Hello,

Has anybody been in the Cachi area (near Salta, Argentina), to climb up to Nevado Cachi ?

There is very little information in John Biggar's Andes handbook, and I tried to locate the path on Google Earth. But I'm not sure about the accuracy of it all.

Anybody may help ?
Thanks

No, but I was planning to go there a few years ago. There used to be a page here on SP but now it seems to have gone.

It's an interesting area, but the peaks are not very difficult. The seasons also seem a little different to the rest of the Argentine Andes, probably as it is so far north. It's basically a long, high chain of rounded snowy peaks, with a very high snow line.

I have an old satellite image of the range, but it is not great. I would assume nowadays GoogleEarth would get you a much better one. The image I had seemed to indicate that the peaks were steeper and rockier on the western side, but it seems most ascents are from the east and south.

D

I just checked it on GoogleEarth. The range is about 45 miles WSW of Salta, with a road running N-S down the E side. From this road it seems about 17-20 miles into the base of the main peak, which is showing on GE as around 6310m. GE usually shows peaks lower than they are (at least in China/Tibet where I usually look) so that's a good sign.

The peak is different heights on many different maps, often with a diffferent name(s).

The GE imagery is also showing less snow cover than photos that I have seen, so it is a bit more interesting than GE would indicate.

D

Dear Damien,

Thanks for you answer.

I got mixed up with John Biggar's information saying that the Nevado Cachi is also called Libertador. As you may have seen on Google Earth there are actually two different summits : Cachi (6334m with coordinates 24°55'51.24"S / 66°23'23.57"W) and Libertador (5983m).

I guess you spotted the same...

Anyway if you find any good description on the ascent, please let me know

Hi,
Last winter I went to talk with the local police in Cachi before heading to nevados de Cachi for a trek (actually, there are 7 or 8 very near summits on this mountain). He told me that the mountain is not that easy and that the main danger is very quick changing weather risks. He also told me that some so called experienced climbers got lost on it. As I was not really taking seriously his advice, and as the weather was perfect for more than a week in the area, I decided to go there the next morning. When I woke up the mountain was under black clouds and lightenings were flashing every 10 seconds... A huge storm was happening. The guy was right and I went to trek elsewhere.

Thanks Gnome !
We have changed our plans into Puna de Atacama, instead of Cachi area.