Cerro Toco — Local services in San Pedro de Atacama

Contrary to what the local tour companies want you to believe, you can and should climb Cerro Toco independently. You do not need a 4x4 to drive up to the base of the climb and the route up to the summit is obvious to the point that you wouldn't need to consult a GPS even if you'd never seen a map of the mountain before. You can park your car near the new telescope array under construction at the end of the road. The construction workers there do not care whatsoever as long as you don't start poking around the construction site itself.

The climb is steep and at high altitude, although very short. If you aren't used to altitude it can be difficult to work out just how slow you need to go in order to avoid stopping every five minutes for a breather. It took us 1hr 45mins to reach the summit but only 20mins to get down. I would recommend wearing microspikes or crampons, but you can do the climb without them and we saw plenty of guided tours full of people wearing neither. Be prepared for cold and strong gusts of wind generating snow drift. The snow is deep near the top which makes for tough going on the ascent but an absolute joy on the way back down.

Be aware that if guides leading tour groups see you on the mountain without a guide, they may get angry and interrogate you. We met a local San Pedro resident on the summit who explained that the guides do not want tourists to know that you can climb Toco independently because it threatens their business. If you speak to any of the tour companies in San Pedro they will tell you it is impossible. This is nothing to do with safety and all about money, however it is a good idea to email the ALMA astronomical park just to let them know you will be on the mountain in case something happens. Some of the guides we met were friendly and just wanted to check that we weren't utterly clueless about mountain trekking, but the majority were hostile and you should be...

We did the ascent to Cerro Toco with Carlos Mella from Nortrek. We couldn't have asked for a better guide (perhaps wouldn't have made it without Carlos' encouragement and support). It's a very slow trek if you are not used to the altitude. We parked the truck at around 5,000 meters and walked the remaining 604 meters in 2 hours and 40 minutes. We made several stops along the way to catch our breath, have water/snacks, and enjoy the incredible views.

Carlos will make sure you are dressed accordingly. He has several items you can borrow in case you were not prepared for the cold weather. He will provide a helmet and walking poles as well. When you get to the top, he will have warm tea for everyone. He will take beautiful pictures with your cell phone along the way (you won't want to take off your gloves due to the cold temperatures).

Three out of the four of us got emotional when reaching the top. You learn a lot about the mountain as well as yourself (your physical and mental capabilities) during the ascent and definitely feel accomplished when you see the flags and the incredible views from the top. You see both Chile and Bolivia from the top and incredible views from the desert.

The way down is much easier. We reached our car in just under an hour. Don't do this before getting used to altitude. Be prepared for headaches and potentially nausea, but keep focused on your breath, follow the guide, respect the mountain, and enjoy this...

First of all, it is totally doable by yourself.

We went there with our rental car (no 4x4). At the end the car was a little slow because of the altitude, but other than that everything was fine. Although there were a few signs that said no entry, we just ignored them.

The ascent took us 1h 45min, down about 30min. No mountain sickness since we acclimatized the day before in Tatio geysers (also did a 200m climb over there and I was feeling so bad then, luckily mate de coca helped) and took ibuprofen as prophylaxis (one really small observational study suggests that it could prevent mountain sickness). One of the tour guides there was a bit annoyed when we decided to take an alternative path (the main one was occupied with their really slow group). But I think she was just thinking that there are two fools who know nothing and soon she will have to save us/help us from something. Other tour...