ARGENTINA MOUNTAINS

We spent part of this last winter climbing mountains in the Andes. We summited 10 mountains from Salta to Mendoza in Argentina. An unnamed (at least on our maps) peak at ~13,301 feet (4054 m), within hiking distance from the town of San Antonio de Los Cobres. San Jeronimo 16,240 ft (4987 m). Volcán Tuzgle, 17,999 ft (5486 m). Cerro Negro S.A.L.C., 16,632 ft (4987 m). Cerro Mácon, 18,176 ft (5440 m). Llullaillaco, 22,152 ft (6752 m). Volcán Antofalla, 21,027 ft (6409 m). Aconcagua, 22,841 ft (6962 m). Coqueña 13,238 feet (4035 m). And Pastos Largos 13,517 feet (4120 m). We also made an attempt on Ojos de Salado 22,615 (6879 m), the highest volcano in the world.

I had intended to write a blog for each group of mountains, and while I do have many of them mostly written, I have yet to wrap them up and have not finished going through all the photos. I did, however, write a couple of blogs for sponsors, and wanted to at least share the links for those (below).

Those of you who know me, know that I live in my Luna Sandals. But over the last couple of years, since moving to New Mexico (colder, longer, winters), I’ve been exploring full coverage barefoot shoes. For this trip, I took two different barefoot footwear options along, as well as mountaineering boots. My mountaineering boots were only worn above 18,000 feet on Aconcagua. I wore my Luna Sandals (Oso) below 16,000 feet. And for this trip I also had the pleasure of testing Softstar’s Switchback Boots, which I wore for mountains over 16,000 feet.

I wrote a story for Luna Sandals about my experience climbing CERRO NEGRO, 16,326 feet (4976 m). A sweet little mountain near the town of San Antonio de Los Cobres on the edge of the Puna.

And for Softstar, I wrote a story about my experience on VOLCAN TUZGLE, 17,999 feet (5486 meters)—a stratovolcano in the eastern Andes of northwestern Argentina, a few hours drive from San Antonio de Los Cobres.

I hope you enjoy the stories, and perhaps I’ll get around to finishing stories for the other mountains over the cold dark mornings of this winter. But who knows—moving to a new state, and building yet another house from the ground up, has been all consuming these last couple of years.

-Onna