Munro goes high-altitude!

 Our first stop after around 150 km will be at a small oasis already in the middle of the Atacama desert at 3000m above sea level. Here we spend the first night in our tents. We also need to harvest some sun energy with our 11KWp solar array on the upcoming day to charge the Munro. We will spend our time there with easy hiking on the nearby mountains to get used to the altitude! 

  |  Munro

 Our next stay is at one of the highest camping grounds in the world! Welcome to Laguna Santa Rosa at 3860m! Right next to this camping ground is this very nice freshwater lake with a lot of Flamingos and other migratory birds like Ducks and Geese in summertime! The further we look from the south bank to the north, the water becomes more and more salty because of dissolved salt all over this area of the Atacama desert. This is the much larger part of the salt/lake and is called Salar de Maricunga. Maricunga is also a salt lake with a long tradition of salt mining, and right now they have started with Lithium mining at the same spot in the north of the lake, next to the boarder control station. 

Tres Cruces National Park  |  Laguna Santa Rosa / Salar de Maricunga

 Our next step reaches 4300m! Laguna Verde where we spend two nights next to the lake. At this height we will feel the altitude for the next 2 to 4 day's with every step we do, just no power and breathlessness! And also at night with light headache and sleeplessness! During the first two days we will go for hiking in the area around the lake. We have to stay at the same altitude, not much higher then 4600m. Maybe after 2 or 3 nights at this height the acclimatization process has improved enough to try to go further up. Maybe we try one of the nearby 6000m peaks like Nevado San Francisco with 6016m on the boarder to Argentina (you see this Mountain on the picture) or Barrancas Blancas with 6119m. The most luxury thing to mention at Laguna Verde are the hot springs with very enjoyable thermal water! This hot spring is the best thing you can imagine after a hard walk up and down at a summit nearby! 

  |  Laguna Verde

 Murray has for Andreas Fuchs and me a legendary status! We spend in season 2024/25 nearly 30 day's in this Refugio and met a lot of nice people in that time! Shout out! That on it self is a record on it's own! For the ElectricOjos Project this is not necessary! After 2 or 3 night's in this Refugio at 4500m we have to say goodby to this comfortable shelter and travel south to the next Refugio up on the Ojos! 

  |  Refugio Murray

 Refugio Atacama is located in the north of the Ojos del Salado at a height of around 5200m. This Refugio has 2 Shelters for Climbers to find protection from the cold and wind! For the ElectricOjos project we have to stay for 2 to 3 nights at this height. We need this time there for acclimatization and for preparing the car for the way up to Tejos and above. If everything goes well we can bring our trailer with equipment, Food and Water up to this height. It will also be no problem to drive up there with normal offroad tyre's. At least here at this place we will mount on the car the solar panels and spare tyre's we have to bring up to Amistad and further. From Amistad to Tejos we have to bring everything up with the car by going up and down several times. The Trailer will stay at Atacama. 

  |  Refugio Atacama

 Tejos at 5800m is the last Refugio if you go the normal route to the summit of the Ojos. Refugio Tejos is made out of to old shipping containers. One of this containers is a room for cooking, eating and socializing and the other container has 6 mattresses inside. If the weather the next coming day's is acceptable to reach the summit of the Ojos, Refugio Tejos is quit packed. In our case, Tejos again is another place for acclimatization. During our stay at Tejos we have to prepare the way up to Amistad! As soon we have finished this preparation we start to bring the car, all the quipment, Food and Water with one try up to Amistad! 

  |  Refugio Tejos

 Amistad is with 6100m the highest Refugio on the Ojos del Salado. This Refugio was build during a high-altitude exploration by Matthias Jeschke. This Refugio is on the end of the so called ''rocky channel''. The rocky channel starts at the highest point at around 5850m where you can drive with a normal offroad car, and where the ''normal'' route to the summit of the Ojos starts. A normal climber never goes to Amistad, and most Ojos mountaineers have never heard from this Refugio on the north west side of the Ojos. If we go up the classic way via the rocky channel, Amistad will be our homebase for the next 4 to 5 day's! It is quite comfortable for this altitude! It can fit up to 4 people easily. It is also enough space next to it, to set up our big tend and the solar array to charge up the car and equipment. From this place we can explore the route up to the highest possible point. 

  |  Munro EV

 Record Attempt... If we have managed it so far to get up from Amistad to around 6300m via the ''flat glacier'', then we are standing already between Polacos 1 and Polacos 2. This are two Peaks with 6500m and more then 6700m in altitude. From here we have to drive around Polacos 1 on the west side and go up next to a glacier on Polacos 2. It will not be possible to try to go up with a lot of snow like on the picture! This picture is from 25.01.2025. In January the mid summer snow season start's on the Ojos, sometimes the snow is melting again in february, sometimes not! In season 2024/25 it was a warm summer up there, that means a lot of moister in the air up there, the consequence is a lot of snow above 6200m... From the perspective of snow, the chance of getting around this problem is to be there in November/December! The actual record for electric car's is set by the Peakevolution Team at 6510m. The actual record for ICE car's is set by a Porsche Team at 6723m.... Will see! 

  |  Peakevolution Switzerland