Nevado Tres Cruces Norte

Overview

While shorter and less prominent than its neighbours to the south, Tres Cruces Norte is truly one of the jewels of the Puna de Atacama. Sweeping vistas of the Tres Cruces massif and the Salar de Maricunga, beautiful campsites on the approach and climb, a crumbling glacial remnant, and the most beautiful summit pond in the region await the few climbers who make the journey to the summit.

Getting There

From Copiapo, travel along CH-31 to the Salar de Maricunga border outpost. After a further 35 km of travel on the highway, you will reach Rio Lamas (Rio Lomas on Google Earth). At 4000 MASL, this is a great place to take a rest day and acclimatize as needed. 

The approach leaves the highway above the top of the river, just past a small red ornamental hut. Approximately 12 km of steadily rougher and steeper off-road trail leads to the vicinity of the usual Tres Cruces low camp at 5600 MASL. Good campsites can be found from here up to the base of the steeper slope up to the main 6000 MASL col.

The ascent to the south and central summits continues east up to a high camp in the col, but this area serves as a suitable starting point for the much shorter north summit.

There are several other approaches used occasionally on the west and north aspects of Norte; these can be easily scouted from the highway and involve minimal route-finding.

Route

From the base camp described above, the ascent occurs in two phases: a long traverse, and the final summit push.

The traverse from the more traveled route up to the other Tres Cruces summits can be easily accomplished at an altitude of 5600-5700 MASL - simply walk towards the col, taking care not to lose or gain altitude unnecessarily. This shouldn't take more than two hours for most parties.

The Norte-Central col contains a large glacial remnant. There is no need to climb through this, as it can easily be passed to the east. This glacial remnant is a penitente field writ large - see pictures for scale. It contains numerous crevasse-like features, and the frequent snow cover could result in a significant hidden hazard. As well, it is actively crumbling during summer months - during the hour or so the author spent in the area, numerous chunks of ice fell at the edges. Enter at your peril!

From the col, a direct line can be taken up the east face towards the summit. While steeper than the preceding terrain, this ascent is still non-technical. At worst, climbers should expect to need crampons and an ice axe. In dry years, hiking shoes would be perfectly adequate.

Upon reaching the summit plateau, the easiest path to the summit itself roughly follows the north rim of the caldera. Apart from a few isolated scrambling moves, this is nothing more than a walk over snow and scree. The summit contains a small cairn stocked with a few candies and chocolate bars.

The summit pond is located about 30 m below the summit in the south-central area of the caldera. 

Red Tape

Perhaps none, but it might streamline your passage through the border outpost to get a free permit from DIFROL.

When to Climb

The usual climbing season is the Austral summer; ascents are not uncommon from November through mid-March.

Camping

It is permissible to camp anywhere you wish in this area. However, most or all of the approach and climb will occur within the Tres Cruces National Park, so climbers will need to respect the rules and policies that apply here. Notably, this includes a ban on open fires.

External Links

SCUBA diving altitude record - http://medexpeditions.org/?p=461