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Ojos del Salado (6893m) 15-day mountaineering program, Catamarca

Ojos del Salado

Hernán, an AAGM mountain guide, will join you on a 15-day mountaineering expedition to Ojos del Salado (6893m) the highest active volcano in the world.

Private

Andes

15 Days

Jan, Feb, Mar, Dec

Fit

Intermediate


Description

Between Copiapó (Chile) and Fiambalá (Argentina) lies the highest active volcano in the world, at 6893 m. It is called ‘Ojos del Salado’ which means ‘Eyes of the Salty One’ and refers to the ample deposits of salt that cover its glaciers.

Ojos del Salado is surrounded by mountains, salt fields, thermal waters and a charming green lagoon. The ascent to its summit it is usually a hike, but the final section could require scrambling and might need the use of ropes.

This beautiful and popular spot among mountaineers is the place for my 15-day program. It will start in the city of Mendoza at 7 AM. We will spend the days ascending and admiring the dry surroundings of the volcano. At night, we will camp under a sky full of stars, until we will reach the impressive summit at almost 6900 m.

Because of its high altitude and because it requires technical abilities towards the end, you need to be in good physical condition and have prior experience in mountaineering to sign up.

If you want to discover every inch of the tallest active volcano and admire the world around it, book this trip!

You can also visit Cajón de los Arenales, in Mendoza, and spend a full day climbing.

Price includes

- Guiding fee

- Accommodation included

- Transportation start and back

- Transport during the trip

- Personal insurance

- Breakfast

- Lunch

- Dinner

- Camping equipment tents

Price details

The price includes guide's assistant, 4 nights of accommodation in Fiambala and 4 nights in a mountain hut. As for the meals, there are vegetarian and celiac options available.


Details

Accommodation

In tents

More info

You need to wear and bring adequate clothing: Sportswear, feather jacket, insulated jacket (goretex or ultrex type), waterproof trousers, thermal t-shirt, thermal leggings, leggings, double boots, hat, gloves, sunscreen, sleeping bag, crampons, hiking picket (depending on the hill and the chosen route, sun glasses with UV filter (Clothing for high mountain). In case you don't have any of these elements, we could provide it for you.

Meeting point

Mendoza, Argentina

About the guide

I love the mountain, and all its sports. It is a place where one can find peace and know in depth. It's my ground wire when I need quiet and silence. I started working as a guide and porter in 2006, I have been working and enjoying the beauty of the mountain for many years.

I am a mountain guide AAGM and UIMLA, founder of Rocamadreaventura, a company dedicated to trekking, climbing in ice / rock, high mountain and skiing. Our company is composed of professional guides in charge of showing people what we love.

Languages

French | English

Certificates

AAGM


What people are saying about this trip

Deborah Liao

5.00

December, 2019

This review was for a guide (Gaston Lopez) sent by Hernan. This was the worst guiding I've experienced on any trip taken over the last 8 years on over a dozen trips around the world. Numerous issues that you would not expect from a guide who's been certified for 12+ years. The most significant being: suggested I could wear normal hiking boots on a 6016 meter mountain (Nevado San Francisco) when I've always worn doubles on 6000 and even on cold 5000 meter mountains. An inexperienced person could have had foot issues/frost bite as it was cold the day we summited. Not knowing the route on Ojos - he suggested we try for the summit at 13:30 after moving from Arenal to the higher camp, but couldn't provide an answer when I asked what the average time was for people to summit when leaving from the high camp. We eventually had to turn around from this summit attempt because he seriously misjudged the timing and lost the route during our ascent. After this failed attempt, he said we'd make another attempt the following morning and that it would take maybe 7 hours up and 5 hours down, meaning we'd need to leave by 8:00 at the absolute latest to make it back before dark. The next morning he was still sleeping at 7:00, and hadn't mentioned anything about departure time the night before, so I left before him and led myself up to the plateau before he caught up and we went the rest of the way together. By this point I had lost all confidence in his guiding ability, advice, and planning, so I made the decision to leave on my own for the summit because I knew he wasn't leaving me enough time by sleeping in. Other issues: every time this guide verbalized the itinerary, it was different (he was clearly very disorganized and lacked basic planning skills); this was the worst and cheapest food I've experienced on any trip. Example: after an 11-hour summit day, we had canned lentils, canned vegetables, rice, tuna, and tomatoes mixed together for dinner vs. other teams that ate grilled meat, stir fry, hamburgers, tacos, etc. There was also inadequate/low quality breakfast of cookies and cereal only, as opposed to other teams eating eggs, toast with jam & peanut butter, bread/chapati, etc.; of all the guided teams at Las Grutas, we didn't have paperwork for the car to get past the gendarmie post so we had to get a ride from someone else to Nevado (shows poor planning and logistics); pacing was not great and he was so far ahead of me most of the time that he had no idea what my pace was, not to mention this is a dangerous practice in terms of keeping an eye on your client; guide had no hand sanitizer and didn't wash hands when preparing food; guide incorrectly told me I was developing HAPE because of a cough I tend to get at altitude but my oxsat was 83% and resting heart rate was ~95 bpm at 5500 meters.


 

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