Incahuasi (6,641m) - Provincia de Catamarca, Argentina

This huge volcano, the 12th highest mountain in the Andes, lies just south of the paved road from Fiambala to Paso San Francisco, and as it is so accessible receives more ascents than most of the other 6,000ers in the area.

After taking 2 1/2 days to cycle up from Fiambala to Argentine immigration at Las Grutas we headed off the main road, cycling 2kms towards the mountain to some termas. After spending the night there we continued on a rough track for 9kms towards the mountain by which stage the surface was so bad that we decided it'd be quicker to leave the bikes and continue on foot.

The weather had been unsettled on our cycle up to Las Grutas, with lots of threatening looking clouds, and some thunderstorms at night. As we walked 4 hours from the track to a low camp at 4,600m, lots of ominous lenticularis clouds appeared to the east of the mountain. We probably should have turned back at this point (and would have done had we known what was to come), but as the weather was nice every morning we decided to continue. During the night there was a big storm a few kms away to the east.

The following day we continued, going between the dark volcancitos which lay between us and the mountain, before descending 50m to the usual base camp at 4,950m. The weather, which had been nice, took another turn for the worse, and as we climbed up the sandy NE gulley aiming to camp at the col at 5,700m, we were overtaken by a hail and lightning storm and spent half an hour crouching behind a rock waiting for it to pass. We were at 5,400m at this stage and when the weather improved, decided to stay here to camp. We were well acclimatized so didn't think we'd have any trouble summitting from this low down, and the weather remained bad up at the portezuelo so this seemed like the sensible thing to do. However, there was no flat ground around (apart from a couple of exposed spots that we didn't fancy camping on in case the lightning returned) so we spent 2 hours chipping a platform out of the ice in the gulley using rocks and some tent pegs. As there was no running water in the vicinity we melted the chippings to drink.

The weather was still overcast when we went to bed, but when we woke at 07:00 it was clear again. We set off just after 08:00 and followed the clear path for an hour to the portezuelo at 5,693m. There is meant to be water near here, though it wasn't that obvious to us as we walked past where this was. From the portezuelo the going became steeper, firstly up sandy/scree slopes, then up the rocky NE ridge to the right/north of the large penitente field. We had to use our hands at a few of the steeper sections on the ridge.

We emerged onto easier ground at 6,225m and from there the route to the summit was clear. We initially walked across a plateau, then headed between 2 penitente fields at 6,434m. The weather began deteriorating and we were walking through clouds for this section, with visibility often down to 100m. After passing through the penitente fields we climbed up the gentle slope to the summit (6,641m), arriving 4h45 after leaving camp. Here the weather was clear to the west, so we had views of the stunning Laguna Verde in Chile, and could just see El Fraile. Ojos, Walter Penck and Nacimiento were all obscured by cloud however. Unlike some of the other mountains in the area the summit is very obvious, even more so as it is marked by a 1m tall metal cross, and there is also a plaque left up there by the Reynoso family to a friend who died in the Peruvian mountains.

The weather was now looking pretty bad so we didn't stay long on the summit, then took the most direct route back to camp. Descending to where the streams emanating from the 2 penitente fields (we'd passed between on the climb) go off the edge of the plateau and following this gulley directly to camp. The first part was steep with loose rock, but after a while it became easier. The last few hundred metres were on sand and as we could tell a storm was coming we ran down these, arriving back at camp 1h45 after leaving the summit.

The next few hours were the scariest of our lives. The first storm duly arrived, but though our tent was pelted with hail, the lightning never came too close. A couple of hours later however and a second storm came very close, far too close for comfort. For an hour we sat squatting in our tent as every 5 seconds a lightning bolt struck the mountain. Hundreds of times we heard roars of thunder and we lost count of the number of times that the thunder arrived simultaneously with the lightning. It was terrifying. We were thankful that we'd put up the tent in the shallow gulley the day before, because if we'd been up on the portezuelo during this storm we would've been in a whole heap of trouble.

After the longest hour I can ever remember the storm finally passed and we were able to relax and lie down, which was very welcome as our feet had long gone dead. (If anyone else is unlucky enough to be caught in a tent in a storm, here's some advice as to what to do.)

During the night there was another big storm, but it wasn't too close, and in the morning (sunny again) we got the hell off the mountain. It was only 3 hours back to the bikes, the first part walking in 10cm deep snow that had fallen the night before. We were soon soaking in the termas again and spent the night at the refugio at Las Grutas. Much as we love the Andes this put us off for now, so we decided to change plans and leave climbing Veladero, Tortolas and Olivares, which we'd planned on climbing in the next month, for another time and head to the Argentine Pampa instead.

Some GPS points

Description	Lat	Long	Alt
Left bikes	26.96700 S	68.19588 W	4,060m
Low camp	26.99999 S	68.24476 W	4,622m
Usual basecamp	27.01368 S	68.26041 W	4,954m
High camp	27.02448 S	68.27058 W	5,401m
Usual high camp on col	27.03285 S	68.27296 W	5,693m
Top of NE ridge	27.03385 S	68.28124 W	6,225m
Between 2 penitente fields	27.03035 S	68.29048 W	6,434m
Incahuasi summit	27.03374 S	68.29663 W	6,641m
On direct route down to high camp	27.02904 S	68.28287 W	6,181m

Nacimiento (6,478m) - Provincia de Catamarca, Argentina

We'd seen this large volcano often on our walk in to El Arenal, and then again from the summits of Viento, Ojos, Medusa and Walter Penck, and as it was the last high mountain in the vicinity we had our hearts set on climbing it before walking back out to the road. From the other summits the mountain had always stood out, as it is a far darker colour than all its surroundings.

Our Andes guide, and all maps we'd seen had the northeast summit of the crater marked as the highest point, however we'd seen on Google Earth that the northwest summit, 1.2kms away was probably a few metres higher, so we decided that we should probably climb both just to be sure.

We found an excellent campsite near a penitentes field at 5,400m and set off at 09:30 the next morning after waiting for the wind to die down. The climb up a wide, shallow gulley which had the odd penitente field in it was pleasant, and as the gradient wasn't steep we found it easy enough despite this being the fifth 6,000er we were climbing in nine days.

At about 6,300m we came to the base of the northeast summit mound, where the going got steeper, and it took about half an hour to make our way up this (4 hours in total from camp) to the northeast summit. This measured 6,469m on my GPS (which was about 30m more than we were expecting, so not sure if my GPS was having an off day) and here we found a cairn and some testimonios. We didn't stay long though as it was windy.

We descended the ridge to a low point at 6,350m, then climbed up to the northwest summit, taking about 45 mins from summit to summit. This was steeper than getting to the northeast summit, but was still simple enough with trekking poles. This summit measured 6,478m on my GPS, so was the true summit, as Google Earth had said. I think it is far less often climbed than the northeast summit though as there was only a small cairn with two testimonios, from 1999 and 2003, under it. We left our own scribblings in the vitamin tube there, before descending in 2 hours to camp.

Some GPS points

Description	Lat	Long	Alt
Basecamp	27.25459 S	68.49768 W	5,408m
Nacimiento NE Summit	27.28055 S	68.51316 W	6,469m
Nacimiento NW Summit	27.28098 S	68.52445 W	6,478m

Cazadero / Walter Penck (6,684m) - Provincia de Catamarca, Argentina

This was our favourite mountain on our trip to the Puna. Seldom climbed despite the fact it is the 9th highest in the Andes it has a fascinating summit - a jumble of rocky pinnacles which look like some post-apocalyptic scene.

It was a nice 2 hour stroll from El Arenal to get to our basecamp at 5,700m on the northeast side of the mountain. Most of the climbing was done right at the beginning as we went up a small valley, then there is a 2-3km long plateau to cross to get to the base of a canaleta with a small stream in it next to which we pitched our tent.

In the morning we followed this canaleta up to a penitente field by a red coloured little lake at 5,980m, then headed a bit to the right on easy ground to make it to the large canaleta that comes down from between Cazadero's two highest peaks. We followed this, past a few penitentes fields but walking all on sand/rocks until we were near the shoulder between the main summit and the secondary hump to the SE. Here we turned right/NW up steep boulder slopes towards the summit. Most of the rocks/boulders are firmly in place, but a few are loose so we had to watch where we were treading.

When we made it to the summit area we spent a little while confused as to where the actual top was. Rocky pinnacles everywhere and it seemed like it might take a while to work out which was the highest. Fortunately, from the first one that Neil climbed up it was obvious which the highest was, so we were able to scramble up there and leave an old credit card in the plastic bag of testimonios.

There were views of Nacimiento to the south, Tres Cruces to the west, Ojos to the north and Incahuasi to the northeast, as well as of Pissis to the southwest and all the beautiful couloured lakes near it. We'd felt good on the climb and it took 4 1/2 hours to climb the 1,000 vertical metres from our basecamp to the summit. The descent was also nice and quick and in less than 2 hours we were packing up our tent and returning to the 'lowlands' at El Arenal.

Some GPS points

Description	Lat	Long	Alt
El Arenal south basecamp	27.15916 S	68.50412 W	5,496m
Cazadero/Walter Penck high camp	27.17818 S	68.53392 W	5,693m
Near red lake	27.18518 S	68.53726 W	5,983m
In canaleta	27.18821 S	68.54209 W	6,134m
Cazadero/Walter Penck Summit	27.19626 S	68.56070 W	6,684m

Cerro Medusa (6,144m) - Provincia de Catamarca, Argentina

This mountain is normally climbed as an acclimatization peak for Ojos del Salado which is only a few kilometres away to the west. We however climbed Volcan del Viento before Ojos, then stayed in the area and climbed Medusa after summitting Ojos.

It turned out to be the easiest 6,000er we have ever climbed from basecamp to summit, and indeed it must be one of the easiest in the world in that respect. Getting to basecamp at El Arenal is a bit of effort though, so all in all San Francisco at 6,018m just to the north is probably easier as you can can drive straight to the base of the mountain on the paved road that goes from Fiambala to Paso San Francisco.

From our basecamp behind a big boulder at El Arenal we climbed up the easy south ridge which goes directly to the summit. The climb is not sandy or on loose rock for the most part, meaning that there are very few sections where you are taking a step forward and then slipping back.

At the top there is a small crater with a tiny crater lake, and a cairn marking the summit. There are excellent views of Ojos and Muerto which are both very close, as well as of Incahuasi to the northeast. The climb took 2 hours, and the descent just over an hour, so even though we didn't begin climbing until after 09:00, we were back in time for lunch.

Some GPS points

Description	Lat	Long	Alt
El Arenal basecamp	27.14957 S	68.49919 W	5,513m
Medusa Summit	27.12713 S	68.48467 W	6,144m

Ojos del Salado (6,892m) - Provincia de Catamarca, Argentina

This is the highest volcano in the world, the highest mountain in Chile and the second highest mountain in South America. Before starting our trip it was one we thought we'd like to climb, and finally after 16 months out here we were in the right area in the right season to attempt it.

After meeting Lisandro from Rosario, and Arkaitz from Spain at Aguas Calientes a few days earlier we decided to team up and climb the mountain together. From El Arenal we followed the stream heading straight for the mountain and climbed for an hour or so up a valley. This was an ok route to go, though on the way out we walked down the ridge immediately to the south of the valley, and this would be a better and easier way to walk in.

After the valley opened up we came across a path, and we followed this past a few penitentes fields to a good high camp at the junction of two streams at 5,750m. We were planning on camping higher, but this was a good spot and as we were well acclimatized we didn't think we'd have any trouble climbing the remaining 1,150m the following day.

In the morning we set off at 05:00 and climbed for a few hours up the steep boulder slopes above camp. There was so little snow around that we could stay on rocks and sand and didn't have to put on our crampons to go up the snow fields. At about 6,400m we reached the bowl that contains the world's highest lake, and rounded this to the right. Heading directly from here to the summit looked too steep, so we traversed left under a large snow field, before climbing steeply again towards the summit.

At 6,800m we came across the remnants of a crashed helicopter on a small flat area (to add to the one we saw on Cerro Plata - when will these pilots learn?!) before climbing steeply again to the summit. The weather was perfect with no wind at all, so we stayed an hour, savouring being higher than we'd ever been before. There were big volcanoes in all directions, but all of them far far below.

Ojos has two summits only about 100m horizontally apart, but with a 40m vertical drop in between. We were on the eastern/Argentinian summit and resisted the temptation to climb to the western/Chilean summit even though at the time we were up there we thought it was a few cms higher. The day before our climb Jonathan and Chan, two students from the University of Alaska, had taken up a GPS capable of measuring altitudes extremely accurately and had told us that the climb down to the western summit was a bit 'sketchy'.

(When, a few months later, the numbers had been crunched the results showed that actually the eastern summit is 31cm higher, with an error of just 2cms. Both summits are 6,892m. For measuring the altitudes it's obvious which is the highest rock on the western summit, but the eastern summit is a jumble of loose rocks. The pair told us they placed the GPS on the highest rock which seemed to be attached to the mountain to get the reading on the eastern summit.)

As a result we didn't bother climbing down then up to the western summit, and after taking plenty of photos of the sweeping views we headed down. On the climb we'd moved far slower than we are used to as we were in a four, and near the top we were travelling at a snail's pace, arriving at the top 7 hours after leaving camp. The descent was much quicker though, and in 2 hours we were in our tent and had passed out.

On our return to Fiambala we thought about getting a bus to Mendoza then heading to try and climb Aconcagua, South America's highest peak. This is only about 60m higher than Ojos and as we're so well acclimatized we were pretty sure that as long as the weather was ok we would be able to make it to the summit. In the end however we decided against it for 2 reasons.

The first is cost. All mountains in Argentina are free to climb, except Aconcagua for which you need a permit. This year prices have doubled and in high season a permit for foreigners is 500GBP per person. We'd have to wait until mid February when this falls to 200GBP per person to be able to afford it.

The second is the number of people on the peak. The 15 mountains we've climbed this trip we've only had to share with 6 people with whom we weren't actually climbing - 4 on Lanin and 2 on Parinacota - and we quite like it this way. On Aconcagua we'd be guaranteed to see a lot lot more as there are probably 1,000 people on the mountain in the busy season. At the moment we don't fancy going and joining the long line of people to the top, though it's such a beautiful area around there that maybe we'll change out minds...

Some GPS points

Description	Lat	Long	Alt
El Arenal basecamp	27.14957 S	68.49919 W	5,513m
Enter valley	27.14813 S	68.50222 W	5,522m
Ojos high camp	27.13218 S	68.51915 W	5,748m
Ojos del Salado eastern summit	27.10982 S	68.54157 W	6,905m*

* This was the altitude my GPS gave me, but the correct altitude (of both the eastern summit we climbed, and the western summit more usually climbed from Chile) is 6,892m.

Volcan del Viento (6,028m) - Provincia de Catamarca, Argentina

We climbed this in a morning from a camp near Portezuelo Laguna Negra. This camp was closer to the summit of Viento as the crow flies than a camp at El Arenal would be, but wasn't really the best place to climb it from as it meant we had to cross over a number of valleys before finally being able to head up to the summit crater. It therefore took us 2h45 to climb, despite the summit being only 500m vertically above our camp.

The summit is on the eastern side of the crater, and it was suitably windy for the last 50m. This was the steepest part of the climb, and we had to go on all-fours for a bit when the big gusts hit. At the top there is a cairn with testimonios underneath (though not many as it is only infrequently climbed), and good views of Cazadero/Walter Penck and Nacimiento which are the closest two big mountains. We took a better route on the descent, staying high to avoid the valleys, though it still took 1h45 to make it back to camp.

Some GPS points

Description	Lat	Long	Alt
Our basecamp	27.15941 S	68.47213 W	5,541m
Volcan del Viento Summit	27.19119 S	68.47418 W	6,028m

Cazadero Grande to El Arenal loop - Catamarca, Argentina - January 2011

We did this high altitude trek in Catamarca to get to El Arenal which we used as a base to climb a few mountains. It'd be a nice 6-7 day loop to hike anyway even if you don't want to go climbing, and you can find water every day unlike in many places on the Puna. There are loads of high peaks in the area and plenty of weird and wonderfully couloured lakes - black, turquoise, dark blue, crimson. There are many vicuñas on the lower part of this circuit, but for the few days spent above 5,000m you are unlikely to see any signs of life at all.

We caught a lift in a 4x4 from Fiambala to the refugio at Cazadero Grande (on the main, paved highway), then the camioneta went off road and drove us 10kms to a partly derelict and very basic refugio at Quemadito. There is water here in the Rio Nacimiento, and we stayed the night.

The following day was a long one, even though we had mules to carry our bags, as we walked up river towards Aguas Calientes (4,200m). After 8kms we passed a small waterfall, and 7kms further on we turned up the Aguas Calientes valley, and away from the Rio Nacimiento, at Las Juntas. 6kms up this valley, near the source of the slightly warm spring at Aguas Calientes there is a sheltered cave and some places to camp out of the wind.

Next day we walked 15kms to Agua de Vicuña (4,950m). At first we wandered up some shallow quebradas that it'd be possible to go the wrong way in and waste a bit of time, but after this we were walking up a very gentle gradient on a wide open plain, heading just to the right of Volcan del Viento. Luckily there was little wind around or this wouldn't be much fun as there'd be lots of sand in the air. At Agua de Vicuña there was a small penitente field up a valley to the north, so we were able to get water before camping behind a boulder and stone wall that previous hikers had built.

The third day of our walk in was a short one - continuing up the valley and over the Portezuelo Laguna Negra (5,570m), from where we had views of the small, dark lake, just to the north of the pass, and also our first sighting of Ojos del Salado and Medusa. Our basecamp at El Arenal (5,500m) was about 4kms further on from the pass, in the direction of Ojos. To get there you have to cross over a few small ridges, so there is a bit of climbing and descending to do. El Arenal makes a good base from which to climb Medusa and Volcan del Viento, and is also a good place from which to set out to make higher camps on Ojos and Cazadero/Walter Penck.

After climbing some of the peaks in the area, we walked out by following the valley that runs between Volcan del Viento and Olmedo (the volcano on the southern flanks of Cazadero). It took a day (12kms) to get to a camp (5,400m) on the east side of Nacimiento. (You have to head west over a small ridge when you reach the flat pass south of Viento and Olmedo to get to the valley near Nacimiento. If you stick to the main valley this heads back down to Aguas Calientes.) Then it was a further day to walk the 14kms back to the Rio Nacimiento and then 9kms following this to get back down to Las Juntas. From here to the road was nearly 30kms, and was a long day with heavy packs.

Some GPS points

Description	Lat	Long	Alt
Cazadero Grande Refugio	27.42016 S	68.13098 W	3,462m
Quemadito	27.37242 S	68.22502 W	3,650m
Las Juntas (go R for Aguas Calientes)	27.34508 S	68.34022 W	3,954m
Aguas Calientes	27.30501 S	68.35151 W	4,196m
Enter Quebrada	27.28029 S	68.36634 W	4,268m
Take quebrada on R	27.27002 S	68.37889 W	4,331m
Go L, straight at V. del Viento	27.25560 S	68.38281 W	4,388m
Climb up ridge to R, onto plain	27.24955 S	68.38825 W	4,481m
Leave plain, enter quebrada	27.22489 S	68.41347 W	4,664m
Agua de Vicuña	27.19793 S	68.43022 W	4,944m
Portezuelo Laguna Negra	27.16523 S	68.46047 W	5,572m
Good sheltered camp spot	27.15941 S	68.47213 W	5,541m
El Arenal camp	27.14957 S	68.49919 W	5,513m
Flat pass (head R over ridge towards Nacimiento)	27.22066 S	68.48526 W	5,331m
Join Rio Nacimiento	27.30758 S	68.41042 W	4,349m

Laguna Blanca (6,008m) - Provincia de Catamarca, Argentina

This is the second lowest 6,000er in the Andes, and lies just east of the road from Antofagasta de la Sierra to Belen. Like on Nevado Queva, we had little information about the mountain (just a GPS co-ordinate for the top) when we turned up in the nearest village, El Peñon. There it took a while to find anyone who knew about the mountain as it's not visable from anywhere near the village, but eventually we found a friendly guy who told us his brother had 'sufrido mucho', but managed to climb it a few years before.

He gave us an idea of where we needed to leave the main road, and which valley to head for, so we loaded up the bikes with 14 litres of water each and set off.

We pushed the bikes 1.5kms off the road towards the mountain on a sandy track that we couldn't cycle and as it was getting late decided to stop there to camp. The following morning we left the bikes behind a small bush - the best cover we could find on the sloping, featureless plain - and headed off uphill. We took 6 litres water each as we weren't convinced there'd be water higher up (we couldn't see any snow), but were relieved to be able to dump it when, after a few hours, we came across and began following a small stream. We stayed by this until 4,700m at which point it began heading away from our summit co-ordinate, so we decided to begin climbing more steeply up a small side valley, and found a good spot to camp at 4,850m.

The following day was Christmas Day and we set off at first light, climbing reasonably steeply for a few hours up to a ridge at 5,600m. Here we realised our mistake in leaving the main valley so early - it curved round soon after we'd left it and headed straight to the base of the summit mound. We ended up having to descend over 100m to this before beginning the 400m climb up scree and small rocks to the summit.

This was simple enough, but working out which was actually the highest of three undefined summits was slightly harder. My GPS point taken from Google Earth suggested the central one we climbed straight to was highest, but it certainly didn't look highest when we were on it, so we headed to a point a few hundred metres to the north which had a small cairn on top. My GPS said this was 1m lower, however. There was also another mound about half a kilometer to the south which looked about the same height, so just to be safe we wandered there too, only to find it was 10m lower. Despite being lower, it had a small wall to shelter from the wind behind so we stayed a few minutes and each opened a sole Christmas present!

For the first summit in a while the weather wasn't great and clouds meant we had few views to the west, and none at all to the east, which was disappointing. Even if we had've had views I think this would've been one of the least interesting mountains we've climbed this trip, and the cloud cover meant that it definitely was.

It took all afternoon to decend to our high camp and then down to the stream, and all the following morning to get back to our bikes. From here we continued south to Belen, and didn't get any views of the mountain when we passed near it again on the road as it remained completely covered in cloud. In fact, though we stood on its summit we never really once had a view of this mountain at all!

Some GPS points

Description	Lat	Long	Alt
Turned off paved road	26.54947 S	67.24422 W	3,554m
First water in quebrada	26.54766 S	67.14638 W	4,290m
In valley	26.56193 S	67.11732 W	4,702m
Follow valley to here	26.53880 S	67.07209 W	5,615m
Laguna Blanca Central summit	26.53392 S	67.06110 W	6,008m
Laguna Blanca North summit	26.52995 S	67.05939 W	6,007m
Laguna Blanca South summit	26.54250 S	67.06238 W	5,995m

Here's a link to the page we've written on SummitPost about Cerro Laguna Blanca.

Nevado Queva (6,155m) - Provincia de Salta, Argentina

We first saw Nevado Queva (or Quevar as the locals all seem to pronounce it) when crossing the Paso Sico from San Antonio de los Cobres to San Pedro de Atacama back in June 2010. From Olacapato it had looked like a simple enough climb, and as we'd decided to take the road over the Abra del Gallo from near La Polvorilla viaduct to Salar de Pocitos, which meant we'd be near the mountain again, we thought it'd be a shame to pass up a second opportunity to climb it.

Arriving in Santa Rosa de los Pastos Grandes we were glad to find a couple of (very) basic shops for supplies, and also Dante Vega - a local man who'd climbed the mountain a few times and was able to give us directions. We were even happier to find that there was a small 4x4 track heading off towards the mountain, so we were able to cycle/push up that for 7kms until it ended at 4,180m. There we camped and, leaving our bikes, set off in the morning with backpacks.

It was over 3 months since we last trekked, and we could really feel it. Our legs are nice and strong, but we have no upper body strength at all, so lugging even a relatively light 15kg pack was hard enough. Fortunately the route followed a valley (populated by lots of lovely donkeys), so we were alongside a stream until 4,850m. This meant we only had to carry water for half an hour or so from the source of the stream to our base camp at 5,030m.

The weather was good with little wind, and when we set off at first light in the morning it was only -5C. The climb to the summit was straightforward - directly up the SE ridge, which was rarely steep. This took just under 4 hours, and around 10:00 we were standing on the 6,155m west summit. Views of all the salars in the area (Pocitos, Rincon, Cauchari et al) were excellent, and just below us in the summit crater there were a few Inca ruins. Only walls are left of these, but I've been told that mummies and other artefacts were discovered there.

We descended via the lower south summit (6,135m) which is only a few minutes walk from the main top, and there found the summit register. We were only the ninth entry in it since the turn of the century (though I'm sure there have been more ascents than this by people who haven't bothered climbing the lower summit and those who didn't bring a pen with them, but nonetheless a nice quiet mountain to climb).

It took us the rest of the day to get back to our bikes, where we made camp again before heading off to the Abra de Quiron and Salar de Pocitos the following day.

All in all a nice, accessible 6,000er and we really enjoyed our 2 days on the mountain.

Some GPS points

Description	Lat	Long	Alt
Junction just E of Sta Rosa - turn N up track	24.46330 S	66.67082 W	3,932m
End of track	24.40921 S	66.67273 W	4,181m
Cascade	24.37095 S	66.69227 W	4,535m
Source of stream	24.34746 S	66.70223 W	4,848m
Base Camp	24.33726 S	66.70728 W	5,034m
Nev. Queva summit	24.30830 S	66.73253 W	6,155m

Here's a link to the page we've written on SummitPost about Nevado Queva.

Acotango (6,071m) - Departamento de Oruro, Bolivia

After climbing Sajama we thought we may as well try the fourth 6,000er in the park - Acotango. We'd heard it was an easier climb than the other three, so decided to cycle to base camp and climb it on our own.
As with Aucanquilcha, the cycle to base camp at just over 5,000m proved to be the hardest part; first we chose what turned out to be a sandy route from Lagunas to the turn-off for the mine road at about 4,300m, then the road was often steep and as we had heavy bikes with all our food and water for the climb on them we had to push quite a bit to base camp.
When we arrived there we were so tired that we decided to have a rest day, during which Harriet stayed in the tent while Neil cycle/pushed his bike up the mine road to 5,509m.
We planned on leaving for the summit at 04:00 the next morning, but when Harriet began being sick in the middle of the night we abandoned any thoughts of trying the climb. It seemed a shame though as we'd expended so much effort in getting the bikes to base camp, so when at 07:00 she began to feel better, we decided to give it a go after all.
The gradient was gentle as we climbed up sandy/rocky slopes to the east of the north ridge. Haz was going slowly and stopping regularly, but we continued on this route, joining the east ridge high up. This we followed for around 150m to the summit ridge, joining at about 6,040m.
As on our other climbs in the park the weather was perfect, so from here it was a nice 5 minute walk along the summit ridge to the summit at 6,071m. Despite Haz being ill it had only taken 4 hours from base camp - ah, the benefits of being well acclimatized!
Views from the top were superb (probably the best we'd seen in the park) - Parinacota and Pomerape along with Lago Chungara to the NW, Sajama to the NE, Huayllatiri to the SW, Laguna Macaya to the SE. We stayed a while, signed the Banco de Chile summit book, then descended quickly by the same route to camp.

Haz on the summit of Acotango, looking into Chile

Parinacota and Pomerape from Acotango

Some GPS points

Description	Lat	Long	Alt
Base Camp	18.36402 S	69.02806 W	5,061m
Crossed 4WD track	18.36494 S	69.02905 W	5,098m
On climb up E side of mountain	18.36986 S	69.03330 W	5,302m
Met tracks coming from where jeeps drop off tours	18.37396 S	69.03613 W	5,492m
Still on E face of N ridge	18.38085 S	69.04118 W	5,794m
Joined summit ridge	18.38178 S	69.04570 W	6,041m
Acotango summit	18.38275 S	69.04828 W	6,071m

Sajama (6,554m) - Departamento de Oruro, Bolivia

The weather remained good after our trip to the Payachatas, and as we were so well acclimatized, and still feeling good, we thought we'd give Sajama a go. At 6,554m this it he 15th highest mountain in the Andes, and the highest in Bolivia, but we were told the mountain was in good condition to climb, unlike many of the other 6,000ers in Bolivia this year.



Haz on the walk to BC



Our first day was very gentle - walking a couple of hours from Sajama village up to base camp at 4,800m. Here we met a couple whom we thought would be our only companions on the mountain - however the following day they didn’t even make it to high camp, so, once again we had a mountain to ourselves (we’ve been fortunate that of all the big mountains we’ve climbed this trip only on Lanin and Parinacota did we have other people climbing on the same day). We decided to maximise our chances of summitting by letting a kind mule carry most of our kit to base camp, then the following day we carried only 10kg packs and hired a porter to carry the rest up to high camp at 5,675m. There was a good path most of the way to high camp, though the last 100 vertical metres were quite steep and on loose scree.



High camp



High camp is perched on a lovely spot on the NW side of the mountain, and was 400m higher than we'd ever slept before. However after dinner we went to bed and managed to sleep ok until the wind picked up around midnight. We'd heard lots of reports that the mountain could be very cold, so this worried us a bit, but when we rose and left at 02:45 the next morning it was only -3C and the wind had died down.



We walked up the path above high camp, and at 5,950m put on harnesses and crampons and roped up as the climb became a bit harder. A short icy section was made easy as the ice had formed itself into convenient steps, then we had to use our hands a couple of times in reaching the ridge and then working our way along this, slowly gaining height.



Pikes on the summit at dawn



At 6,100m we entered a penitentes field, which didn’t prove to be difficult to negotiate as previous climbers had left a slight path. In fact, this was the most enjoyable part of the climb – striking the penitentes with our ice axes made them clunk like cracked bells. The penitentes ended at 6,200m, above which was a nice easy-angled (about 35 degree) snow slope to the summit. The last few hundred metres we began to feel the altitude a bit and had to pause every few minutes to catch our breath, but apart from a deep, but narrow, crevasse to cross there were no more obstacles on the way to the summit.



We arrived at the top of Bolivia at 07:00, just after dawn and 4h15 after setting off. After the disappointment on Pomerape a few days earlier we were delighted at having made it, and spent 20 minutes watching the sun rise further, and Sajama’s shadow recede from the Payachatas. The climb hadn’t been cold, but on the summit there was a chilly breeze, so after savouring the moment for a while we made a leisurely descent back to high camp and then base camp, arriving back in Sajama village by mid afternoon.



Some GPS Points

Description	GPS Point
Base Camp	18.11125 S, 68.91687 W, 4,811m
High Camp	18.10065 S, 68.89464 W, 5,675m.
Start of harder ridge	18.10259 S, 68.89106 W, 5,947m.
Still on ridge	18.10324 S, 68.89015 W, 6,029m..
Start of penitentes	18.10406 S, 68.88889 W, 6,128m.
End of penitentes	18.10523 S, 68.88868 W, 6,221m..
Sajama summit	18.10820 S, 68.88261 W, 6,554m.

Parinacota (6,351m) and Pomerape (6,282m), Departamento de Oruro, Bolivia

We cycled through PN Sajama in late July, but didn't have time to climb any of the moutains before having to rush to La Paz to pick up Peter. This done, we cycled back to Sajama via PN Lauca in Chile, quickly organized a guide and transport and headed to the Payachata volcanos.

By Bolivian standards the 800Bs (U$115) charged in Sajama to hire a jeep for the return journey to Parinacota 'base camp' is a rip off, but we were short of time and cycling the 27kms on a very sandy road would have meant Peter missed his return flight to London. So we jumped in a 4x4, driven by a 13 year old, and were at the car park that comprises base camp within an hour. From there it was a 90 minute walk up to the high camp near the col between Parinacota and Pomerape at 5,140m, with a porter carrying up for us 4 days' worth of water.



Parinacota

This was the highest mountain we've tried to climb, but it turned out not to be too difficult.
We left at 03:00, when the temperature was a pleasant -1C, and climbed up steadily on the path that leaves the high camp heading W. As the mountain is climbed frequently the path is distinct and soon this is zig-zagging up the northern slopes of the mountain.

When we climbed there was very little snow, so the path peters out at where the snowline normally is, however from this point it is very obvious where to go and the remainder of the hike is simple.

We arrived at the lower of the N summits (6,346m) and then carried on the the point slightly to the W as it looked a bit higher. It was, at 6,351m. We stopped here even though the true, NW summit was further W round the crater rim, as we thought it was wise to save some energy for Pomerape the following day, and as Peter had stopped on the first summit and didn't seem too keen to continue further.
The views into the huge (about 300m deep) summit crater were impressive, but it would've been even nicer with a bit more snow around. As the weather was perfect, with no wind, we were able to stay an hour on the summit enjoying the views and the high altitude.
The descent was generally easy, on scree, though Peter was very tired by this stage and Ignacio ended up attaching him to a leash just in case he tripped on the steeper parts. We made it back to camp in 3 hours, 10 hours after setting off.


Pomerape
After resting 12 hours at high camp our alarm went off at 01:00 and we were off just after 02:00. After the previous day's exploits Peter didn't fancy another trip up a mountain, so he remained in bed while we set off with Ignacio.

Pomerape from the N summit of Parinacota

It was an hour and a half walking on rocks and sand until we reached the base of the glacier at 5,400m that leads up towards the summit. Here we put on our harnesses and crampons, roped up and began climbing up the glacier. It was an enjoyable climb - the glacier was reasonably steep, but not too steep at about 40-45 degrees the whole way. The snow was mostly in good condition with only a few slightly icy patches, and we made decent progress, finding ourselves at 6,000m by 06:00.
Here things began to become more complicated. The snow turned to ice, but as it was only at about 30 degrees we were able to continue upwards to 6,128m. Here we were at the base of a rock wall, and initially Ignacio said we might climb up this, until we realised that it was littered with lots of loose rock that would have made it too dangerous to attempt. The usual route from this point is to skirt round to the left of the rock and climb up a 60 degree snow slope, but with so little snow this season this route was all hard ice.

Ignacio with ice wall where we turned back mid photo

Looking at it we didn't think we'd be able to climb it, and eventually this proved the case, but we had a quick try anyway. Ignacio traversed across 40m of ice and secured a line for Haz to make her way across, while Neil sat in the cold for 45 minutes anchoring the other end. When Haz made it across the traverse and saw the 100-150m of 60 degree ice climbing that awaited afterwards we made the decision to turn back as we knew we weren't confident or competent enough to try and climb up this.

It had been a good adventure though, and it was nice to finally use the crampons that we bought in Mendoza and had been lugging around on the bikes for 4 months!
It took 3 hours to get back to high camp, Ignacio placing anchors and us abseiling down most of the glacier. All great fun.
We were back in Sajama in a few hours, and there had a well earned 2 day rest before setting off for the big one - Sajama itself.

Some GPS Points

Description	GPS point
'Base Camp'	18.15866 S, 69.10130 W, 4,822m
High Camp	18.15205 S, 69.12293 W, 5,143m

Parinacota

Description	GPS point
On the climb up the N slopes	18.14850 S, 69.13022, 5,320m
On the climb up the N slopes	18.15571 S, 69.13730, 5,962m
Hit the crater rim at	18.16090 S, 69.14046 W, 6,296m
Lower of the N summits	18.16087 S, 69.14153 W, 6,346m
Higher of the N summits	18.16057 S, 69.14254 W, 6,351m

Pomerape

Description	GPS point
On the way to the glacier	18.14463 S, 69.12362 W, 5,313m
Enter the glacier	18.14111 S, 69.12586 W, 5,412m
On the glacier	18.13776 S, 69.12656 W, 5,610m
On the glacier	18.13419 S, 69.12700 W, 5,927m
High point	18.13128 S, 69.12715 W, 6,128m

Volcan Aucanquilcha, Region II, Chile

We found out about this big volcano from Corax's mate Martin Adserballe's adventure page (http://www.adserballe.com/) and as we weren't too far away thought it would make a fun detour.
After cycling through the lakes region in southwest Bolivia we took the good new road from Villa Alota to Estacion Avaroa, and from there hopped over the border to Ollague in Chile. There we camped for a few nights, and left for the mountain on a morning where the temperature was -17C.
Until 1993 Aucanquilcha was home to the highest mine in the world - a huge sulphur mine at about 6,000m in which worked 1,000 or so Bolivians in apparently terrible conditions. As a result there is an old mine road up the mountain to the mine.

Setting out from Ollague it's a gentle 10km climb on an ok road to the near-abandoned mine settlement of Amincha (the old caretaker still lives there). 2.5kms past this, turn right at a junction and the real climb up the mountain begins, on a road that soon deteriorates.
Although we'd tried to leave everything we didn't think we'd need back in Ollague, with 3 days food and 12 litres of water each our luggage still weighed about 30kgs and soon we were struggling on the bad surface and steep slopes. For that afternoon and the following morning we occasionally cycled but mostly pushed up 13kms to 5,130m. Here the road became so bad that we thought we wouldn't even be able to cycle down it, so decided that it wasn't worth the trouble of taking our bikes any further. We were happy enough with getting the bikes this far though - over 5,000m for the first time.
We transferred our kit onto our backs and walked the 2kms to the old miners' camp where we put up our tent in some old walls at 5,290m - the highest we've ever camped.
As we were 1,600m above Ollague we thought we'd be in for a bitterly cold night, but when we set off at dawn the next morning it was only -7C, though there was a bit of wind around.

We followed the old switchback road to the cable car station at 5,875m, then spent a while confused as to the way to proceed. Aucanquilcha is a complex volcano with at least 4 significant tops, and to us the one to our right looked highest. We'd read on the internet that we had to head up left though, and managed to scramble up some steep scree to a rock wall at 6,000m. Here we again were able to turn left and follow a road for a while before climbing the final 100m up a not-too-steep scree ridge to the summit. Until we reached the summit 4 hours after setting off from camp we were worried that we weren't climbing the highest part of the mountain, but when we did make it to the top my GPS said 6,188m and all the other 'tops' looked lower, so we decided we must've taken the correct route after all!

The descent was fast - retracing our steps to the cable car station, then racing down a 600m scree gulley to camp. As we didn't fancy another night up so high we got back to the bikes and cycled down (with the odd bit of pushing on the really bad sections) to 4,150m before heading back to Ollague the next day in time to watch my Spanish boys win the mundial.

In Ollague we ran into Belgian Siegfried Verheijke, a friend of Martin Adserballe's and the man who jointly holds the Guinness world 'high altitude cycling' record with him (they took their bikes up to 7,008m on Muztagh Ata and managed to cycle the grand total of 8m!). He had the ambitious plan of attempting to cycle from Ollague to the mountain, summit with his bike and return - all in one day. We ran into him in Uyuni a few days later, and unfortunately strong headwinds foiled his plan...it was an interesting idea though.

Some GPS points

Description	Lat	Long	Alt
Junction - turn R	21.20972 S	68.36083 W	4,000m
Left our bikes	21.19366 S	68.45550 W	5,130m
Miners' camp	21.20032 S	68.46946 W	5,290m
Between cable car station and rock wall	21.21722 S	68.46958 W	5,990m
Path between rock wall and summit ridge	21.21733 S	68.46847 W	6,036m
On summit ridge	21.21903 S	68.46819 W	6,108m
Aucanquilcha Summit	21.22090 S	68.46840 W	6,188m

Volcan Licancabur - Potosi Region, Bolivia

Ever since we'd been to San Pedro de Atacama in 2002 we'd fancied climbing the perfect cone of Licancabur which dominates the skyline to the east. So after a week resting, we spent a day and a half cycling very slowly up from town to Laguna Blanca - a climb of over 2,000m. There we ended up staying 2 nights, as the day we planned to go to Licancabur base camp the weather was unsettled and all the locals assured us it would snow.

When it didn't, we set off early the following morning for the base camp, 11kms away. We had vague thoughts that if we could get there within 2 hours, we might try and climb the mountain that day as we were feeling good and were well acclimatized. When we stumbled into the Inca ruins that comprise base camp 7 hours later we decided it would probably be best to put off our climb til the morning.

The journey to base camp turned out to be the hardest part of climbing the mountain. Fierce headwinds and a sandy road meant that we were forced to push our bikes almost from the moment we left our refugio at Laguna Blanca. Three and a half hours and 7kms later we decided to dump the bikes behind some rocks by Laguna Verde, transfer our kit to our rucksacks and hike the rest of way. We were so tired from the pushing that the 4km walk took us 2 hours.


We were delighted to find that the Inca ruins provided perfect shelter for our tent from the wind, and we passed a comfortable night as the temperature only fell to -2C. This meant we didn't have any trouble getting up early the next morning, and set off as the sun came up at 07:00. As the mountain is climbed reasonably often (though for the 2 days we were there we saw no other sign of life - human, animal, bird or even insect) there is a decent path for most of the way to the summit, and we followed this up a sheltered gulley to around 5,200m.

Here the path climbed up to a rocky ridge - much easier to climb up than the scree in the gulley. But much windier as well. For the next 2 hours we struggled up the path into the strong wind. Frequently we had to stop to steady ourselves against the gusts, and a number of times the stronger gusts knocked us both to the floor. We wondered a few times whether we'd be able to get up the steeper part of the climb between 5,600m and 5,800m with this wind, but fortunately this section was more sheltered and provided no problems.

We made it to the top 4h45 after setting off - which was longer than we'd expected it to take, but Haz didn't have any problems with the altitude as she had on Cerro Plata. We didn't stay long on the summit (even though the views were good and it would have been interesting to go down to the frozen crater lake) because of the wind, and soon began our descent. This also took longer than expected as we didn't find the fast route down scree to camp (we went into the main gulley but it was full of big loose rocks that we didn't like being on at all) so ended up going back down the path in the wind, arriving at camp 8 hours after we'd set off.     

Some GPS points

Description	Lat	Long	Alt
Inca ruins basecamp	22.83209 S	67.85630 W	4,701m
Licancabur Summit cairn	22.83315 S	67.88270 W	5,938m

(As most of the way is on a clear path that starts by the ruins, I didn't keep any other waymarks.)

Cordon del Plata - Mendoza Province, Argentina

Cordon del Plata
From Mendoza, we climbed 2,000m on the bikes to the ski resort of Vallecitos. There we left our bikes and set off up the main valley for a week to try and scramble up some of the peaks in the area.

1) Cerro Stepanek (4,114m)

During our first night of camping in the valley, at Las Veguitas (3,220m), our tent was nearly destroyed by katabatic winds which appeared out of nowhere. Luckily they only lasted half an hour, and our tent survived with just one very bent pole.
The next day we spent 6 hours walking from Las Veguitas, up the couloir between Stepanek (the peak above our tent in the centre of the photo) and Adolfo Calle (the peak to the left), then climbing both of these peaks.

The way up to Stepanek was a bit rough, with lots of loose rock, and our progress wasn't helped by 3 dogs that followed us for 2 days from Vallecitos. They were much quicker climbers than us, and we were constantly on the lookout to avoid small rocks that they were sending down on us!
This photo is of Haz on the summit of Stepanek, with Rincon (5,318m) the flat peak above her in the background.


2) Cerro Adolfo Calle (4,269m)

The climb up to Adolfo Calle was much more simple, on an easy angled path, and from the summit we had great views up the Vallecitos valley to Cerro Vallecitos (5,461m - on the right of the photo) and Pico Plata.
After moving our camp up valley to Piedra Grande (at 3,570m) and then to El Salto (4,280m) we planned on climbing Cerro Vallecitos prior to Cerro Plata. However on the day we'd marked for the summit of Vallecitos the weather was cloudy and windy, so we settled instead for an acclimatization walk up to the Pico Plata/Lomas Amarillas col at 4,920m.

3) Cerro Plata (5,962m)

We set off to try and climb Cerro Plata from El Salto at 05:30 - it was -10C in our tent, and whenever one of us touched the roof we were both showered with snow which had condensed during the night. Fortunately there was no wind for the first 2 hours of the climb, but just before dawn we were at 5,000m and the temperature was around -15C.
The day was clear and the sun warmed us for a while, until we climbed to the Pico Plata/Vallecitos ridge at 5,200m where we encountered a strong and cold headwind.

From here there was a good path, that climbed gently to about 5,500m, then rose more steeply to the summit. As we weren't that well acclimatized we found ourselves having to stop regularly on this final part of the climb as we quickly became out of breath. Shortly before the summit we came across a crashed helicopter - one of 2 (or maybe 3 - the locals told us slightly differing stories) which lie near the top of the mountain. From the summit there were great views of the surrounding mountains, and to Aconcagua and Mercedario further in the distance. Though it wasn't cold on the top we didn't stay long as Haz really began to feel the altitude. The descent took half the 6 hours we'd taken to ascend, and by the time we made it back to camp we were knackered, having walked 14kms and climbed/desecended 1,700m that day.

(Cordon del Plata trek: 6 days, 48.9km, 6,095m ascent/descent)

Some GPS points

Description	Lat	Long	Alt
Vallecitos ski resort	32.98043 S	69.35452 W	2,788m
Las Veguitas camp	32.97642 S	69.37100 W	3,220m
Stepanek Summit	32.96914 S	69.39412 W	4,114m
Adolfo Calle Summit	32.97315 S	69.40024 W	4,269m
Piedra Grande camp	32.98131 S	69.38917 W	3,567m
El Salto camp	32.97952 S	69.41468 W	4,282m
Cerro Plata Summit	33.01594 S	69.45501 W	5,962m

Neuquen Province - Argentina

Area Natural Protegida Tromen
1) Day hike up Cerro Wayle (3,185m)

From Refugio Wayle, we climbed up a path, and looped round the summit crater of the volcano. It was a nice easy walk, with good views of Laguna Tromen and Volcan Tromen to the south, and Volcan Domuyo, the highest peak in Patagonia, to the north. (10km, 5h, 1,000m ascent/descent)



2) Day hike up Volcan Tromen (3,989m)

This was a far more challenging day hike, which we'd been told would take 12 hours. So we left our tent at 2,150m in a sheep corral an hour before dawn for the long climb to the summit. Up to 3,000m the walk was easy, on grassy then sandy slopes, but from this point onwards became far steeper. It took 2 hours to follow a steep gulley up to 3,800m, having the option to climb up on steep sand (2 steps up, 1 step back), or on steep rocks/scree (quicker, but with the danger of slipping, or the front person sending down rocks on the person below). We only found out on the way down that there was a path most of the way (though it was mostly sandy so would've taken a lot longer to climb up). On emerging from the gulley there was a clear, but still steep, path to the summit. There were better views from here than from the summit of Wayle, which we now towered over, though we were glad of the acclimatization the previous day's walk had given us. The climb took 5 hours, and we feared the descent would be as long and slightly dangerous, until we found the path, which made the descent relatively straightforward, and we were down in 3 hours. (13km, 8h, 1,850m ascent/descent)

Some GPS points

Description	Lat	Long	Alt
Refugio Wayle	37.07871 S	70.11876 W	2,243m
Cerro Wayle summit	37.05350 S	70.11904 W	3,185m
Volcan Tromen Basecamp	37.10531 S	70.09207 W	2,148m
Volcan Tromen summit	37.14059 S	70.04919 W	3,989m

The Far South - Patagonia

Parque Nacional Los Glaciares - El Chalten and the Fitzroy Range, Argentina
We had great luck here. After 2 months of terrible weather in the area, the clouds cleared, the winds dropped a bit and the sun came out the day we arrived in El Chalten, which allowed us to enjoy 3 of the best day hikes we've ever done.
1) Day hike to Laguna Torre and Mirador Maestri - A stunningly beautiful walk up valley to Laguna Torre, for great views of Cerros Torre, Egger etc. At the lake it was incredibly windy, but we walked up the moraine above it to Mirador Maestri where there was no wind and we could soak up the scenery. Amazing views - we haven't been so awed by the mountains since Pakistan. (28km, 7h, 720m ascent/descent)
2) Day hike to Laguna de los Tres - Another great walk up to a lake, this time to enjoy great views of Fitzroy, Poincenot and friends. Simply amazing. (27km, 8h, 950m ascent/descent)
3) Day hike up Loma del Pliegue Tumbado (1,517m) - Walking up this hill we were further away from the mountains, but this gave us some great panoramic views, enabling us to see Cerro Torre and Fitzroy at the same time. (24km, 6h, 1,200m ascent/descent)
Plans are already being made to return and trek a circuit around Cerro Torre, which means crossing onto, and walking a few days on, the Southern Patagonian Icefield.

Parque Nacional Torres del Paine - Chile
"The Circuit" - 8 days
Having first trekked the "W" here in 2002, we came back for the longer circuit. Unlike our last visit, we were lucky with the weather, and this, along with the company of Mateo and Tariq, made for a great trek. The first 4 days, round the back of the circuit were quiet and we only had to share the trails with a few other trekkers. The real highlights of the trek though are on the busier "W" part of the circuit, but luckily with some planning we were able to avoid the crowds, and enjoy Glaciar Grey, the top of Valle del Frances, and the Torres at dawn away from the crowds. Getting between these places meant being on pretty busy paths, but that's the price you pay for coming to enjoy South America's most famous national park. (139km, 61h, 7,000m ascent/descent)

Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego - Argentina
We came to this national park mainly to reach the end of the road on our bikes, but still made time for a really good day hike.
Day hike to Cerro Guanaco (974m) and the Senda Costera - The walk up this "Munro" took just over 2 hours on a good path, and from the top afforded great views of the Beagle Channel.

When we arrived on the summit we only had to share it with a Fuegian fox, but when a few noisy Americans and a couple of groups arrived we decided to head down. As the climb hadn't taken as long as expected, we tacked on a coastal walk in the afternoon. This didn't really live up to our expectations, and made for a very long day - we arrived back in camp well after dark and with very sore knees. (34km, 11h, 1,220m ascent/descent)