Ojos Day 5 - Cerro de San Francisco - 6018m

Yeah, that's right, we're happy, even if we freeze and had a short night.

Climbing on the side of the mountain.

Pause at 5800m. I am so tired I am thinking to abandon.

Last photo before Olivier takes off alone, full steam.

Pffffffffffffffff..... 5900m.

Yeepeeee!!! The summit!! And glorious Incahuasi in the background.

Yours truly.

Picnic at 6000m. Cosy.

Paso de San Francisco. 4x4 track is well visible.

It's good to be back :)

Ojos Day 4 - Laguna Verde - 4350m

After another bad night at Santa Rosa, we head to the Laguna Verde, our next acclimatization stop.

Laguna Santa Rosa and salar de Maricunga

The international road is a dirt track, from where paths branch off to mining exploitations.

On the road to Laguna Verde

The road is backed by fantastic peaks: Volcan Copiapo, Nevado de Tres Cruces, Cerros de Barrancas Blancas, El Muerto, Ojos del Salado, and many more. One feels dwarfed in the middle of these titans.

Our first glimpse of what lies ahead: El Muerto (6488m) and Ojos del Salado (6893m)

Luckily, the sight is relieved at the view of one of the most stunning lake in the world: the Laguna Verde. Its surreal color comes from the minerals in the water.

The stunning Laguna Verde

No comment

I've known worse.

The Laguna is surrounded by thermal sources, which are the closest thing to getting clean in this region!

At the lake we met a Dutch couple who had to go back to Copiapo because of altitude problems, and a french guy who cycles with all his climbing gear and climbs the 6000 of the region by himself! He has climbed Ojos del Salado twice (from Chile and Argentina), Incahuasi, San Francisco, Aconcagua twice, Llullaillaco, etc. The list is scary! Here's the dude:

A real adventurer, soloing the 6000 of South America all by himself.

 I must also mention that the people of the refuge were incredibly nice and welcoming. Thanks!

Finally, Fernando introduced us to a devilish little device, a pulse-oximeter, that measures the oxygen saturation of the blood. The reading depends upon your fatigue state, how long ago you ate, your mood, the sky configuration... And risk to lead you to obsess about your oxygen saturation if you are not careful! Anyway, Fernando (92%), Olivier (89%) and I (86%) have similar reasonable readings.

Here is the map, for those who care.





Agrandir le plan

Ojos Day 3 - Siete Hermanos - 4890m

I had a bad night: needed to get up too often and go out in frigid temperatures. However, stunning starry sky.

Today is our first serious acclimatization walk, the "Siete Hermanos" (Seven Brothers), a peak directly nearby the Laguna Santa Rosa, accessible directly from the refuge. Lots of walking actually, weak slope for 2/3 of the way.

The scenic walk up Siete Hermanos.

It took us 6 hours to reach the summit. The important is not the speed, but the time we spend at altitude. I don't have a headache (telltale sign of altitude), but my legs feel a bit heavy. Olivier is stricken by bouts of intestinal discomfort, but he walks quite fast.

The summit: Ides and Fernando.

Olivier and Fernando on the summit.

It took us 2h in strong winds to get back to the Santa Rosa refuge, where we ate mashed potatoes and beef washed down by a liter of beer.

Ojos Day 2 - Laguna Santa Rosa - 3750m

First acclimatization walk around Valle Chico, up to 3370 m. Nice views and sun!

Fernando and Olivier, trying to look not tired.

The nice colors of Valle Chico.

Then 1h15 drive to Laguna Santa Rosa, 3760m. Highest drive point: 4080m. The view from the refuge includes the Nevado Tres Cruces, the laguna itself, and many flamingos.

Laguna Santa Rosa.

Ojos Day 1 - Valle Chico - 3040 m

3 hours ride from Copiapo to Valle Chico, a green valley set into mountains and which sports wild donkeys dumps, for our first acclimation stop. Journey a bit dull, but fantastic colors of the mountains in the last third, and with shapes as smooth as silk. A ghastly dead horse is set erect close to Valle Chico, and it smells really bad...


Valle Chico is normally full of wild donkeys that run and bicker and bite around all night, but this time they are not here. We can however see that they spend some time here :)

I don't feel the altitude, and drink a lot of water...

Luckily for us, Fernando is an excellent cook!

Copiapo, desert town

Whew. After a night out dancing and getting conscientiously drunk on pisco sour, and after renting Olivier's equipment in a suburb of Santiago in a house full of cats from a friendly moustached man, we flew in Copiapo. Desert, all around, as barren as can be. We met our guide Fernando at the airport, a friendly, tan goateed 33 year old Chilean, who left us at a coloured hotel, not without promising to pick us up for some pisco.

Fernando told us that he had been on three previous expeditions on Ojos this year, and that all have failed because of the weather. He also explained to us that the drier air of the Atacama, the loose scree to climb to the summit and the last technical bit made the mountain more difficult than Aconcagua.

To my delight, Fernando announced over a cholesterol-laden meal a slightly modified climbing program. First, we will acclimatize on Nevado de San Francisco; then perfect our condition on cerro El Muerto; and finally attack the main course: Ojos del Salado. This is an ambitious but logical acclimation plan, at least on paper!

Onwards to the barren Atacama!

Santiago -- brown city

The flight from Madrid to Santiago was a rather long and monotonous trip, except the last bit when the fantasmagoric colors and relief of the Andes near Santiago replace the incredible vastness of the Amazon forest.

As mentioned here, Santiago is brown and very '80s looking. It does have its charms, though.

Children in fountain on Plaza de Armas

Olivier Faivre, my climbing partner, is joining me tonight at the Andes Hostel, a cool relaxing place near Plaza de Armas. I already noticed some drinking joints around the area. A drinking night ahead?