Cerro Tres Kandú (842m) - Highest point of Paraguay

With a whopping altitude of 842 meters Cerro Tres Kandú or Cerro Peró
is the highest point of Paraguay!

It is located in the municipality of General Eugenio Garay, Guairá Department, and is part of the “Ybytyruzú” mountain range.
The difficulty is not to climb it, the problem is to find it.
It took us (Ben, an English climber [...]

March 31, 2010  Tags: , , ,   Posted in: Paraguay  One Comment

Ojos del Salado (6896m) - Highest point of Chile

Ojos del Salado is the highest peak in Chile and the same time the highest volcano in the world. It is also the 2nd highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere,
only 60 meters short of famous Aconcagua.

During last week I have reached beyond a level of exhaustion I thought would exist:
Together with Simon Schwaer I hiked [...]

January 18, 2010  Tags: , , , ,   Posted in: Argentina, Argentina 2010, Chile  One Comment

Ojos del Saldo (6896m) Act I

To be continued…
“What! You wanna leave tomorrow?! And you are alone? People organize this kind of expedition at least 6 months in advance!!!’
Ojos del Salado is not only Chile’s highest peak, the highest volcano in the world, the second highest mountain in all the Americas and a serious 8-12 day climb to almost 7000 Meters, [...]

December 2, 2009  Tags: , , ,   Posted in: Chile  No Comments

Sajama (6542m) - Highest point of Bolivia

It is done done DONE! Mount Sajama - Bolivia’s highest peak.
6542m! And trust me, this is bloody high…

A good four weeks have I been in La Paz trying to find a partner, sitting out bad weather or violently emptying my body due to bad food, and right now I am the happiest [...]

October 28, 2009  Tags: , , ,   Posted in: Bolivia  No Comments

Huayna Potosí (6088m)

Huayna Potosí, located a two hours drive north of La Paz, was the easiest 6000er I’ve ever climbed: short, quick, non-technical and a good acclimatisation “hike” for the big one (Sajama 6542m:-). I really enjoyed the diversity, especially the little mixed scramble near the summit. Wil (AUS), Elias (USA) - two other backpackers I met [...]

October 15, 2009  Tags: , , , ,   Posted in: Bolivia  No Comments

El Misti (5822m) & Nevado Chachani (6089m)

El Misti

Climbing El Misti (5822m) is non-technical and straight forward.
No ropes or crampons are needed & if you are acclimatised and able to follow a well beaten trail, it can easily be done without a guide.

The only problem is to get to the base of the mountain. And unless you are at least 3 or [...]

September 23, 2009  Tags: , , , , ,   Posted in: Peru  No Comments

Quitaraju - Alpamayo - Artesonraju

Quitaraju (6036m), Alpamayo (5947m) & Artesonraju (6025m)
In 10 long, hard & cold days we marched over 60km with a 30+kg pack, covered a total of 18570 meters in hight, left a dream to be continued, made painful decisions and I survived the most shaky moments of my life - it was an unforgetable adventure!
Day 1: [...]

July 18, 2009  Tags: , , , , , ,   Posted in: Peru  One Comment

Glacier training & Yanapaccha (5460m)

4 days we spent practising, freezing and heavily breathing on a glacier above 5000m
before proper ice climbing our first technical peak:
“Yanapaccha” (5460m, AD-, 60 degree ice) in the Cordillera Blanca.

Zigeiner & Jason (a US rock climber I met @ my hostal in Huaraz) climbing the last pitches of the west face (normal route) of Yanapaccha

Summit [...]

June 24, 2009  Tags: , , , ,   Posted in: Peru  No Comments

Chimborazo (6319m) - Highest point of Ecuador

Chimborazo is the highest peak in Ecuador and the world´s highest mountain regarded from the center of the earth & the erarth´s closest point to the sun.

I am happy & proud. Climbing Chimborazo was the hardest thing I have ever done (so far:-).
12 hours non-stop: ascending and downclimbing 1300m in hight with heavy winds & [...]

May 2, 2009  Tags: , , ,   Posted in: Ecuador  No Comments

Volcán Cotopaxi (5897m)

Starting point: Quito, Ecuador.
Parque Nacional Cotopaxi (entry fee is U$10 for foreigners and U$1 for Ecuadorians) is about 3 hours or some 75km south of Quito. A dirt road leads to a parking lot 300 meters below the Refuge Jose Ribas (4800m). There are basic cooking facilities and dorm beds (U$23) available.
From there it´s a [...]

April 26, 2009  Tags: , , ,   Posted in: Ecuador  One Comment