleys.

Illimani is one of the most favored peaks in Bolivia for mountaineers, attracting climbers for its technically demanding terrain and prominent snow-covered massif. Approximately 60% of those who reach the base camp proceed to the summit. The mountain has also been the site of several accidents; while no official records exist, available reports dating back to 1973 indicate an average of about three fatalities per decade, including fatal incidents involving two climbers in 1973, three in 2003, one in 2017, and one in 2021. The mountain has also been involved in several aviation accidents, notably Eastern Air Lines Flight 980, which struck Illimani in 1985, resulting in 29 casualties.

Name

The name Illimani comes from the Aymara and possibly Quechua languages; however, the exact etymology is unclear. A widely accepted interpretation suggests the name is a compound of the Aymara morphemes illi (light or radiance) and ----mani (place). According to this interpretation, Illimani can be translated to "place of light", a reference to the mountain's prominent snow-covered peaks which reflect sunflight. Alternative interpretations suggest the name comes from the Aymara words Illemana (where the sun rises) or Jillimani (the eldest son).

In Aymara culture, Illimani is regarded as an apu or achachila, terms for the tutelary spirits of the mountains, and widely viewed as a guardian figure of La Paz.

Geographical setting

Illimani is located within the Cordillera Real subrange of the Andes, the longest continental mountain range in the world which extends for approximately 7,000 km (4,300 mi) along the western margin of South America. It rises to an elevation of 6,438 metres (21,120 ft) at its summit and is the highest mountain in the Cordillera Real and second-highest in Bolivia, surpassed by Nevado Sajama.

The mountain is situated within the central Andean wet puna ecoregion at the eastern edge of the cordillera and lies in the transitional zone between the high, arid Altiplano plateau to the west and the deep, humid valleys of the Yungas region that descend eastward toward the upper Amazon basin. Its geographical position at this intersection enables a wide range of microclimates with flora and fauna adapted to cool, wet conditions and strong solar radiation. The local climate varies from cold semi-arid on the western slopes to subtropical highland toward the eastern face.

Situated approximately 82 kilometres (51 mi) southeast of La Paz, Bolivia's seat of government and the world's highest administrative capital city, Illimani rises as a defining natural landmark of the city. The mountain's topographic prominence and snow-capped profile dominate the city's skyline.

Geology

Like most mountains in the Cordillera Real range, Illimani was formed by the subduction of the Nazca plate under the South American plate, as part of the ongoing Andean orogeny. This tectonic process led to the folding and uplift of igneous and other sedimentary rocks, resulting in the mountain's steep ridges and pronounced layering.

The massif comprises four main summits arranged roughly along a north–south axis, with the southernmost peak being the highest. It is composed primarily of granodiorite and metamorphic rocks. The snow line lies at about 4,570 metres (15,000 ft) above sea level, and its upper ridges are snow-capped year-round.

Glaciers

Glacial coverage is found primarily on Illimani's northern and eastern slopes, which descend from elevations below 4,982 metres (16,350 ft). These glaciers are sustained by the mountain’s high altitude and persistent precipitation from moist Amazonian air masses, feeding several water streams, mainly the Choqueyapu and Katari rivers that flow toward the La Paz valley and the Altiplano. Like many tropical Andean glaciers, Illimani’s ice cover has been retreating over recent decades due to rising temperatures and changing precipitation in the region.

Climbing

Illimani was first attempted in 1877 by the French explorer Charles Wiener, J. de Grumkow, and J. C. Ocampo. They failed to reach the main summit, but did reach a southeastern subsummit, on 19 May 1877, Wiener named it the "Pic de Paris", and left a French flag on top of it. In 1898, British climber William Martin Conway and two Italian guides, J.A. Maquignaz and L. Pellissier, made the first recorded ascent of the peak, again from the southeast. (They found a piece of Aymara rope at over 6,000 m (20,000 ft), so an earlier ascent cannot be completely discounted).

The current standard route on the mountain climbs the west ridge of the main summit. It was first climbed in 1940, by the Germans R. Boetcher, F. Fritz, and W. Kühn, and is graded French PD+/AD-. This route usually requires four days, the summit being reached in the morning of the third day.

In July 2010 German climber Florian Hill and long-time Bolivian resident Robert Rauch climbed a new route on the 'South Face', completing most of the 1700m of ascent in 21 hours. Deliver Me (WI 6 and M6+) appears to climb the gable-end of the South West Ridge, a very steep wall threatened by large broken seracs.

Incidents

Illimani has been the site of several accidents involving climbers. While no official reports exist, available records dating back to 1973 indicate an average of about three fatalities per decade, including fatal incidents involving two climbers in 1973, three in 2003, one in 2017, and one in 2021.

In August 1973, renowned Bolivian climber Ernesto Sánchez and French mountaineer Pierre Dedieu lost their lives while attempting to ascend Illimani. In November that year, an Italian expedition undertook the search for their bodies after ascending the mountain, locating the body of Sánchez. On November 23 month, the leader of the expedition, Carlo Nembrini, an Italian national, fell to his death during an extended search for Dedieu due to the harsh environmental conditions at the time.

On June 7, 2003, US Major Kenneth R. Miller, US Colonel Paul Bruce Kappelman, and Bolivian guide Vincente Perez died in a climbing attempt.

On May 2, 2017, a German climber and a local guide became trapped by an avalanche in the evening; the guide survived with minor injuries.

On September 3, 2021, American climber Daniel Granberg died on the summit of Illimani due to high altitude pulmonary edema, a condition that can occur at high altitudes, impacting one’s ability to breath. His body was recovered after a two-day effort.

llimani has also been involved in several aviation accidents, notably Eastern Air Lines Flight 980. On January 1, 1985, a Boeing 727 operating between Asunción, Paraguay, and Miami, Florida, made its fatal impact on Illimani at an altitude of approximately 6,000 metres (19,690 ft) while descending toward La Paz for a scheduled stopover. The force of the impact scattered wreckage across Illimani’s snow-covered glaciers, killing all 29 passengers on board. Despite numerous expeditions over the following decades, only limited debris was recovered. In 2017, 32 years after the accident, the flight recorders were finally found. The crash on Illimani remains the highest-altitude case of controlled flight into terrain in the history of commercial aviation.

See also

  • Cordillera Kimsa Cruz
  • Cordillera Real (Bolivia)
  • List of mountains in the Andes
  • List of mountains in Bolivia

Notes

  1. This is sometimes given as 6,462 m, but topographic map sources, including a very accurate map by the German Alpine Club, agree that it is 6,438 m. This figure comes from a differential GPS survey; see the reference to World Mountaineering.
  2. "Bolivian ultra-prominent peaks". peaklist.org. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  3. Biggar, John (ed.). "The 6000m peaks of the Andes". ANDES. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  4. Limiñana, Pascual (1897). Geografía de Bolivia (in Spanish) (2nd ed.). Sucre, Bolivia: Imprenta "Bolívar" de M. Pizarro. p. 40.
  5. Jailliard, E.; et al. (authors) (2000). Cordani, U.G.; Milani, E.J.; Thomaz Filho, A.; Campos, D.A. (eds.). Tectonic evolution of the Andes of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and northern Chile (PDF). Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. pp. 489–559.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. d'Orbigny, Alcide Dessalines (1907). Argote, Ismael (ed.). Estudios sobre la geologia de Bolivia [Studies on the geology of Bolivia] (in Spanish). Bolivia: Ministerio de Colonización y Agricultura.
  7. Martínez, Gabriel (1983). "Los Dioses De Los Cerros En Los Andes" [The gods of the mountains in the Andes]. Journal de la Société des américanistes (in Spanish). 69: 85–115. doi:10.3406/jsa.1983.2226. ISSN 0037-9174. JSTOR 24606285.
  8. Brain, Yossi; Thurman, Paula (1998-12-31). Bolivia: A Climbing Guide. The Mountaineers Books. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-89886-495-3.
  9. Arnette, Alan, ed. (2019). "Bolivia 2019: Pequeño Alpamayo, Huayna Potosí, Illimani Trip Report". www.alanarnette.com. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
  10. Echevarría, Evelio (1974). "South America, Bolivia, Illampu and Illimani". American Alpine Club. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
  11. Spocchia, Gino (2021-09-06). "Body of US climber, 24, found on Bolivia's second-largest mountain". The Independent. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
  12. Leyva, Arturo (2025-05-25). "Flight 980's Vanishing Black Box: A Bolivian Aviation Enigma". LatinAmerican Post. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
  13. Associated Press (1985-01-02). "American Jetliner With 29 Aboard Missing in Bolivia". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on December 15, 2024. Retrieved 2025-01-17.
  14. "Nevado Illimani". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
  15. "Nevado Illimani: Bolivia's Sacred Sentinel". Latin America & Caribbean Geographic. 2025-08-04. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
  16. Díaz, Marco (1982-08-06). "Iconografía y mitos indígenas en el arte, de Teresa Gisbert" [Iconography and indigenous myths in the arts]. Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas (in Spanish): 354.–354. doi:10.22201/iie.18703062e.1982.50tomo2.1158. ISSN 1870-3062.
  17. "La Paz: Memoirs of a Dancing Devil (Published 2000)". The New York Times. 2000-02-27. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
  18. "Highest Mountains Bolivia". GeoNames. Unxos, GmbH. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
  19. Baied, Carlos A.; Wheeler, Jane C. (1993). "Evolution of High Andean Puna Ecosystems: Environment, Climate, and Culture Change over the Last 12,000 Years in the Central Andes". Mountain Research and Development. 13 (2): 145–156. doi:10.2307/3673632. ISSN 0276-4741. JSTOR 3673632.
  20. Lamb, Simon; Hoke, Leonore (1997). "Origin of the high plateau in the central Andes, Bolivia, South America". Tectonics. 16 (4): 623–649. Bibcode:1997Tecto..16..623L. doi:10.1029/97TC00495. ISSN 1944-9194.
  21. Ibanez, Alvaro Rodrigo Iriarte (2021-09-01). Geochronology of the granitic rocks of the Real Cordillera of Bolivia (Thesis). University of São Paulo.
  22. De Angelis, M.; Simões, J.; Bonnaveira, H.; Taupin, J.-D.; Delmas, R. J. (2003-10-16). "Volcanic eruptions recorded in the Illimani ice core (Bolivia): 1918–1998 and Tambora periods". Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. 3 (5). European Geosciences Union: 1725–1741. Bibcode:2003ACP.....3.1725D. doi:10.5194/acp-3-1725-2003. ISSN 1680-7316.
  23. Ribeiro, Rafael da Rocha; Ramirez, Edson; Simões, Jefferson Cardia; Machaca, Abraham (2017-07-26). "46 years of environmental records from the Nevado Illimani glacier group, Bolivia, using digital photogrammetry". Annals of Glaciology. 54 (63). Cambridge University Press: 272–278. doi:10.3189/2013AoG63A494. ISSN 0260-3055.
  24. Seehaus, Thorsten; Malz, Philipp; Sommer, Christian; Soruco, Alvaro; Rabatel, Antoine; Braun, Matthias (2019-12-12). "Mass balance and area changes of glaciers in the Cordillera Real and Tres Cruces, Bolivia, between 2000 and 2016". Journal of Glaciology. 66 (255). Cambridge University Press: 124–136. doi:10.1017/jog.2019.94. ISSN 0022-1430.
  25. Soruco, Alvaro; Vincent, Christian; Francou, Bernard; Gonzalez, Javier Francisco (2009). "Glacier decline between 1963 and 2006 in the Cordillera Real, Bolivia". Geophysical Research Letters. 36 (3) 2008GL036238. Bibcode:2009GeoRL..36.3502S. doi:10.1029/2008GL036238. ISSN 1944-8007.
  26. Cook, Simon J.; Kougkoulos, Ioannis; Edwards, Laura A.; Dortch, Jason; Hoffmann, Dirk (2016-10-20). "Glacier change and glacial lake outburst flood risk in the Bolivian Andes". The Cryosphere. 10 (5): 2399–2413. Bibcode:2016TCry...10.2399C. doi:10.5194/tc-10-2399-2016. ISSN 1994-0416.
  27. René, Verneau (18 May 2018). "Charles Wiener". Journal de la société des américanistes. 11 (1).
  28. Lindsay Griffin (1998). "Illimani". In Audrey Salkeld (ed.). World Mountaineering. Bulfinch Press. pp. 254–257. ISBN 0-8212-2502-2.
  29. Yossi Brain, Bolivia: a climbing guide, The Mountaineers, 1999, ISBN 0-89886-495-X. Some sources claim that Illimani is an extinct stratovolcano, but this is not correct. In fact none of the peaks of the Cordillera Real are volcanic; see Tom Simkin and Lee Siebert, Volcanoes of the World, a regional directory... (second edition), Smithsonian Institution/Geoscience Press, 1994, ISBN 0-945005-12-1.
  30. "bolivie 2010". pioletsdor.com. Archived from the original on 2016-01-26. Retrieved 2015-11-01.
  31. Assolari, Daniele (2024). "Huayna Illampu, Via dei Nembresi". American Alpine Club. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
  32. Salo, Jackie (2021-09-06). "Colorado man found dead at peak of famed Bolivian mountain". New York Post. Retrieved 2025-10-22.
  33. "Accidents au mont Illimani" [Accidents on Mount Illimani]. Nomadays.com (in French). Retrieved 2025-10-22.
  34. "Army major from here dies climbing Andes". Arlington Cemetery. Retrieved 2018-03-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  35. "Deutscher Bergsteiger stirbt in den bolivianischen Anden" [German mountaineer dies in the Bolivian Andes]. www.rp-online.de (in German). 3 May 2017. Retrieved 2017-08-20.
  36. "Body of climber from Colorado recovered from Bolivian peak". Associated Press. 6 September 2021. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  37. "Mt. Nevado Illimani". Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives. Retrieved 2025-10-22.

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