Chacaltaya Lodge

The place

Former refuge-restaurant of the Club Andino Boliviano at 5421 m on Mount Chacaltaya, in the Cordillera Real above La Paz (Bolivia). Known for once housing the highest ski resort in the world, which closed for good after its 18,000-year-old glacier melted away entirely (shrinking from 0.22 km² in 1940 to 0.01 km² in 2007, before vanishing in 2009). The refuge remains open, run by longtime keepers Adolfo and Samuel Mendoza, who still serve hot meals there — hence the "highest restaurant in the world" title recognized by Guinness. An emblematic site for the effects of climate change on high tropical mountains.