Ojos del Salado 2021

Nikita Slotin, guide of the 7 Summits Club from Chile: Greetings to all from Chile from the Black Caps group!  Today we have made the second attempt to climb the highest volcano in the world! But a good forecast wasn't enough and everything didn't go according to plan... We left at 22:00 for the shelter Tejos, spent as much as 4 hours because of the deep snow. Only 2:00 a.m. we went out to storm! Everything went well at first. But we had to interrupt the ascent at an altitude of 6400 meters. At this point, another group caused an avalanche. We realized that the way ahead was dangerous. There are no casualties, the avalanche passed us by! After that, we decided to go down, the mountain did not let us in again, but it taught us a lot! Now we are going to the ocean shore to rest from the snow. The participants are happy to finally return to civilization.

Nikita Slotin, guide of the 7 Summits Club from Chile: Hello to everyone from the Black caps group! We are in the driest place on Earth, the Atacama Desert! Although, judging by the snow on the mountain, you can't say that! A few days ago we settled in the Laguna Verde camp, conducted acclimatization rotation and went out to storm tonight! None of us expected knee-deep snow! For 12 hours we walked through deep and crumbly snow and at an altitude of 6400, the harsh conditions forced us to turn back... There is more and more snow on the mountain every day! Today we are resting, and continue to enjoy the views of the desert.

Message from a guide of the 7 Summits Club Nikita Slotin, Chile, Ojos del Salado: The Black caps team has climbed to a height of 6100, acclimatization is going according to plan. A day of rest is planned tomorrow. On the night from Thursday to Friday, the group plans to storm the summit. Everything is fine, the participants feel good.

Nikita Slotin, a guide of the 7 Summits Club from Chile: Hello to everyone from Laguna Rosa from the “Black caps” group! Today we climbed to acclimatize to a height of 4650, almost as Pastukhov rocks, only without snow and ice. We could admire the views from a height. Now we are preparing to move to the hot springs. By the way, today we saw the guanaco for the first time! Now we are frying American steaks and admiring the stars of the Southern Hemisphere. And we are also catching the Internet, because from tomorrow it will not be, finally! Guide Nikita Slotin.

Nikita Slotin, a guide of the 7 Summits Club from Chile: The first day! We are finally in Chile! We got by hook or by crook to Bahia Inglesa on the Pacific coast. Today we are resting, looking at the surroundings, enjoying the noise of the ocean. Tomorrow we leave for Laguna Santa Rosa.

Artem Rostovtsev, guide of the 7 Summits Club from Chile, by audio message:

Hello! This is Chile, Atacama, Laguna Verde, Artem Rostovtsev with yesterday's news. The six of us climbed on the top of the Ojos del Salado volcano. It was cold, windy, snowy, and difficult. But we did it! Congratulations to all of us, and please be happy for us! The most important thing that I forgot to report in the previous news: our team is called "High-altitude Gourmets". We try to restrain ourselves in terms of food. But that's not possible. As our chef Lena cooks, it is impossible to resist. Once again, I report: the expedition is completed successfully, we have reached the top. Today we are getting out into civilization.

Artem Rostovtsev, guide of the 7 Summits Club from Chile, audio message: Hello, Seven Summits Club! This is Artem Rostovtsev, from the expedition on Ojos del Salado, the third this season. We haven't been in touch for a few days, so I'll quickly tell you what happened. Everything went smoothly and according to plan. We moved to Laguna Verde.  Then we climbed San Francisco volcano, by the whole group. Yesterday, we went up to the Tejos refuge, and then went for a walk on the 6400. And already we have all the acclimatization rotation exits ended. There are two days left to rest, even a little less, before our most important, decisive climb on the top of Ojos del Salado. Every members feel great, the weather is favorable for us. So we hope that I will return to you again in two days with good news. Artem Rostovtsev, Atacama desert, Chile, Ojos del Salado expedition.

Artem Rostovtsev, guide of the 7 Summits Club from Chile:

Greetings from Atacama! The group of climbers on Ojos del Salado continues its upward movement towards the intended goal. Today we walked along the slopes of the Сopiapo volcano, and in the meantime reached a new level -  a height of 5300m. Thus, we acclimatize. The wind has subsided slightly, the weather can be called good.

Artem Rostovtsev, the 7 Summits Club guide from Chile:

The third expedition on Ojos del Salado of the 7 Summits Club has started. With all these quarantines, frightening weather forecasts and flight postponements, we got off to an active start. The team members took a quick look at the ocean and immediately drove to the Santa Rosa lagoon, to our favorite flamingos. We have already spent the night here, at an altitude of 3780 meters, quite calm. Thus, we begin to acclimatize to higher altitudes.

On January 27, 16 members of the 7 Summits Club's Ojos del Salado expedition climbed on the summit. There was a lot of snow. The temperature dropped to -17 degrees. The wind was a hurricane all the days. But we caught the weather window. The ascent lasted 16 hours. We went down in the evening. But before that, the weather rewarded us with gorgeous views of the sunset.

Artem Rostovtsev, guide of the 7 Summits Club from Chile (from audio message): Hello, Seven Summits Club! This is Artem Rostovtsev, from Atacama. Yesterday we climbed on the top of Ojos del Salado, finally reaching the goal of our expedition. Almost the entire team has been on the top, with the exception of a couple of person. The weather was more or less favorable. A little snow has covered the last part  of the group. In general, everything went well. We've already spent the night at the Laguna Verde camp. All the members have recovered, everyone is happy. Now we will move to the ocean. Once again: the goal of the expedition was achieved, the team visited the summit of Ojos del Salado almost in full complement.

Artem Rostovtsev, guide of the 7 Summits Club from Chile, audio message: Hello, Seven Summits Club! This is Artem Rostovtsev, from the heart of Atacama, the Atacama Desert. We are currently in a camp on Laguna Verde. The expedition on Ojos del Salado continues. Yesterday we went up to 6400. This was the final acclimatization  rotation exit. Then we spent the night near the Tejas shelter at 5900. Not all the climbers were able to sleep, but that was our plan. It is good to acclimatize at this altitude.

We recently went down to Laguna Verde, just a couple of hours ago . Now we have a day of rest ahead of us before climbing directly on the top of Ojos del Salado. So far, the weather is not very good, but on the day of the ascent, they promise what we need for our, hopefully, successful ascent. All members of the expedition feel great. We are waiting for the most important day, the day of climbing the summit.

Alex Abramov from Chile: Today, our Anti-Quarantine team, all 19 people, made an ascent on Mount San Francisco, 6018 meters. The weather has prepared a surprise for us: a blizzard and a thunderstorm with lightning. Bad weather caught us right on the top, and we lay on the snow for 30 minutes. There was a very strong static tension here. Sticks, backpacks, iron - all of these we threw away and prayed. Emotions were over the edge. And we left, too, in a blizzard. Then everything calmed down, the sun came out and beautiful scenery opened up.

Alex Abramov from Chile: The team of the 7 Summits Club “Anti-Quarantine” in Chile continues the program of climbing Ojos del Salado. Today there was a fantastic day. In the morning, we left our camp at Laguna Santa Rosa and drove towards the Ojos Base Camp. On the way, we stopped at the waterfall and reached the Atacama Camp 5100m. And then we also climbed to the height of Elbrus+ - 5700m. It was excellent acclimatization. On the way back, we stopped at Laguna Verde and celebrated the Epiphany with a massive swim in the hot springs. It was really a Fantastic day!

Alex Abramov from Chile: Today our friendly team "Anti-quarantine" spends the first night on Laguna Santa Rosa. We are 20 people and we have a lot of fun! Awesome views. Today we climbed to the top of Mount "Seven Brothers", 4815m. There was a strong wind. On the descent, they found that one of the 5 cars had a broken wheel. Replaced. Lena cooks excellent food with seafood. We saw foxes, flamingos, alpacas and giant hares.

Tomorrow is the feast of Epiphany. We'll go swimming in the hot springs on Laguna Verde. In parallel, we go to acclimatize climbing Mulas Muertas! Everyone feels great!

Alex Abramov from Chile: On January 16, we met at the airport and celebrated my birthday in the evening! In particular, we raised a toast for the ascent on K2. Today, January 17, our friendly team moved to Laguna Santa Rosa. There we plan to carry out our quarantine in Chile. We will walk in the surrounding hills.

The Atacama is very beautiful. Today we were met by wind and rain. On said that was the first rain for in 500 years.

Artem Rostovtsev, guide of the 7 Summits Club from Chile (message from 14.01.2021):

Hello, the Seven Summits Club! In touch with Chile, Atacama, Ojos del Salado volcano, summit. We are now direct on the summit, starting the descent. Today we started at midnight. 8 people reached the top. Tomorrow we will write more details. Yesterday's day of rest went well, today's ascent is also excellent. Greetings from the top of Ojos del Salado!

Artem Rostovtsev, guide of the 7 Summits Club, from Chile: News from the expedition on Ojos del Salado in. Today there was an important day of our acclimatization. We climbed the San Francisco volcano, 6016 meters above sea level. 9 people reached the top. Thus, we have earned a quality rest tomorrow. And also the group pleased the guide on his birthday!

Artem Rostovtsev, guide of the 7 Summits Club from Chile:

Hello to everyone from almost the driest place on Earth - the Atacama Desert! The 7 Summits Club has started the season of climbing the highest volcano - Ojos del Salado. With a little difficulty due to regular border closures and flight postponements, we finally got together as the first group. We started from the ocean. And now all together, as a group, we are in the Santa Rosa Lagoon – this is our place of "quarantine" for the next few days. We spend the night here. We acclimatize on the nearest peaks. Today we started from the Mount of Seven Brothers. A strong wind literally laid us on the slope 100 meters from the top, but we had enough. We went down, ate our fill, and worked on.