If you were to go the Sourdough way, and decided that the classiest way to approach this dilemma would be to go from the Caribbean Sea, beachside, at 0 feet, up the north side, as climbers are prone to this kind of absolute romanticism, there are two river valleys and a system of trails that might actually work. this would be an exotic endeavor, possibly 5 days in, through the most wild part of the sierra I have seen, both culturally and ecologically. As I went through Messetta on my first excursion, the kid I hired to guide me to the town, since I was miserably lost and stumbled into the ravine he was working in and was spotted by a lady out walking with her kids as undoubtedly out of place, and who proved to be a fun and able guide, even climbing an orange tree as we passed by his house to shake down about 20 oranges for us as I admired the Sierra, told me that from Messetta, about a half day to a day’s walk in, it was 4 more days to the snows, along this muddy trail, an official Camino Real, that we walked on for part of our 1 hour trip, and I followed out to the highway some 8 hours downhill (supposedly I missed s shortcut), and it would go all the way to the last village. So either with backpacks or pack animals, even though you would be passing through at least a handful of Arawaku and Kogui villages, the latter of which might give you issues, it’s possible to make it to the snows from Sea to Summit would be my guess. There is also a waterfall someplace in this area, possibly 200 feet tall. A guide trying to drum up business in Palomino showed me pictures of it, and i think it was called La Cascada Crystal.
The Camino Real, kind of a 5 foot wide unmaintained but certainly passable walking trail, reminiscent to me of the Natchez trace in the American South, was definitely muddy in spots as it was still rainy season, but looked passable for a few days distance at least would be my guess.. it would be a true adventure, but how depleted might a climber be 5 days in. The first half day, especially on the Don Diego, beautiful though it may be, would be in jungle, and through the Don Diegito Canyon (Don Diegito means little Don Diego, -ito meaning little when added to any word in spanish, and the Don Diegito runs off the Don Diego pretty close to sea level and up to Messetta close enough to where you could jump to the Palomino in about an hour if you wanted to, and I believe the Camino Real does this) .. This opens the possibility for all sorts of insect bites and contamination. The jungle would give way to subtropical areas and cleared fields for crops and cattle. I was told that tree line near there would be at about 3800 M, which seemed possible given how warm and humid the air off the Caribbean is. I should just sit down with Google Earth and get that figure for myself.
This would be the classic route, the Mega-Transect of sorts for the Sierra, the undeniable Herculean effort that would make the peak truly sweet. The draw backs are the potential difficulties in Kogui Lands, the steepness of the Mountain from the north, the idea that the base camp and route could be in perpetual shadow during a January Climb, and my lack of knowledge of where a base camp might legitimately be established on that side, although anything is possible. I have yet to recall seeing a lake on that side, although I did see snow, so water would be available, once you made it to the snows, and where there is snow there is runoff, but whether you could follow these rivers is again speculation, especially with pack animals, all the way up to an access point to the mountain. I also must admit, that from where I sat, from about 20 miles away, it was hard to imagine that the rock was that clean. the north side looked like a big black rock slide to me.
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