NEWS

The volcano Pissis, 6882m high, is the third highest peek in America and the second highest volcano in the world. It is placed in the north of Argentina in the limit between la Rioja and Catamarca in the heart of the Andes. The approximation is very long and, depending of the route you need to drive 100Km through very rough 4X4 roads.

The route chosen by this expedition to arrive to the west face was a new and unexplored one, entering the west glacier across the pass between the Volcano Pissis and the Pillán. This way gives better possibilities for protect high camps.

The route starts from the normal base camp of Pillán from which you can arrive in about 5 hours to the first camp (5300m). On the same way you can find the second camp which can be either in the pass (5650m; 3h) or at the base of the glacier (5900m; 4h). From both of these camps you can reach the top of the volcano in a long and hard walking day.

From camp 1 you can also try to climb Volcano Pillán, 6008m, or Volcano Tres Picos, 6067m, which never has been climbed.

Members of this expedition: Esteban 'Cacho' Pacheco, Jorge 'Coke' Palacios, Leonardo Calvete, Pablo Lukach.

Date of the expedition: from the 14 to 27 of March 2009

Aims: Exploration and opening of a new route through the west face of Pissis, climbing of the Pillán, filming of a documentary film of the region.

For more information and technical details please look up the webpage:

www.antrese.com/Pissis.htm y www.volcanoexpediciones.com.ar