We set out to climb the volcano of Incahuasi, a mountain on the border of Argentina and Chile. Incahuasi has a summit elevation of 6,621 metres (21,722 ft) above sea level. We flew from Buenos Aires to La Rioja in Northern Argentina and then drove to Fiambala, the border outpost. There, we met our driver Johnson who arranged for our transport to Las Grutas, a border police post close to Incahuasi. We had two main issues: acclimatization and water. The mountain is very high and there is no drinkable water. We were counting on the winter snowpack to provide us with the source of water. Unfortunately, we did not find any snow and had to abandon our attempt. The trip gave us a great opportunity to trek through the little visited corner of the Atacama Desert. It was a good adventure regardless of our lack of success with the summit.
The border post between Argentina and Chile. Since the mountain Incahuasi is on the border, we need to clear the customs. We will be in no man's land.
Cerro San Francisco
Volcanic landscape of Incahuasi
Hard work at 5000m
The summit of Incahuasi is 1000m above
The summit of Incahuasi ahead
View from the high up on Incahuasi
Looking for snow to melt - not much is available
Our basecamp at the foot of Incahuasi
The Altiplano
The Altiplano - walking back to Argentina
The beautiful Altiplano
The Atacama - the driest place on earth
The water is full of poisonous chemicals like arsenic
La frontera de pais