Chacaltaya, Bolivia once held the title of the highest ski area on earth. Sitting at over 17,880 feet above sea level, it was higher than Everest Base Camp. Then in 2009 the glacier that made it all possible melted away completely, and the lifts stopped turning for good. Adventure traveler Steve Berger recently made the long hike up to the abandoned station hoping to spend the night in the lodge. He found a ghost resort frozen in time, all locked doors and empty machinery, sitting silent with nobody around.
His exploration provides quite a fascinating look at the ghost resort. The old lift is still there and the bullwheel could still turn. The ski hut known as Club Andino Boliviano remains boarded up on the mountainside. Sadly everything was locked up and Berger couldn’t access the hut or the lift station, so he spent the night inside a glass pyramid structure at the site, pitching his tent inside it.
It’s not exactly clear when the resort shut down for good, though the last competition was apparently hosted there in 2001 and the glacier had fully receded by 2009. As Berger points out in the video, there is still a scientific laboratory in operation on the mountain. According to Physics Today, it’s the world’s highest mountain laboratory. It’s main focus appears to be on cosmic rays and particle physics, though there are plenty of instruments for atmospheric studies and other research.
