Sairecabur, Andean volcano in Atacama Desert, Chile

Sairecabur is a 5,971 m volcano on the Chile-Bolivia border, 25 km from San Pedro de Atacama. It is the highest summit of a 22 km chain of volcanoes that includes Escalante, Curiquinca and Cerro Colorado. South of the summit lies a 4.5 km wide caldera with 400 m cliffs, and the mountain has three cones.

Archaeological discoveries show that Inca people used this mountain as a sacred place and built a shrine on its slopes. The long history of settlement in this high mountain region reveals how important this peak was to Andean cultures across many centuries.

The name Sairecabur is a Castilianised form of the Kunza words used by the Atacameño Likan Antay people: saire means "rain" and cabur means "mountain". The same range holds abandoned sulphur mines, including the azufreras of Saciel, Ojos del Toro and El Apagado, whose workings can still be seen on the slopes.

Climbing this peak requires two to three nights of acclimatization in San Pedro de Atacama before you set out with an experienced mountain guide. The route is demanding and takes about eleven hours from start to finish, so good physical preparation is important.

A major radio telescope sits high on the mountain and is one of the highest telescope installations in the world for astronomical observation. This scientific instrument operates in one of the driest and clearest spots on Earth.