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It was the highest ski resort in the entire world – until the snow disappeared. Rising above Bolivia’s capital city, La Paz, this once glacier-laden peak drew locals and tourists alike. Now a quiet, rocky summit, the skeletal lodge that seems ready to tip off its peak is all that remains of the mountain’s glory days.
Translated from the Aymara language, the mountain’s name means “cold bridge” – fitting for a peak that once held an 18,000-year-old glacier. The Chacaltaya glacier was one of many ice sheets supplying water to La Paz and the surrounding region, but in 1939 it began supplying something else: fun.
With the installation of a rope tow using a car engine, the world’s highest and Bolivia’s only ski resort was born, lifting skiers up to the “top of the world” at 17,785 feet. Along with sporting infrastructure, a chalet, the Club Andino Boliviano, was built to house a working restaurant (still considered the world’s highest by Guinness World Records today).
📸: Lesly Derksen
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Through the 20th century, the ski resort drew visitors from around the world, many lured by the notoriously difficult rope tow. By the 1990s, however, the massive glacier was visibly shrinking due to the warming climate with scientists predicting it would vanish by 2015. The ice melted so fast it beat that prediction by six years. Without the glacier, the resort died along with its natural neighbor.
While mostly abandoned now, the chalet still has two permanent residents: Samuel and Adolfo Mendoza. The brothers grew up skiing Chacaltaya, learning the mountain when snow still blanketed the peak year-round. Now they spend their days preparing simple meals for the occasional hiker or curious tourist who makes the trek up the winding mountain road. They’ve watched as the glacier retreated, the skiers stop visiting, and the rope tow rust into silence. What was once a bustling weekend destination is now a quiet vigil – just the two of them, the thin air, and the memory of what used to be.
Their presence keeps the restaurant operational, which is enough to maintain that Guinness World Record. Snow still covers the mountain sometimes, enough for skiing, but with the rope tow abandoned, most visitors now come for lunch, not the slopes.
