Even if you hike a lot, never, NEVER underestimate altitude.
Mt. Lascar (5,592 masl/18,346 feet) is one of the popular volcano around San Pedro de Atacama, not the highest one, but big and easy enough to attract altitude seeker to hike it. So if you consider to hike it, here some basic info that might help.
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| View from the top of Mt. Lascar |
How long? The tour starts at 5.30 AM and ends at 4.00 PM (normally) - we went back by 5.00 PM. Those 11 hours including 2.5 - 3 hrs (one way) travel by car and 2.5 hrs - 4 hrs climbing up, and 1 - 2 hrs going down, depends on your pace. The worst record is 6 hours for going up (one way), so unless you're really really not fit, you can expect faster than that. We began slowly, and there's a stubborn girl with plenty of health problems but an amazing mentality in our group, so we had frequent stops and waits. For us it took 3 hrs to reach the crater, 30 minutes (or more) of rest at the crater, another 30 - 45 minutes from the crater to the summit, and 30 minutes of rest at the peak. Going down was pretty easy, it took about 1.5 hrs.
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| Our guide, Freddy, functioned as leader and sweeper |
Price & Agency: I booked with Mistica Atacama for 80,000 CLP (approximately US$133), and the tour includes nice breakfast (more than sandwich, coca tea / coffee / juice - that you can actually save for lunch), snacks (fruits and some energy bars), ONE supposedly English speaking guide (not so much in my experience, but it could work if you're so demanding), transfer to and from your hostel by car, basic medical equipment (altitude pills, motion sickness, oxygen - but bring your own tiger balm), mountaineering equipment (they lend me sunglasses, trekking pole, and even provide gloves etc if you request - for free!). My team was 4 people - and here's the trap: since they only have 1 guide, if someone is sick, the whole team has to go down. Someone in my group eventually went down, and upon ensuring our guide that she's okay, and considering we're not that far from the basecamp, she made her way down herself.
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| The lagoon at our breakfast, Lejia Lagoon? |
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| If you're there, you'll feel smaller than this |
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| The crater before summit |
The trail: It's actually doable without guide. The trail is not dangerous and clear enough. You might need to walk slowly at the beginning and not rushing uphill since you need to adjust your breath. The ground are not really solid, the materials are gravel with occassional small-sized rocks, makes it quite difficult to make your next steps uphill. For Indonesian travelers, if you ever hike Mt. Rinjani / Mt. Kerinci, it's probably feels quite similar. It is not really steep until you reach the crater - elevation varies from 25-45 degree, and a bit steeper from the crater to the top. No vegetation at all, so be prepared with the strong wind and hot exposure of the desert's sun.
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| See how huge it is? |
Getting along with the altitude? Yes, it should be an easy hike. Yes, it's less than a day. Yes, it's amazing view. But does the altitude really matter? The answer is YES. First, DON'T try to climb directly if you just came from the sea level, or have not acclimatized to at least 4,000 masl. Spend some days biking around the town (you can try to go to Laguna Cejar, Valle de la Muerte or Valle de la Luna) or take a tour to Laguna Altiplanca or Geyser del Tatio (and make sure you do some physical excercise right there). Second, don't feel weak if you don't go as fast as you use to be. It is perfectly normal. Altitude makes your heart beats faster, makes your lungs do extra effort to get oxygen, and impact your mood and spirit. You can google the normal symtomps so you don't feel bad about yourself. The ability to get along with the altitude varies between people - nausea, faster heart beat, and mild headache are normal. If you're vomiting violently, or having a terrible headache, it might be bad. Mine was perfectly normal until I completed the whole trail (I was even at a pretty nice pace), but upon reaching the car I could feel a strong urge to throw up and my head started to ache a lot. It might be a combination of altitude and sun heat. I pushed myself to get into the car and put tiger balm around my artery, and tried so hard to sleep. After 1 hr of really bad road (yes, the road condition was horrible for the first 1 hr, no wonder, you're in the middle of the desert!), I finally said to my guide that it'd be nice if he allow me to make an effort to puke on the side road. I thrown up the stuffs in my stomach until the very last drop, and I could feel it was filled with the gastric acid. My teammates suffer from a terrible headache as well, but did not throw up so bad. Since I have a bad gastritis, probably that contributes to how my stomach got along with the altitude (it affects everything - from anxiety to madness, so I presume it didn't get along well with the altitude as well, LOL)
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| You can see the trail clearly! |
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| A gang of vicuna we met on our way back |
The view: AMAZING!!! The breakfast took place in a really beautiful lake, with a perfect reflection of the mountains surrounding it. The trail itself expose you to a never ending desert - sea of sands, dunes, and dry mountain - a view like no ordinary places. A good contemplation to reflect on how small you are. Enjoy yourself through these photographs!
