Ojos del Salado

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Ojos del Salado

5th January – 18th January 2024. & 9th February – 22nd February 2024.


Climb Full Service Cost; $3,450 , £2,850, €3,250

Ojos del Salado is an active stratovolcano in the Andes on the Argentina–Chile border and the highest active volcano in the world at 6,893 m (22,615 ft).


It is also the second highest mountain in both the Western Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere behind Aconcagua at approximately 7,000 meters (23,000 ft) and it is the highest in Chile.


Ojos Del Salado is only 68 metres / 223 feet lower than Aconcagua, one of the seven summits, and is excellent preparation for Everest and other 8000 metre peaks.


Option to trek to basecamp only. Take your family or loved ones to basecamp with you for USD 2850. Get to know some of the most remote areas of South America in the middle of the Atacama desert, with comfort and safety. Your family can go with you without having to climb a mountain or have previous altitude experience.  For full details click here


 

Ojos del Salado Overview

Ojos del Salado is an active volcano in the Andes on the Argentina–Chile border and the highest active volcano in the world at 6,893 m (22,615 ft). Ojos del Salado could be translated as "Eyes of the Salty One", which describes it as being very snowy in the winter and salty with many lakes.

It is also the second highest mountain in both the Western Hemisphere and the Southern Hemisphere, only 68 metres / 223 feet lower than Aconcagua, one of the seven summits. At approximately 7,000 meters (23,000 ft), this climb is an excellent test of how you will perform at a very high altitude and very good preparation for climbing 8000 metre (26,000 ft) peaks such as Everest. The climb includes excellent leadership by SummitClimb’s leader Max, who has led more than 40 SummitClimb expeditions to Ojos, Aconcagua, Everest, Lhotse, Manaslu, Gasherbrum, Cho Oyu, Ama Dablam, Lobuche, and Island Peak. During our climb of Ojos del Salado the team will practice and refresh skills with rope technique and will acclimatize carefully by climbing several sub peaks, with rest days in between, before ascending Ojos itself. The trip also includes delicious food, nice hotels, very good basecamp with a cook, and all high altitude support staff, high camps, tents, meals, etcetera. Climbing Ojos is excellent preparation for Everest and other 8000 metre peaks.


Summit Description: In our expedition we climb the highest summit, which is the Chilean summit. The Argentine summit is 190 metres away from the highest in Chile. To get to the top of the Chilean Summit we indeed require everyone to wear a helmet, specially in the last section. For the last 8 years in a row we have summited Ojos and every single time we fixed ropes in the 3 potentially dangerous parts:

1 - Traverse at 6500 metres / 21,325 feet

The traverse at 6500 is a simple snow or hard snow traverse (rarely ice), and we do ask our clients to take an ice axe. It's a 100 to 150 metre traverse with little altitude gain. Although depending on conditions it might not even require an ice axe as our members may clip our fixed line and walk safely. So this section requires: Crampons, Helmet, Harness ( +1 safety carabiner and sling) and Ice Axe.

2 - Climb to col at 6850 metres / 22,474 feet

This is a straight forward climb. It's about 7 metres on pure rock with occasional snow patches. Because we start it on snow and it takes too long to take off crampons and put them back, our clients climb this section wearing crampons. It's a French class 3 rock, very easy climb and we fixed a rope line every time. No need to take ascenders as we normally have 2 or 3 guides belaying everyone in this section. This section requires harness + sling + carabiner and helmet. No ice axe needed here. If we have time, everyone can leave crampons at the bottom of this climb.

3 - Summit section at 6898 metres / 22,631 feet

This is the easier of the 3. It's only 20 to 30 metres and has little altitude gain. We fix a line in this area because although it is only a rock scramble, it's exposed and wind can take someone's balance here. When finished, you are on the top. Only harness and helmer required here.

Please note we run our expeditions at Ojos with maximum safety and we have summited every single time.

Ojos del Salado Cost

Included in Price 

  • Leader
  • Assistant mountain guides (client per guide ratio = 2/3);
  • Transport from/to airport;
  • 2 nights in a 3 star hotel in Copiapo – the rooms are shared by each two expedition members
  • 4×4 transport from/to Copiapo
  • Usage of lodge at Laguna Santa Rosa;
  • Usage of tents, dining tents, kitchen and kitchen utensils;
  • Cook and staff at basecamp and approach camp;
  • Usage of medical kit;
  • All meals outside Copiapo;
  • All climbing permits.
  • * I know you normally don't include hotels. However Copiapo is small and there are not many hotel options. Also because we have to pack and prepare the card loads, we have to have all members in one place

What is not included in the price

  • Flights from/to Copiapo;
  • Personal climbing equipment;
  • International travel insurance;
  • Lunch and dinner in Copiapo;
  • Reimbursement for loss or damaged personal equipment;
Ojos del Salado Itinerary

Day 1 – Arrival to Copiapo – 800m - We’ll pick you up at the airport, 50km away from Copiapo. In the same day, we will check your personal equipment, making all final adjustments and shopping if necessary. Today we’ll have our first dinner together and meet the rest of the team. Included: transport and hotel


Day 2 – Copiapo – Laguna Santa Rosa Hut – 3700m - After a 210km drive, we’ll sleep in a small mountain hut at the edge of a beautiful salty lagoon called Santa Rosa. Included: Breakfast, transport, lunch, and dinner


Day 3 – Acclimatization on SieteHermanos – 4780m - We’ll climb SieteHermanos up to its summit or go as high as we can depending on the team’s condition. This is a fairly ‘low’ 4780m peak near Laguna Santa Rosa. Included: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner


Day 4 – Laguna Santa Rosa Hut – Laguna Verde Hut – 4300m - After a nice and generous breakfast, we’ll drive 120km to Laguna Verde. We’ll cook and gather in a small mountain hut and sleep in tents. The good news is that inside the hut there is a rather large pool of warm water which comes from nearby hot springs. Included: Breakfast, lunch, dinner (and bath!)


Day 5 – Climb to MulasMuertas – 5200m - Another day of acclimatisation. Today is our turn climb MulasMuertas located just a few kilometers away from our hut. Again, we’ll take it very easy and go as high as we can without compromising our bodies. Included: Breakfast, lunch, dinner (and bath again!)


Day 6 – Rest day – 4300m Today we’ll rest on Laguna Verde.


Day 7 – Climbing Nevado San Francisco – 6023m After a very early breakfast, we’ll put our plastic boots and packs on and then drive to 5000 metres to start the climb to Nevado San Francisco via the north ridge. The drive takes about 30 minutes and the climb might take us 5 to 7 hours. Would be great if you can try you best to get to the top as this will really push your confidence and acclimatisation. After summiting, our 4WD vehicles will be waiting for us at the bottom, then take us back to the hut. Included: Breakfast, packed lunch, transport, and dinner


Day 8 – Rest day – 4400m - Today will rest at Laguna Verde and recover from yesterday’s climb. Included: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner


Day 9 – Drive to Atacama Hut – 5200m - A 2-hour drive to a higher hut named Atacama. Only this time its a 5200 metre high hut and the roads can be quite bad. Today you get to relax (or try to) and enjoy the lunar landscape to Atacama Hut while our skillful drivers do what they do best. Included: Breakfast, lunch, dinner and offroad insane transport


Day 10 – Atacama Hut – Tejos Hut – 5800m - This is when we finally put large backpacks on and stop driving! After an early lunch, we’ll walk for 3 to 5 hours to a 5800 metre metal hut named Tejos. Included: Breakfast and lunch


Day 11 – First summit attempt – 6898m - After a 3am start, we expect a 7 to 9-hour push to the summit. The climb starts with straightforward switchbacks then changes to a huge traverse at 6500m. We then reach the main crater and work our way to the summit over a final steep gully and a technical 10-metre rock section to the main summit. Included: chance of summiting the largest volcano on Earth!


Day 12 – Second summit attempt - In case weather was bad yesterday


Day 13 – Drive back to Copiapo - Included: transport and hotel


Day 14 – Flight out - ** The above itinerary is subject to change due weather conditions, performance of the group, political/administrative problems and any other events not described.

Ojos del Salado Leadership
Expedition organiser: Max is a fluent English, Spanish, and Portuguese speaker, who has led more than 40 SummitClimb expeditions to Ojos, Aconcagua, Everest, Lhotse, Manaslu, Gasherbrum, Cho Oyu, Ama Dablam, Lobuche, and Island Peak.. He is a relaxed, considerate and thoughtful person; an expert leader and a highly-skilled professional.
Ojos del Salado Equipment

Climbing:

  • Ice axe with leash
  • Steel crampons with anti-balling plates
  • Trekking poles
  • Harness -A good light alpine harness

Upper Body:

  • 2 cotton t-shirts
  • 2 synthetic t-shirts
  • 2 long sleeve synthetic shirts
  • Light-weight soft shell jacket
  • Medium weight insulating jacket (fleece, down, or synthetic)
  • Hard shell jacket with hood, waterproof and breathable (Gore-Tex or similar)
  • Heavy down coat – must be large thick down jacket with hood

Hands:

  • Lightweight poly-liner gloves
  • Mid-weight soft shell gloves – water/wind resistant
  • Heavy- weight waterproof gloves – Gore-tex shell with removable liner
  • Expedition weight mittens -Gore-tex over mitt matched polar fleece mitt liner
  • Hand warmers  1 or 2 packs -Chemical hand warmers for the summit push.

Head:

  • Helmet
  • Warm hat that covers your ears
  • Balaclava
  • Face mask
  • Baseball hat or brimmed sun hat
  • Glacier sunglasses with side shields
  • Ski goggles with light and dark lenses
  • Glasses with clear lenses to protect your eyes while climbing to the summit on windy nights. (cost less than 10 dollars in Kathmandu)
  • Headlamp with extra batteries and bulbs
  • Buff/neck gaiter
  • Bandana or head scarf (optional)

Lower Body:

  • Synthetic underwear
  • Hiking pants
  • 2 pair lightweight thermal bottoms
  • Polar fleece or soft shell pants
  • Waterproof/breathable pants with full side zips (Gore-Tex or similar)

Feet:

  • Boots – a paid of double or double plastic boots such as Koflach Exped, Koflach vertical, Asolo Ottomilia, Asolo AFS, Trezetta, Scarpa Vega, Scarpa Inferno, La Sportiva Baruntse, Olympus Mons, La Sportiva Spantik, Scarpa Phantom, La Sportiva G2. Single layer boots such as La Sportiva Nepal XT, EVO, Batura or Boreal Latok are NOT suitable.
  • Sturdy leather walking boots
  • Sandals or crocs
  • Down booties (optional)
  • 3 pair med-heavy poly or wool socks
  • 2 pair poly or wool liner socks (optional)
  • Vapor barrier liner socks (optional)
  • 4 pair lightweight trekking socks
  • Cotton socks for in town

Sleeping:

  • Down sleeping bag; -20C or -4F down sleeping bag (Comfort temperature)
  • 2 closed cell foam kari-mats (sleeping pads) for use in basecamp and high altitude.

Rucksack and Travel Bags:

  • Medium rucksack/backpack (50-70 litres / 3000-4500 cubic inches, can be used as carry-on bag)
  • Waterproof rucksack cover (optional)
  • 1 large (120+ L / 7500+ cubic inch) duffle kit bags for clothing and equipment
  • Small luggage locks for duffel kit bags

Personal Hygiene:

  • Female or male hygiene supplies
  • 2 tubes lip sun cream
  • Large tube skin sun cream (min factor 30)
  • Anti-mosquito cream
  • Toothpaste/brush
  • Hand sanitizer gel (small-medium bottle)
  • Bar of soap small towel
  • Hand wipes
  • Face Mask
  • Hand sanitiser
  • Disposable gloves
  • Disinfectant wipes

Medical:

  • Small personal first-aid kit. (Simple and Light) Aspirin, first-aid tape, plasters (band-aids), personal medications, etc.
  • Blister repair kit
  • 10 anti-diarrhea pills
  • 20 Ibuprofen
  • 10 cough and/or cold medicine
  • Steri pen or bottle of water purification tablets
  • Cough sweets/lozenges (Halls/Stepils)
  • Earplugs
  • Extra prescription glasses/contact lenses and supplies

Personal Food:

  • Snacks 2kg Salty snacks, sweets, etc. Any sort of tasty ready food as complement. On high altitude mountains we don’t normally worry about vitamins and proteins as these kinds of food are too hard to digest. You can buy all these in a local market.
  • 4 dehydrated meals (freeze-dried dinners) for the high camp.
  • Carbo gels x 3 - These gels help out on recovery
Practical:
  • Small roll of repair tape
  • Sewing repair kit
  • Cigarette lighter
  • Battery powered alarm clock/watch
  • Camera with extra cards and extra batteries
  • Nylon stuff sacks for food and gear storage
  • 3 water bottles (1 litre) wide-mouth Nalgene
  • Pee bottle (1litre or larger)
  • Passport, flight ticket, flight itinerary
  • Separate photocopies of passport and relevant visa pages, proof of insurance
  • Dollars, pounds, or euros cash ($1800 in case you need a rescue and are not with Global Rescue)
  • Bank/ATM/Cash and credit cards
  • Paperback books, playing cards, ipod/mp3 player, musical instruments, extra batteries, etc.
  • Travel clothes for basecamp and in town
  • Small solar panels for personal electronics (optional) We already bring large solar chargers. Please avoid bringing AC chargers, please keep it DC(Car plug adapters or similar)

RENTAL PRICE LIST:

Please find the cost for rentals below. Please note these have to be paid in cash in Copiapo. Please send your rental requirements in advance so that we can prepare the items.

  • Ski Goggles USD 35
  • Sleeping Bag -20C USD 50
  • Crampons USD 50
  • Gaiters USD 35
  • Goretex Pants USD 90
  • Harness USD 18
  • Helmet USD 35
  • Mattress USD 25
  • Mittens USD 50
  • Plastic Double Boots USD 115
  • Summit Down Jacket USD 115
  • Sunglasses USD 35
  • Trekking Poles USD 25
  • Ice Axe USD 40

Group Equipment: We provide group gear, equipment, and supplies including: rope, ice, rock, and snow anchor protection, tents; stoves, fuel, walkie-talkie radios, bamboo marker wands, etcetera. A personal tent will be provided for each member at base camp. On the upper mountain, team members will share tents. In base camp, a shower, toilet, solar charger, and a dining tent will be provided.

Ojos del Salado Experience and Training
For the Normal Route it is not necessary for you to have previous climbing experience. We will teach you all of the mountain skills you need to know during the trip. You should be a fit and active walker in good health able to carry (to the high camp, but not the summit) a rucksack containing your sleeping bag, clothing, food and water.
Ojos del Salado Other Info

What are the Covid-19 precautions in place?

We will take the following measures:

  • All our guides have to have Covid tests taken in Copiapo and/or vaccine if it exists/works by then
  • All members and guides will be required to wear masks. This also helps with the dry air in the region which is one of the driests on Earth. So not only for Covid, everyone should wear mask and we do so for years already
  • Each member will be given hand sanitiser to be used every time he or she is contact with food, other people, surfaces, or anything that might contain the virus
  • During this climb each person will have 1 tent to avoid contact
  • During lunch and dinner, we'll split the team in 2 or 3, so people don't sit close together
  • We'll have quick rescue means in place in case someone has to leave the expedition. This way we can make sure any member is in a hospital within 4 hours from anywhere on the mountain.
  • Other measures like private hotel rooms and 50% capacity on 4WD vehicles will be discussed

Will we be doing training on ropes, ice axe, crampons?

We have a training afternoon to make sure everyone's basic climbing skills are the same level. We might have clients from different backgrounds and different experiences. So we'll run this course.
Our skilful and friendly guides teach and review with you about how to use crampons, ice axes, helmets and to clip on fixed lines using carabiners.

How much money should we bring?

  • Meals in Copiapo (average USD 150~200)
  • Equipment rental - if any - has to be paid in cash
  • Staff Tips (optional - normally our clients spend USD 200 on tips)
  • Flights to Chile - From your country to SCL, then to CPO
  • Rescue Insurance - Rescue Insurance - https://ss.globalrescue.com/partner/summitclimb/
  • Extra Cash - Bring USD 400 in cash in case you need to leave the mountain fast
Ojos del Salado Application

Please fill out an application and return it to us with your refundable ten-percent deposit to hold your place on the team.

In addition to your application, we will need the following at least two months before the trip begins:  

  • Completed Payment
  • Oxygen order (if any)
  • Sherpa order (if any)
  • Trip Registration form
  • 1 Passport sized photo
  • A scan of your passport identification pages
  • Complete flight itinerary
  • Proof of travel, accident, and repatriation insurance. We strongly recommend Global Rescue, with at least $50,000 worth of helicopter rescue insurance.
  • Trip cancellation/interruption insurance is recommended

Please contact us with any questions you may have.

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