Andean Giant Expedition

• By: Marc Booysen & Allyson Towle
• Associated Event: Andean Giant Expedition
• Date: January 5, 2011 – November 28, 2010

Personal message

Our vision was to summit the world’s highest volcano Ojos del Salado, Chile, by cycling from the Pacific Ocean and climbing the last 2500m to the summit to raise funds for MaAfrika Tikkun’s youth development initiative.

We began the Expedition on the 10th of December 2010 in Caldera, a small sea side town. We spent long days on the bike so we could cover the 350km (70kms a day) to reach our base camp, Refugio Claudio, at 4500m.  It was a tough 5 days; being chased by a giant Rottweiler on day one, cycling up hills that went on forever, an unforgiving climate that was only hot and dry(no shade out there),  sand that swallowed our bike tyres and thin air that left us breathless.  However, it was an incredible experience, just being in a remote region with giant volcanoes dominating the horizon.  The support we received was phenomenal; our 4x4 driver, Fernando and his brother Felipe were great in providing us with water all the way and the Chilean people couldn’t stop hooting and waving at us in amazement which really encouraged us through the rough patches.

From our base camp we were essentially on our own. We used the next 5 days to acclimatise, not just to the high altitude of the Chilean Altiplano, but also to the cold winds that sweep it.

On the 20th, against the advice from other climbers, we decided to hike the 22km from the Refugio to Camp Atacama at 5200m instead of using 4x4’s. Atacama was a challenge as we had to deal with varying degrees of fatigue and nausea. Our legs were stiff and even going to the toilet was tiring. 

Due to our schedule our summit day would be the 25th. Other expeditions had packed up and left, leaving us alone to make our way higher up the peak to Camp Tejos at 5800m (the height of Kilimanjaro). Here we spent the night in preparation for our summit attempt the next morning.

Summit day dawned at 4am and the two of us made our way up the infamous lung-burning zigzags of Ojos in freezing conditions. Each step demoralising as our feet slid back down in the soft sand.  After 9 hours of ‘tread-milling’ up the slopes we reached the inside of the crater with its huge glaciated cone. At 6700m, it was a desolate and cold place to be! From here we struggled over strewn boulders progressing slowly from the altitude and dehydration. Eventually we climbed a steep section of rock and finally reached the top of the crater at 6890m. Instead of euphoria, our minds were numb as we took in the landscape beneath us. We were now dwarfing 6000m volcanoes that had previously loomed above us.  It was a very narrow semicircular ridge and we were each cramped on our small stances with loose rocks all around us.  Just a few metres above and along the ridge lay the true summit, however the late hour and strong winds forced Marc into deciding that it would be unsafe to make the short traverse. There was no margin for error as we had no back up support on the mountain and so we carefully climbed down. At a safe point we took some pictures and then made for Tejos, 'skiing' down the slopes. We reached the hut at 19:30 completely ‘spent’ to be met by some Brazilians, concerned that we were all alone up there. That was our choice and we don’t regret it. The following morning, still completely dumb-stuck from the previous day, we had to pack up and make our way back to Camp Atacama. 

We consider ourselves incredibly fortunate to have ventured into this spectacular region and return safe, enriched by our experience. Thank you to everyone who supported us and all of those who made donations to our charity of choice.

Donations to the charity are still very welcome, we expect to do a kit handover in the next few weeks:

For those who are only just learning about the Andean Giant Expedition follow this link for more information about the expedition and how to donate to our charity of choice:

https://www.beasport.org.za/beasport/project/andean-giant-expedition

WATCH THIS SPACE for more information about our next steps!

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