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Hi,

I've been doing some research on Ojos del Salado and hoping to make it down from the US this coming fall. However it seems that entering from Chile takes considerable paperwork. Can anyone comment on their experience(s) climbing Ojos del Salado from Chile and/or from the east?

Can anyone comment on reputable guide services / transport up the road and USD costs?

Best
J

Granted we're only in the early planning stages (and therefore this reply will be of little use to you), but we're looking at approaching it from Bolivia this December.

While we won't be using a guide, I believe we'll be hiring a local driver to take us to the base all the way from La Paz.

The idea is for us to spend our time acclimating on various peaks on the extended drive from La Paz to Ojos, taking perhaps 2 weeks just to get there, and thereby spending only a week or so on the mountain.

While we won't be using a guide, I believe we'll be hiring a local driver to take us to the base all the way from La Paz

Ojos is a really, really long way from La Paz. It seems like it would be a lot cheaper, easier and faster to fly at least part way La Paz to Copiapo even if you did have to connect through Santiago.

I am curious as to how much would it cost to hire a driver for over 1000 miles each way?

Also, December is very much the wet season in Bolivia and often the roads outside the desert areas have a good chance of being closed at times. If you did try it by using a driver, plan on using the western routes if you can. I'm sure you already know, but along the Chile frontier the country is much drier during the wet season. SW Bolivia isn't too bad that time of year, but the ranges east of the Altiplano will most likely have conditions that are not good for climbing at all and there is a good chance of road closures. During the dry season, the mountains in Bolivia have very stable weather, but in December really only the peaks along the Chile frontier are reasonable.

Scott wrote:

While we won't be using a guide, I believe we'll be hiring a local driver to take us to the base all the way from La Paz

Ojos is a really, really long way from La Paz. It seems like it would be a lot cheaper, easier and faster to fly at least part way La Paz to Copiapo even if you did have to connect through Santiago.

I am curious as to how much would it cost to hire a driver for over 1000 miles each way?

Also, December is very much the wet season in Bolivia and often the roads outside the desert areas have a good chance of being closed at times. If you did try it by using a driver, plan on using the western routes if you can. I'm sure you already know, but along the Chile frontier the country is much drier during the wet season. SW Bolivia isn't too bad that time of year, but the ranges east of the Altiplano will most likely have conditions that are not good for climbing at all and there is a good chance of road closures. During the dry season, the mountains in Bolivia have very stable weather, but in December really only the peaks along the Chile frontier are reasonable.

This has all already been taken into consideration.

The cost? Not sure yet. We're splitting it between 5 people, and flying home via Santiago.

What do either of you feel to be a good time for acclimatizing? I was planning on doing this in 12 days from arrival to departure at the local airport. Too aggressive?

jspears0001 wrote:What do either of you feel to be a good time for acclimatizing? I was planning on doing this in 12 days from arrival to departure at the local airport. Too aggressive?

Yes. Too aggressive.

I took 3 with me up Ojos on the Argentinian route two years ago. If you only have 12 days this is most probably not what you want to do (4x4 dropping spot to summit is 64 km or so).

It of course, entirely depends on how you acclimatize, personally I would not rule out 12 days at all. You can contact Jonson Reynosa in Fiambala and he can arrange mules to get you into Arenal (or close by, actually it makes more sense to be dropped off before decending to Arenal) so you could be up there in a couple days (from Fiambala). That said, you would need time to acclimate then. Many people rest part of the way up, but certainly it is doable to go all the way to a camp at the base of Ojos in three of four days. This would give you a week to acclimate, and make the top, and back out. Again, it all depends on your ability to acclimatize, which has to do with your fitness and your "rest management" but to a large degree, also has to do with luck.

We flew in to Copiapo via lima, you can rent a 4 wheel drive truck in Copiapo and drive in. There are places along the way you can acclimatize.

This is a good guide who is friends with the owner of the concession.

http://www.guejar.com/pakoguia/vers_en/quien_en.htm

Thanks to all of you. Very useful information. I didn't realize you needed to ask permission prior to entering a desert plus pay the ~$120 or whatever it is for the Non-Chilean citizen entrance fee.

Is getting all the finalized paperwork and paying the fees a quick thing or will this take a whole day?

One additional question for the group, has anyone attempted this during the "winter" months and if so, how much snow did you encounter and at what point? Just on the mountain itself, during the drive up, etc??

Thanks

Watch this:
Seems that there's not much snowfall in winter months in Puna. It looked pretty much the same when I was on Ojos in April and the weather turned bad. You should rather be afraid of wind not of snow. On the other hand it's gonna be harder to organise mules in winter. I don't think that you really need them but some people like this old school style of expeditions (I mean mules, porters etc.)
The movie shows Pissis, but it's just about 30 km south of Ojos del Salado - a nice peak to bag too.