Atacama 2025 season recap
The 2025 Atacama season ran late, ran cold, and ran successful. Here's how it went, what changed, and what we're doing differently this year.
Every November through March, our team runs back-to-back expeditions out of Copiapó. We write this recap every year to mark what worked, what didn't, and what we're learning. Here's the 2025 season in numbers and observations.
The numbers
- 6 expeditions run across three peaks
- 32 climbers on the mountain
- 23 summits across all three peaks (72% summit rate)
- 11 Ojos del Salado summits (from 14 attempts, 79%)
- 7 Tres Cruces summits (from 10 attempts, 70%)
- 5 Incahuasi summits (from 8 attempts, 63%)
- 0 evacuations, 0 serious incidents
Our 72% summit rate sits above the regional average for these peaks — a function of how slowly we acclimatize and how willing our climbers are to turn around when conditions aren't right. The single biggest factor in those numbers is patience.
The weather story
The 2025 season ran roughly two weeks late. The first stable summit windows didn't arrive until mid-November — typical years see them by the first week. This compressed the early-season expeditions and forced us to add a contingency day to the December departures.
The flip side: when the weather did stabilize, it held. The window from December 18 through January 5 was the longest stable summit period any of our guides remember. Three expeditions hit it. All three had full summits on Ojos.
February brought a return to normal — variable winds, a few storm days at base camp, the usual mix.
What changed in our approach
Three operational changes from previous seasons:
1. We moved the Cerro San Francisco acclimatization climb earlier
Previously we did Mulas Muertas first (5,200m), then San Francisco (6,018m) as the bigger warm-up. In 2025 we tested the reverse order on three expeditions and saw better acclimatization scores in the climbers who did San Francisco first. We've made this the standard sequence for 2026.
2. We added a forced rest day after the acclimatization peaks
One full day at Laguna Verde with zero hiking. Climbers complained about this in the first expedition, then realized by the second day they felt visibly stronger. Summit day energy was noticeably higher across the season. We're keeping this.
3. We changed the summit day breakfast
Sounds trivial. Wasn't. We switched from cold granola to a hot oatmeal-and-condensed-milk preparation we'd been informally calling "guide breakfast." Climbers ate more of it, started summit day with more fuel in the tank, and reported fewer mid-climb energy crashes. This is now the standard.
What we learned about gear
Three observations from the season:
- Down booties are mandatory at high camp. Two climbers showed up without them, and both spent the high camp nights cycling between cold feet and broken sleep. Adding to the recommended gear list.
- The new generation of 4-season tents are noticeably better in 60-knot winds. The Hilleberg Soulo and Mountain Hardwear Trango series both held up flawlessly. Older single-wall tents struggled.
- Lithium batteries die fast in the cold. Climbers using older alkaline-powered headlamps had way fewer summit-day failures than climbers using rechargeable units. We now carry spare alkaline lamps as backups.
The honest hard moments
Three expeditions had to make significant route or schedule changes mid-trip. One Ojos group lost two summit attempts to back-to-back storms and had to extend by a day to catch a third window — they took it and summited. One Tres Cruces group had a climber develop AMS at high camp and made the call to descend together; the right call, no question. One Incahuasi attempt was canceled at base camp due to electrical storms across the massif for three straight days.
The pattern: when we communicated changes early, climbers stayed flexible. When we communicated late, frustration built. We're putting more structure into in-trip communication for 2026 — a daily 5 PM weather and plan briefing at every camp.
Looking ahead to 2026
We're running four scheduled departures on each peak this season, with custom and private departures available outside those windows. Our 2026–2027 calendar is on the pricing page, and the day-by-day itineraries are on each peak's dedicated page.
The peaks haven't moved. The lessons have. Hope to see you on the mountain.
— The Pan American Adventures team
More from the field on the expedition reports page.