words and photographs by Epic founder, Chris Lininger
Roughly one year ago, directly following our Ecuador Expedition, an idea was brought up around the Epic family dinner table: Why don’t we go climb Ojos Del Salado?
To be honest, I had heard little of Ojos before we started to plan a trip there, which, looking back, means that it was the perfect candidate for a new Epic trip.
The highest active volcano in the world. The 2nd-highest mountain in South America. Remote. High-altitude. Hot springs. Challenging logistics.
My mind was made up before the meeting even ended; we were going to Chile to climb Ojos del Salado.
Fast forward to January 2026, and this dream trip is now in the history books. This expedition was very much unlike any other climbing or trekking expedition we have done for several reasons.
Imagine a high-altitude desert on the borderlands between Chile and Argentina – a no man’s land of sorts. This is the place where huge volcanoes rise out of the desert sands in all directions, dominating the true blue desert sky to the horizon. This is the Atacama high desert in Chile; our expedition playground.
This trip had a good rhythm to it. All in, we climbed one 5,400-meter (17,783 ft) mountain (El Plomo) and two 6000 meter mountains – Nevado San Francisco 6,016 m (19,738 ft) and Ojos Del Salado 6,893 meters (22,615 feet).
We made our base camp at the surreal Laguna Verde area, where a massive saltwater lake appears out of nowhere in the desert and is dotted by hot spring pools along its shores. The camp itself was a harsh place to spend a week. At 4300 meters and with the strong sun beating down, it was not necessarily the ideal place to rest in between climbs. But the card games and endless coffees in our dome tent, the hot springs, and the quiet of the desert mostly made up for all of that.
This trip was as tough mentally as it was physically, and we had many tests along the way as we ticked off our summit objectives, culminating in the 13-hour summit push of Ojos last week. That’s just what it takes to nearly touch 7000 meters.
To all of the Epic repeaters and the handful of new participants who joined us for this trip – all I can say is that it was a hell of a fine time and I would not have wanted to do it with any other team… you guys, man. The way the team gelled, supported each other in tough moments, and found humor in pretty much everything made this expedition so very special indeed. This is what it is all about for me – both personally and as a trip leader.
Also… ending at the beach after being on top of the world’s highest volcano 36 hours previously was also very special, pretty damn strange in an out of body sort of way, and just super cool, I must say. The highlight was all of us hanging out in a rooftop swimming pool overlooking the Pacific Ocean and the fine town below.
Also – the Epic ground team; a superstar cast….
With Gustavo at the helm, our local team, comprising Pato and Alvaro, gave their heart and soul to this expedition. These guys brought the full package – they set up camp, prepared meals, AND guided on top of all of that.
I was truly blown away by all of the hard work these guys put in day after day. I feel truly blessed to have worked with such incredible people in Chile. We also had incredible support from our colleague Elisa, who is the woman behind all of the little details of our South America programs. To top it all off, Joce joined us as a co-leader for her 4th Epic trip and brought all of her expedition experience, leadership, and mountain stoke to the team as well. The passion and effort that the Epic staff brings to the table is hard to put into words. All I can say is that I am eternally grateful to be able to work alongside such inspiring humans.
The expedition to Ojos del Salado marked several new milestones for Epic. This is the highest mountain we have brought any prior Epic group to. It was also the first time we worked in Chile, and marked Epic’s 3rd country that we are offering in South America to date.
In short, 2026 got off with a bang. The kind of bang that extends high into the sky and almost touches 7000 meters. The desert, the mountains, the dust, and the rolling plains and hills of the Atacama opened a new chapter in the story of Epic and I could not be more proud of the team and what we accomplished here.
We may be cleaning the Atacama dust out of our hair and duffel bags for many months to come, but the alpine sunrises, the conversations under starry skies, the bond of our team, and that special feeling of getting to the top and the process it took to get there, will stay in our bones for a long, long time.
In the words of one of our team members, Tom: I am stoked and grateful for the experience that this expedition gifted all of us.
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Here is a selection of photos from the trip. Thanks for being here!
