Hiking up the jeep trail at 5400m to Refugio Tejos
We are back in Copiapo after a round-trip through the desert to Laguna Verde and Ojos del Salado.
Getting there is an adventure in itself. It’s 260km of desert road with passes of 4500m, some 4000m higher than Copiapo.
Unfortunately we didn’t summit; we were too exhausted and didn’t get enough oxygen up there to perform well enough. I think we got back up to altitude too quickly for our bodies to adjust. We spent one night at Laguna Verde (4300m), one night at Refugio Atacama (5200m), one night at Refugio Tejos (5830m), then attempted the summit.
The weather was great, with no clouds at all and always a brilliant night sky. I’d thought that Ojos would be relatively easy after Aconcagua; but the altitude above 6000m is always a challenge, and the harsh desert environment up there adds to the physical discomfort. There are about 300 people attempting to climb Ojos every year, with a 20% success rate. A fairly exclusive summit, probably the least visited after Logan.
For details and photos, see the Ojos page: http://tlausser.com/blog/peaks/ojos
March 19th, 2010
After having to wait out the weekend in Copiapo we now have procured the required permits for Ojos del Salado. We also bought 40l of water as well as a 20l canister for gasoline before heading out into the Atacama desert up to the Laguna Verde, from where we will stage our 3-4 day attempt on Ojos.
We also bought spare batteries for the headlamps and GPS, as well as a detailed mountaineering map of the area. We received detailed instructions from the Aventurismo office here in Copiapo, so now we think we are sufficiently prepared for the Ojos climb.
Tonight I will activate the SPOT tracker (see Ojos tracking page) and send an OK message from the Laguna Verde.
Wish us luck for Ojos del Salado!
March 15th, 2010
We reached the summit of Aconcagua on 6-Mar-10. At 6,962 m Aconcagua is not only the highest point of Argentina, but of all of the Americas and certainly of all Panamerican Peaks. In fact it is the highest mountain in the world outside of the Himalayas.
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Approach to Base Camp via 20 km long Horcones Valley at 3,500 m
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Aconcagua Base Camp 4,300 m after a front passed through hinting at nearing winter
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Evening mood at Camp Canada (Camp 1) at 4,900 m
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Sunset at Camp Nido de Condores (Camp 2) at 5,400 m
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Aconcagua casting its shadow at Camp Colera (Camp 3) at 6,000 m the evening before our summit push.
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The rising sun just touches the tops of the mountains below and makes Aconcagua cast a huge shadow to the West.
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Long traverse at 6,500 m to reach the Canaleta and later the summit
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On top of Aconcagua Summit (6,962 m) with friend Antoine Labranche
Friend Antoine Labranche and I climbed Aconcagua in a small mini-expedition without guides or porters in 11 days. 2 days later we are now resting in Mendoza, some 6,000 m lower. We are basking in oxygen-rich air, appreciating hot showers, sleeping in clean beds and feasting on juicy Argentinean steaks. In short: We are low again, but definitely high on life!
For more details (photos, videos, SPOT track, detailed daily notes, etc.) see the Aconcagua page.
March 10th, 2010
After the bike mishap some 10 days ago and then the surprise visit back home in Florida during the last week I am now en route to Mendoza for the expeditions on Aconcagua and later Ojos Del Salado.
I procured the replacement frame part from ChallengeBikes in Holland. It was shipped via FedEx to Florida, so I could bring it with me to Mendoza (and then send it down to the bike shop in Bariloche. Thanks to FedEx for delivering overnight and thanks to ChallengeBikes for splitting the cost of the frame part. I also got a new flag pole for my Bob Yak trailer – the old one had been shredded to pieces by the Patagonia wind.
When I left last night from Miami I reflected on how distributed my equipment is at this moment: My bike is at a bike shop in Bariloche, the bike trailer and panniers at the hostel in Bariloche; my replacement part is in a bag checked through to Mendoza. My duffel bag with tent, sleeping bag, stove etc. is already in Mendoza at our hotel. My mountaineering backpack I just picked up from the hotel in downtown Santiago where I stayed 5 weeks ago on the way down to Ushuaia. Not the kind of scenario for a person who needs to have all equipment present in one location at all times…
Last week I did some work on my Blog pages (as compared to the posts). There is now a new About page (with mission statement and link to project brochure in PDF format), as well as Peaks and Rides index pages (http://tlausser.com/blog/peaks and http://tlausser.com/blog/rides) with a picture of all peaks or rides by country. From those you can easily navigate to the respective page for a specific peak or ride through that country. You can also use the links in the ‘Pages’ section on the right. Alternatively, you can navigate to a particular peak page directly by name, such as http://tlausser.com/blog/peaks/aconcagua.
Speaking of Aconcagua: Antoine Labranche from Canada and I will embark on a 2 week expedition to Aconcagua starting this Tuesday (Feb-23), followed by a 1 week expedition to Ojos Del Salado (Chile’s highpoint). I have created a new SPOT tracking page for Aconcagua (see Route link on the right or directly here) where you can follow our progress over the next 2 weeks. There is also a Aconcagua photo album on Picasa. If there is WiFi as rumored at the hotel near base camp I plan to provide some updates during next week as well. Wish us luck up high for the next 3 weeks!
February 21st, 2010
Just before we were growing fins and flippers to adapt to the daily wet ride in the rain on Day 6 (from Coyhaique) we turned East in Villa Santa Lucia to get over to Futualeufu and finally to the much drier Argentinean side of the mountains. This was a typical road for the Carreterra Austral, one-lane gravel with washboard and some potholes, one just has to go slow here. In some spots I need to push the bike, as it’s too steep for me to ride here.
Then after 50km or so, as I ride slowly uphill, I all of a sudden feel a weird, soft swinging sensation, almost as if going through specially designed washboard waves or the onset of a flat rear tire? All of a sudden, I feel like sinking lower and the bike stops cold. I have trouble preventing tipping over sideways. I stand up and look at the bike. No flat tire. What’s going on? Then I see the damage: My frame broke at the rear fork! Here are some photos:
Must have been material fatigue after some 40,000 km during the second go-around on the Panamerican Highway! While I’m not happy about this, I am happy that it didn’t occur at high speeds going downhill…
A friendly Chilean motorist took me the remaining 25 km to Futualeufu, where I knew I could stay the night and then tried to figure out how to continue by bus to Esquel, the nearest town of reasonable size. I took a bus that same evening to Esquel, crossing the border into Argentina, finally seeing the sun for the first time in 6 days, which felt indescribably good (similar to how I felt about my first hot meal after coming down from Denali).
Unfortunately there is only one serious bike mechanic in Esquel and he determined that he couldn’t fix this aluminum frame break. So I took a bus to Bariloche, where I found a very good mechanic. Now I’m waiting for the replacement frame part to get shipped from the Dutch manufacturer Challengebikes. Let’s hope this won’t take too long…
February 14th, 2010
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