Summit

Located immediately to the south-east of the border post of the same name, the Nevado San Francisco is a volcanic massif on the border with Argentina. Despite being considered one of the easiest Six Thousand Metre Peaks in the world it is rarely climbed and therefore few have had the chance to share the exceptional view from its summit.

Another interesting feature is that it shows in its structure two enormous and clearly visible avalanches of rocky material, due to the collapse of its west and north-west slopes. This occurred during the birth of the lava domes located at the south-west of the mountain. The volcano is estimated to be approximately 1.5 million years old and has no registered activity.

The access route is similar to that of the El Ermitaño Volcano and
the other Six Thousand Metre Peaks in the Ojos del Salado area.
Taking the city of Copiapó as a point of departure, head towards
and then take the international road, Ruta 31, that leads to Argentina
via the San Francisco border crossing.

In the area of the Maricunga Salt Lake is the San Francisco border
post where it is necessary to register your expedition.

Continue along Ruta 31 to Laguna Verde (4,342 m) where there is
a police station that is closed during the winter and re-opens at the
beginning of October. Here, the budget company Aventurismo can
supply radios, water, bathrooms and hot springs, which makes it a
good place for the process of acclimatisation.

From here you should continue on the road until the border post,
about 19 km away. BC can be set up on the international border,
at the side of the road. There is an alternative BC using a refugio
in Argentine territory, 20 metres from the border marker, but to use
it you have to have previously filled in transit papers. This must be
done in the Chilean San Francisco border post and in the Argentine
border post Las Grutas, 22 km from the marker.

From BC, head in a straight line until the start of a scree slope, half
an hour away. You ascend on a path that has three large zig-zags,
across sandy ground with a gentle slope for two and a half hours,
until arriving at a small high plateau where there is a cairn at 5,250
m. This is a good place to set up HC.

To reach the summit from the HC you need to go down into then
come back out of a small depression. You then follow the existing
path on the north face of the mountain, until getting to a small pass
located at 5,750 m which has a small false summit on each side.
Continue ascending, following the course of what you can tell is a
small stream although it of ten does not have any water. It leads to
a large high plateau at 5,800 m which used to be the bottom of
the crater. From this point the summit can be seen. You walk for an
hour on this high plateau, with a slight rising inclination, until turning
towards the west to climb the summit mound. From there you arrive
at the summit, which is quite wide.

The descent follows the same route as the ascent.

• No special permits* are required to climb San Francisco but you
should inform the police in the San Francisco border post of your
expedition, giving them a letter showing participants, nationalities,
passport or ID numbers, details of activities and specific itineraries,
dates, route and a map of the area. As the mountain is on the
border, foreigners must ask for permission from DIFROL
(www.difrol.cl).

• The best transport option is to take a 4x4 vehicle. See appendix
for recommendations. Buy sufficient fuel in Copiapó as there are
no other places to buy it during the rest of the journey.

• If you do not have your own transport it is recommended to send
a letter asking for support to the headquarters of the Army 1st
division in Antofagasta (Av. Ejército 01180, Antofagasta). Once
approved it will be sent to the 23rd Regiment in Copiapó, which
will co-ordinate the support.

• Another option is a transport service from Copiapó. Among the
companies that offer the service are Aventurismo (52-235340 /
mobile: 99694654, who also offer transport from Laguna Verde
to the various mountains), Gran Atacama Tour Operador
(52- 219271, www.granatacama.cl) and Atacama Chile Tour
Operador (mobile: 98723652, www.atacamachile.com).

• The facilities of the company Aventurismo at Laguna Verde can
be used from November 1st to March 31 every year. You can pay
at Laguna Verde.

• It is recommended to take equipment and clothing suitable for
high altitude mountaineering. As part of the equipment it is
recommended to take an ice axe and crampons.

• Unless it is an unusually dry season you should find enough show
fields to use for a water source in both BC and HC.

• The Puna de Atacama area has high precipitation in winter and
summer, when it is slightly affected by the “Alti-Planic winter”.
The climatic instability can also be accompanied by strong squalls
and wind-storms. It is therefore strongly recommended to climb
during the months of spring and summer, as the winter presents
very low temperatures and abundant precipitation. It is necessary
to keep up-to-date with the weather forecast.

* Since December 1st 2004 the company Aventurismo (32-235340) has had
the rights for access to the summit of the Ojos del Salado Volcano and its
neighbouring summits over 6,000 m, also to the Atacama (5,200 m) and
Tejos (5,800 m) refugios and the Laguna Verde thermal springs. The permit
includes a series of services that can only be used if the expeditions are run
between November and the end of March. At the date of publication of this
book, the only permit that requires payment is for the Ojos del Salado, but
eventually the San Francisco Mountain will also require such a permit.