Ojos del Salado

In the 2022-2023 season, there were a total of 32 participants in the expeditions of the 7 Summits Club in Chile. These are 4 groups with 6 guides. 30 participants of the expeditions reached the main peak of Ojos del Salado. The highest point: 6893m. Nikita Slotin, the guide of the 7 Summits Club, shot and edited this short film. It very successfully combines the beauties of nature, shows the nature of the ascent and the attitude of the participants to the mountains.  Thank you, Nikita!  Not long, and all to the point!

The guide of the 7 Summits Club Artem Rostovtsev reports from Chile:

The Quatro Mosqueteros team successfully climbed the Ojos del Salado volcano. Both goals of the expedition were achieved - the first was Aconcagua.  It started snowing at the top  part of the route, but we were able to get to the main peak. Thank you all!

The guide of the 7 Summits Club Artem Rostovtsev reports from Chile:

Greetings to all from the group "Four Musketeers"! Already from Chile. Yesterday we descended from the Aconcagua base camp and moved quickly and comfortably to the north of Chile at night. To the Atacama Desert, where we were warmly welcomed by the hot city of Copiapo. Only  for a while, because it's time for us to go to the heart of the desert, where the next goal of the expedition is waiting - the Ojos del Salado volcano.

Nikita Slotin, the guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Chile:

Greetings from Chile from the group "Malaquitas"!  On January 29, the group (2 participants and 2 guides) reached the summit of the world's highest volcano Ojos del Salado at 15:40 local time! At 4 a.m. we left the shelter Tejos. We were the only ones on the mountain. According to the forecast, a wind of 45 km/ h was promised, but it was almost calm, and when the sun came out, it became quite warm! We admired the starry sky, met the dawn and slowly climbed the crater. Well, then the girls were waiting for a surprise in the form of a rocky summit tower, which they will not soon forget! Using the technique of a short rope, we quickly climbed up, took some photos, enjoyed the views and ran down as soon as it was light! At 19:30 we were already sitting in the car and driving down! Today we go down to the ocean shore, there are scallops...

Nikita Slotin, the guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Chile:

Greetings from Chile from the group "Malaquitas"! Today we held classes on climbing and descending along fixed ropes, worked out the movement with a short rope! Now we are resting and gaining strength before climbing! At night we go out to storm the summit of Ojos Del Salado...

Nikita Slotin, the guide of the 7 Summits Club, reports from Chile:

Greetings from Chile from the group "Malaquitas"!  We're back in touch!!! Elon Musk failed with the Internet and we were left out of touch for a few days!  What has happened in these days?

23.01. The group climbed on the summit of San Francisco! The weather was pleasant, the sun was shining, but on the descent the wind showed who was in charge here.

24.01. Rested in full! Morning boat trip on the lake "Three in a boat, not counting watermelon", barbecue at the springs and evening karaoke with Italians ...

25.01. We went up to the Tejos shelter for the overnight, we did not meet a cougar, but admired the starry sky! The car, to be honest, didn't really want to go up, but we forced it ...

26.01. Today, not without adventures, we went down to Laguna Verde.

Now we are resting, gaining strength and waiting for the weather to climb Ojos del Salado!

Guide of the 7 Summits Club Nikita Slotin reports from Chile:

Greetings to all from the hot springs from the group "Malaquitas"!  Today we visited a beautiful gorge, an oasis in the middle of the desert. It was worth it! We drove along a mountain river, swam in a waterfall, had a delicious lunch and had a great day. Now we are resting and preparing for the ascent. The weather promises to be good! Tomorrow, according to the plan, we will climb the San Francisco volcano, look into Argentina.

Guide Nikita Slotin reports from Chile:

Greetings from the Atacama Desert from the group "Malaquitas"!  Today there was no less eventful day than yesterday! Before lunch we moved to Laguna Verde, on the way we greeted Ojos from afar. And after lunch we got to know him better!  We took jeeps up to the Atacama Shelter and walked to the height of 5420. The participants learned how to drive a car at these heights and were completely delighted! The weather is good, tomorrow we continue the acclimatization process and prepare for the ascent to San Francisco.

Guide of the 7 Summits Club Nikita Slotin reports from Chile:

Warm greetings to all from Chile from the group "Malaquitas"!  Today turned out to be an eventful day for adventures!!! Before lunch, we acclimatized at the summit of Seven Brothers Peak, climbing to a height of 4820 meters... We went down to the camp, had a delicious lunch and moved to explore the desert and its inhabitants!  We visited the abandoned buildings of miners and still got to the amazing lagoon, whose beauty cannot be described in words! We haven't seen so many birds yet... Now we are resting and experimenting with photos of the starry sky! Tomorrow, according to the plan, we will move to Laguna Verde.

Guide of the 7 Summits Club Nikita Slotin reports from Chile:

All Hola with Laguna Rosa from the group "Malaquitas"!  This morning we managed to visit the mineral museum in Сopiapo, we were amazed by the collection, especially meteorites... And then the road to the mountains began. 2 hours and we are on the pass at an altitude of 4000 meters, a couple of photos in the wind and a descent to 3750, where a whole flock of flamingos and guanacos were waiting for us! There are almost no people, and there are a lot of animals. It remains to wait for the arrival of karancho, an impudent but beautiful bird! Now we are resting, having dinner, and making plans for tomorrow! The weather pleases with warmth and sunshine. Tomorrow we go for a walk to the top of the Seven Brothers!

Director of the 7 Summits Club Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Chile:

Yesterday, January 16, the Papas Bravas group climbed on the summit of the highest volcano in the World - Ojos del Salado! 5 climbers (3 participants and 2 guides) were standing on the top of Ojos. The ascent took place in difficult conditions, temperatures up to -30 and strong gusts of wind near the summit.

We went down to the camp at night. Everyone is happy. Tomorrow we will continue the cultural program for Chile.

The president of the 7 Summits Club, Alexander Abramov, reports from Chile:

The Lucky Ones group almost in full ascended today the highest volcano in the World and the highest mountain of Chile, Ojos del Salado 6864m. At the highest point there were 15 participants and 4 guides, a total of 19 people. It was hard. But we managed. Cold in the morning, windy in the afternoon. We went down at 9 pm.  We arrived at the Base Camp only at 23 o'clock.

Director of the 7 Summits Club Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Chile:

January 14. Greetings to all from Atacama, Chile, from the Papas Bravas group! Today we had a day of rest and excursions around Copiapo. We visited the central square of the city - Plaza de Armas - all in greenery, flowers, palm trees and pepper trees and with a statue of Juno on four condors in the center.

We visited the cathedral, went to supermarkets, visited the beautiful San Francisco Church (in honor of our recent ascent to the top of San Francisco) and the Atacama Museum of Local Lore. The museum is extremely interesting - with stuffed cougars (we realized that one of them recently came to our camp), condors, armadillos and other animals. We learned a story about how in 2010 33 miners were buried in the mine under the rubble for more than 2 months, but in the end they were all rescued. We found a wonderful courtyard with cacti and the best coffee in Copiapo. And in the evening we even visited the casino (partially).

Tomorrow morning we return to Atacama, to our camp on Laguna Verde.  And at night we plan to storm the volcano Ojos del Salado.

Director of the 7 Summits Club Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Chile:

13th of January.  Greetings to all from Atacama, Chile, from the Papas Bravas group and congratulations on the Old New Year! We haven't been in touch for two days, since yesterday we climbed to the highest mountain shelter in the world at an altitude of 5900m - Tejos refuge. The road there is a separate song. Not everyone manages to drive up the steep slopes of Ojos, but we did it. We set up tents near the refuge and went higher - to 6200 for acclimatization. Going down to the Tejos, we met a large group of Lucky People who were singing songs merrily.

The night in tents at 5900 was quite successful. In the morning, however, we woke up under a layer of frost. We drank coffee, went down to Laguna Verde (4300), where we met Artem Rostovtsev, who had just arrived from Antarctica on an urgent call from Alex Abramov. We had breakfast with him and went on vacation to Copiapo. The assault on the summit is scheduled for the night of January 15-16. While we rest and gain strength.

President of the 7 Summits Club Alexander Abramov reports from Chile:

Today, the team "Lucky Ones" went by car to the highest mountain refuge in the world "Tejas", which is located at an altitude of 5800m on the slopes of Ojos del Salado. And made an acclimatization rotation to 6200m on the slopes of Ojos. Everyone was amazed by the road to Tejas, as it has been difficult to pass lately and only the super drivers of the 7 Summits Club can drive it. The mountain has shown its scale. And this morning, participant Fedor and guide Mario went to storm the summit. Now there is waist-deep snow there, so they took shovels to dig a trench.

Guides Alexander Abramov, Alexander Dorozhukov and Nikita Slotin.

Director of the 7 Summits Club Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Chile:

January 10th. Greetings to all from Atacama, Chile from the Papas Bravas group! Today was a very special day for us. We went on an acclimatization ascent to the volcano of San Francisco with a height of 6018m. For most of the members of our group, this was the first six-thousandth. We drove up to 5000 in jeeps. Then - on foot and with crampons. At the beginning of the journey, we even had to overcome an obstacle in the form of calgaspores. We did it! At about 15.30 in Chile, we stood at the top of our first six-thousandth. Tomorrow we arrange a day of rest - complete relaxation with spa elements.

Director of the 7 Summits Club Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Chile:

January 9.  Greetings to all from Atacama, Chile from the Papas Bravas group!  Today we woke up in a magical place - on the shore of Laguna Verde Lake at an altitude of 4300. First of all, we went along the shore of this beautiful lake, surrounded by snow peaks, to the hot springs - to take a hot shower and do exercises.

Then we went to acclimatize to the slopes of the volcano with the romantic name Mulas Muertas (death to mules). We took a lot of pictures with Laguna Verde Lake, went down and went on a road trip to the border of Chile and Argentina to the San Francisco pass at 5000m. There we turned on the downshift and arranged an off-road race. By evening, tired but happy, they returned to the camp. Here we were pleased with Russian borscht, abalones (the largest clams) and a pisco sour cocktail.

Tomorrow we will have a serious test - climbing to the top of Mount San Francisco (6018m).  For almost the whole group, this will be the first ascent above 6000m. I hope we will succeed!

President of the 7 Summits Club Alexander Abramov reports from Chile:

Today, the team of the 7 Summits Club "Lucky Ones", which is going to climb Ojos del Salado, has climbed on the summit of San Francisco. Height 6016 m. The weather favored us. The whole team, 16 participants and guides, stood at the top. Sergei Bogomolov also ascended to the top. He is now 71 years old. He looks “like a cucumber” and this is his preparation for the summer ascent on K2. Now he has 13 eight-thousanders and he is preparing to complete the project of 14 eight-thousanders. And become the first in Russia.  As soon as we went down, it started snowing. Tomorrow is a day of rest. The most pleasant thing that can be found in the mountains.

Director of the 7 Summits Club Lyudmila Korobeshko reports from Chile:

January 8. Greetings to all from Atacama, from Chile! Our Papas Bravas group relocated today to Laguna Verde, 4300. On the way, we finally saw the purpose of our trip - the volcano Ojos del Salado, covered with snow. On the way, we visited the unique Lama River, which flows in the desert and has a thermal origin.

We set up camp in a secret place - near our large group. The most difficult thing was to set up a tent-toilet: it was carried away three times until we could fix it. Before dinner, we drove to the hot springs and soaked in the thermal baths.  And for dinner, Abramov's group descended to the camp, after climbing  the six-thousandth San Francisco. We congratulated them.  Tomorrow we are going to acclimatize to Mulas Muertas. If we get up early, then in the morning we go to the hot springs to drink a cup of coffee in a hot bath…

President of the 7 Summits Club Alexander Abramov reports from Chile:

News of the "Lucky Ones" team from the expedition to Ojos del Salado. Today our team drove to the San Francisco Pass. It is a great place for acclimatization and generally iconic. This is the border of Chile and Argentina. We even drove 10 km to the territory of Argentina, to the border guards post. Beauty! Then we visited the abandoned town of gold diggers. Tomorrow we plan to climb to the top of San Francisco 6150m. The weather is good.  And most importantly, we stopped at the Laguna Verde hot springs and washed in hot water there.