Lars
Active member
Here are two photos from a part of my journey in the Andes in 2004, along with excerpts from my travel diary. These photographs are special for me. Not for its qualities as images, but rather because of my experience in getting there (and back).
Monday, January 19, 2004
...
I returned from my three-day excursion to Salar de Tara before noon, so I had some time to use that afternoon. I restocked on water and petrol, and headed back northeast towards El Tatio, aiming for the sideroad heading up the side of Volcan Sairecabur.
About 40 kilometers up the road, at 4300 m altitude, there is a graded road to the right. After a few kilometers it starts climbing up the mountainside. I kept going. after an hour or so, at about 5000 meters, the road was just a plowed track through the ancient lava outpours. Stil mid-afternoon so I kept going, beginning to realize that this road would head all the way up.
At the top, after some light 4WD bouldering, were two small temporary buildings, in turned out to be a small observatory (of course), a joint project between the Smithsonian and a Chilean university. It seemed unoccupied for the moment but otherwise in operation.
I looked at the altimeter - 5530 meters - and stepped out of the truck. Man, the wind! And where did my breath go? Quickly back into the warmth of the truck to catch my breath, then full gear on including windbreakers and all fleece garmets I could find.
About 50 meters away was the edge of the caldera. I set up the 4x5 there and made a few exposures, trying very hard to work against the altitude confusion - autoexposure sure would have been nice. I briefly considered hiking across the caldera to get a better view of Licancabur, then realized that this stupidity - I would probably have died from trying to hike three kilometers at this altitude - was a sure sign of mountain sickness so it was time to head down.
Half way down the mountain the darkness of night caught up with me, I found a decent camping spot and pitched my tent. Later at night I heard two trucks heading up the road, they stopped and spoke in English about my tent, wondering why I was there.
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Morning on the mountain
The night was very cold indeed. While my sleeping bag might be ok for around freezing temperatures, the tent lets the wind straight through, so sleeping in the tent was much colder than in a cold car. I used my extra sleeping bag as a blanket, it did give some additional relief. And of course the altitude of 4550 meters made it harder to keep warm.
I stayed in the tent until the sun reached down over the mountains around 7:30, and quickly warmed things up. The morning was crisp and clear, with a fabulous view of the surrounding volcanoes, the mountain side and the Atacama plateau to the west.
A little later two trucks came down the road, two American scientists who had stayed overnight at the science station at the top - it was their voices I had heard the night before. We spoke for a few minutes, they explained that this was public land and a public road, but that they wanted to know who was on "their" mountain as they had had some theft of expensive equipment in the last few months. I asked them about hiking across the caldera to get a better view of Licancabur - they advised against it as that trail leads right to the Bolivian border and thus most likely has been mined.
On the way down to the Atacama desert I stopped to sleep for a few hours.
---
First image is the view over the Sairecabur caldera looking south, with Licancabur dominating the view. In the distance you can probably see Lascar, Leija, Miniques, and Volcan Socompa far south on the Argentine border, the highest of them all at 6050 meters. Ebony 45S, 120 Digitar, 6x12 Velvia.
Second image is the view from my tent the next morning looking northwest. Ebony 45S, 120 Digitar, 4x5 Velvia.
Location (zoom in all the way to see the observatory and the 4WD track):
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=-22.733267,-67.893298&spn=58.660282,86.220703&z=4
Monday, January 19, 2004
...
I returned from my three-day excursion to Salar de Tara before noon, so I had some time to use that afternoon. I restocked on water and petrol, and headed back northeast towards El Tatio, aiming for the sideroad heading up the side of Volcan Sairecabur.
About 40 kilometers up the road, at 4300 m altitude, there is a graded road to the right. After a few kilometers it starts climbing up the mountainside. I kept going. after an hour or so, at about 5000 meters, the road was just a plowed track through the ancient lava outpours. Stil mid-afternoon so I kept going, beginning to realize that this road would head all the way up.
At the top, after some light 4WD bouldering, were two small temporary buildings, in turned out to be a small observatory (of course), a joint project between the Smithsonian and a Chilean university. It seemed unoccupied for the moment but otherwise in operation.
I looked at the altimeter - 5530 meters - and stepped out of the truck. Man, the wind! And where did my breath go? Quickly back into the warmth of the truck to catch my breath, then full gear on including windbreakers and all fleece garmets I could find.
About 50 meters away was the edge of the caldera. I set up the 4x5 there and made a few exposures, trying very hard to work against the altitude confusion - autoexposure sure would have been nice. I briefly considered hiking across the caldera to get a better view of Licancabur, then realized that this stupidity - I would probably have died from trying to hike three kilometers at this altitude - was a sure sign of mountain sickness so it was time to head down.
Half way down the mountain the darkness of night caught up with me, I found a decent camping spot and pitched my tent. Later at night I heard two trucks heading up the road, they stopped and spoke in English about my tent, wondering why I was there.
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
Morning on the mountain
The night was very cold indeed. While my sleeping bag might be ok for around freezing temperatures, the tent lets the wind straight through, so sleeping in the tent was much colder than in a cold car. I used my extra sleeping bag as a blanket, it did give some additional relief. And of course the altitude of 4550 meters made it harder to keep warm.
I stayed in the tent until the sun reached down over the mountains around 7:30, and quickly warmed things up. The morning was crisp and clear, with a fabulous view of the surrounding volcanoes, the mountain side and the Atacama plateau to the west.
A little later two trucks came down the road, two American scientists who had stayed overnight at the science station at the top - it was their voices I had heard the night before. We spoke for a few minutes, they explained that this was public land and a public road, but that they wanted to know who was on "their" mountain as they had had some theft of expensive equipment in the last few months. I asked them about hiking across the caldera to get a better view of Licancabur - they advised against it as that trail leads right to the Bolivian border and thus most likely has been mined.
On the way down to the Atacama desert I stopped to sleep for a few hours.
---
First image is the view over the Sairecabur caldera looking south, with Licancabur dominating the view. In the distance you can probably see Lascar, Leija, Miniques, and Volcan Socompa far south on the Argentine border, the highest of them all at 6050 meters. Ebony 45S, 120 Digitar, 6x12 Velvia.
Second image is the view from my tent the next morning looking northwest. Ebony 45S, 120 Digitar, 4x5 Velvia.
Location (zoom in all the way to see the observatory and the 4WD track):
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=-22.733267,-67.893298&spn=58.660282,86.220703&z=4