NEVADO DE TRES CRUCES NATIONAL PARK
FULL DAY SNOWY THREE CROSSES
Season: OPEN
Price per person: from $ 90.000 CLP per person based on 4 people. Extra price from Caldera.
Time: 07:30 to 18:30.
Duration: 11 hours.
Places: Vallecito, Santa Rosa Lagoon, Nevado Tres Cruces, Copiapó Volcano, Lama River Waterfall, Ojos del Salado Volcano, Green Lake and and Maricunga Salt lake.
Included: park's tickets, pickup at the hotel, shared transport, guide, emergency kit (oxygen), hydration and boxlunch.
What to bring: Warm clothing, comfortable shoes, warm hat, bathing suit, towel, sunglasses, sunscreen and water.
Restrictions:
Not allowed for pregnant women.
Minimum age required of 11 years old.
Cancellation policy: 48 hours.
LIGHT DAY NEVADO TRES CRUCES
Season: September - April.
Price per person: from $ 60,000 CLP per person based on 5 people. Extra price from Caldera.
Time: 09:00 to 17:00.
Duration: 8 hours.
Places: Vallecito, Santa Rosa Lagoon, Nevado Tres Cruces, Copiapó Volcano and Maricunga Salt lake.
Included: park's tickets, pickup at the hotel, shared transport, guide, emergency kit (oxygen), hydration and boxlunch.
What to bring: Warm clothing, comfortable shoes, warm hat, bathing suit, towel, sunglasses, sunscreen and water.
Restrictions:
Not allowed for pregnant women.
Minimum age required of 11 years old.
Cancellation policy: 48 hours.
MAIN ATTRACTIVES
EYES OF THE VOLCANO SALT
Nevado Ojos del Salado is a massive stratovolcano in the Andes on the Argentina – Chile border and the highest active volcano in the world at 6,893 m (22.615 ft). It is also the second highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere and Southern hemisphere and the highest in Chile. It is located about 600 km (370 mi) north of Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere at 6,961 m (22,838 ft).
The ascent of Ojos del Salado is mostly a hike except for the final section to the summit which is a difficult scramble that may require ropes. The first ascent was made in 1937 by Jan Alfred Szczepański and Justyn Wojsznis, members of a Polish expedition in the Andes.
GREEN LAKE
green lagoon (Spanish for "green lake" or "green lagoon") is a salt lake in the Andes Mountains of Chili. It lies in the Atacama Region (third region), near San Francisco Pass. The volcano Eyes of the Salado marks the south border of its basin.
High mountains surround the lake. Among them are The dead, Incahuasi, False Sulfur, White sorrow, White canyons, The hermit, Vicunas and the already mentioned Eyes of the Salt, the highest active volcano in the world.
NEVADO DE TRES CRUCES
Nevado de Tres Cruces is a massif of volcanic origin in the Andes Mountains on the border of Argentina and Chili.
It has two main summits, Tres Cruces Sur at 6,748 meters (22,139 ft) and Tres Cruces Centroat 6,629 m (21,749 ft) and a third more minor summit, Tres Cruces Norte 6,206 m (20,361 ft). Tres Cruces Sur is the sixth highest mountain in the Andes.
The area was first surveyed in 1883 by Francisco San Román and the Nevado Tres Cruces National Park was established in 1994.
The volcano has an extended history of activity, going back at least 1.5 million years. A number of lava domes surround the complex and a number of craters lie on its summits. The main volcano is ofrhyodacitic composition and has generated two major ignimbritic eruptions, one 1.5 million years ago and a second 67,000 years ago. The last eruption was 28,000 years ago, but the volcano may become active in the future.
SANTA ROSA LAGOON
Located just south of the Salar de Maricunga, the lagoon is known for its Andean flamingos, which reside on the lagoon year-round. Laguna Santa Rosa, along with Laguna del Negro Francisco, is a Wetland of International Importance under the Ramsar Convention.
RIO LAMA WATER FALL
It is a beautiful place where the Lamas river is located, one of the water courses that contributes the water resources to the salar of Maricunga. It has a steep slope and is characterized by abundant fauna.
MARICUNGA SALT LAKE
The salt flat of Maricunga, which is a little over 15 km long, is the southernmost salt lake on the Chilean side. In good weather, the views of the Volcano Copiapó and the Tres Cruces chain are magnificent.
The seemingly infinite plain of the Salar de Maricunga is located at 3750 meters above sea level. The special thing about this flat is the lack of natural effluent. However, the high rate of evaporation does not turn this enclosed basin into a huge lake. But the salts remain in this process. Slowly a salt lake with huge sequences of saltworks formed in the underground.
The Maricunga salt flat has a length of 29.6 km (northern shore to the Santa Rosa Lake) and the active area is only 15.3 km long. The maximum width of the salt lake is 9.8 km.
