The mountain is nearly always climbed from the north (Minas Gerais) side, where the shortest route is through a strenuous one-day hike to the top (with a few steeper scramble sections), camping there overnight and returning the next day, on a well-marked trail that starts at a farm next to the hamlet of Paiolinho, near the town of Passa Quatro, at an elevation of 1566 meters ; the trailhead can be reached by regular vehicles on a dirt road.