Preparing for Ojos del Salado has to take account of more than the height of 6893 m: the character of the high Atacama matters just as much. The route calls for endurance over many hours, resilience to cold and wind, experience of living in a tent, and basic skills with crampons, an ice axe, a helmet and a harness.
Driving between several points reduces how much you have to carry, but it does not reduce the physiological load. So your training plan has to prepare you to move at high altitude after several nights in cold camps, not merely for one long day.
What sort of fitness Ojos del Salado needs
There is no universal test that guarantees the summit. A practical guide is being able to move at a steady pace for several days in a row, recover by the following morning and keep your technique together on broken ground. A fast time over a short run is no substitute for long aerobic work.
- Aerobic endurance for long days out.
- Leg strength for climbing scree and snow.
- A stable core and good balance for working in crampons.
- Endurance in the shoulders and back for carrying a pack.
- The ability to eat, drink and add a layer while on the move.
When to start training
If you already have a base of fitness, several months of consistent work is a convenient span. Anyone coming back after a break, or without experience of multi-day mountain trips, should start earlier. The exact period depends on your starting point, your health, the time you have and any previous injuries.
Build the load gradually. Trying to double your volume just before the trip is more likely to leave you tired or injured than ready. The last days before you fly are for recovery, sleep and checking your kit, not for a test marathon.
Four strands of preparation
1. The aerobic base
The foundation comes from walking uphill, easy running, cycling, skiing and stair machines. Most of the work should be at a controlled intensity where you can keep your breathing even and your technique intact.
2. Strength and stability
Squats, lunges, step-ups, pulling movements and work for the calves and core are all useful. The aim is not a personal best but stability in the knees, hips and back under repeated load.
3. Specific uphill work
Regular climbs with a pack let you test your boots, socks, poles and food. Add weight gradually. There is no need to carry the whole expedition load in advance: duration, terrain and a good walking technique matter more.
4. Recovery
Sleep, food and easy days belong in the plan alongside the training. Persistent tiredness, worsening sleep and pain that changes the way you move all call for the load to be reconsidered.
Altitude and technical experience
Altitude experience
A previous night spent high is more useful than one quick touch of a summit. In your application, state separately the highest point you reached in a day, the highest you have slept, how long you were up there and how your body responded.
Altitude experience loses its currency over time. A climb several years ago confirms that you know the mountains, but not your current acclimatisation. For how adaptation works on this particular route, read our article on acclimatisation on Ojos del Salado.
Technical skills
- Fitting crampons to your boots and putting them on in gloves.
- Walking in crampons on hard snow without catching yourself.
- Using a classic ice axe for support and self-belay.
- Putting a helmet and harness on over warm clothing.
- Handling karabiners and following the guide’s instructions on fixed protection.
Practise all of this before you fly. The final rock section is climbed according to the actual state of the route, so there is no time on the day to work out the system for the first time.
A test weekend
A two-day outing a few weeks before the trip is worth doing. Day one is a long climb; day two is a repeat effort without full recovery. That pairing shows you not your speed but your ability to keep moving, eating, sleeping and working.
- Your boots do not rub or pinch.
- Your pack does not give you back or shoulder pain.
- Your food and drinking routine work without experiments.
- You have something left for the second day after the first.
- Small equipment problems have been found before the expedition.
The last two weeks
Reduce the overall volume, keep short maintenance sessions and get some sleep. Check your documents, your insurance, that your boots and crampons work together, the comfort rating of your sleeping bag and that your torch works. The full list is set out in the equipment list for Ojos.
Acceptance and checks before the trip
How to tell that the programme needs rethinking
An injury you have not got over, marked fatigue, no experience of multi-day effort, trouble with the cold, no experience at all with crampons or a significant change in your health are all reasons for an honest conversation with the operator. Sometimes the best plan is to add a preparatory route or choose a later date.
Check your readiness against the current 15-day programme, read the full overview of Ojos del Salado and the Mountain Guide expedition options.
How to build a training cycle
An example of how a training week is structured
What follows is neither a medical prescription nor a universal calendar. The volume has to be matched to your current fitness, your injuries and the time before the expedition. Consistency without big gaps matters more than a few heroic sessions before you fly.
| Session | Purpose | The check |
|---|---|---|
| A long aerobic session | To develop efficient movement | The pace lets you speak in short sentences |
| Hill repeats or stairs | To prepare your legs for height gain | Your technique does not fall apart by the end |
| Strength training | To strengthen the legs, core and back | No pain, and no reps to failure |
| Recovery work | To maintain regularity | The next day does not begin exhausted |
| Two hard days in a row | To test your recovery | The second day is done at a sustainable pace |
How to add pack weight and height gain gradually
Increase the weight of your pack and the vertical gain gradually. Combining a heavy load, a long route and a fast pace all at once raises the risk of overloading your knees, feet and back. First get to the point where you move steadily and without pain, then add terrain, and only then add weight.
On your test outings, use the boots, socks, poles and pack you intend to take. The point is not to wear the kit out before the trip but to find the rubbing, the pressure points, the awkward adjustment and the items you cannot reach on the move.
Preparing for the cold and for camp life
Fitness does not solve mistakes in camp craft. You need to be able to change a damp layer quickly, keep your sleeping bag and spare clothes dry, pack in the dark and not lose small items in the wind. It is worth doing at least one training trip with a night out and an early start, rather than testing the system for the first time at Laguna Verde.
- Pack your rucksack in the order you will need things on the route.
- Practise adding a layer without stopping completely or getting chilled.
- Test the food you can actually eat when working and cold.
- Learn to change batteries and adjust crampons in gloves.
- After every long session, note your sleep, appetite and recovery.
The last four weeks
By the end of the cycle it is too late to build fitness with a sudden increase in volume. Use the last weeks to consolidate the long sessions and to work on descending, sleep and recovery. Reduce the load so that you arrive without accumulated fatigue or minor injuries.
At the same time, finish sorting out your equipment. New boots, new food or a new glove system are not left until the day you fly.
What to report before final acceptance
- Your recent maximum altitudes and sleeping altitudes
- The dates of your previous expeditions
- How you reacted to altitude and any medication you used
- Injuries and restrictions this season
- Your experience with crampons, ice axe and harness
- The actual volume of training over the last few months
Honest information makes it possible to choose between the standard and the short programme. A gap in experience that is concealed will surface at altitude, where there are fewer ways of putting it right.
Signs that you are ready to travel
You can move at a sustainable pace for several hours, recover normally after a long day, use your own equipment without prompting and stick to a food plan. You understand that the summit is not guaranteed and that the guide’s decision to turn back is binding.
Being ready does not mean feeling no nerves. It means the main tasks are already familiar, so you are not learning everything at once in cold and at altitude.
What makes preparing for Ojos different
Ojos del Salado combines vehicle logistics, camps in a dry high-altitude desert, long days on scree and snow, and a short technical section near the top. The drives reduce the carrying, but they create a transition from sitting for hours to working at great altitude. Your training plan has to allow for both sides of that.
| Feature | What it requires | How to prepare for it |
|---|---|---|
| Long drives | Starting to move without feeling completely stiff | A warm-up and a familiar order for getting kitted up |
| Dryness and wind | Protecting your face, hands and eyes | Testing layers and accessories on open ground |
| Scree and uneven surfaces | Keeping your balance and an efficient stride | Ascents, descents and ankle stability |
| Snow or ice, depending on conditions | Using crampons and an ice axe confidently | A practical session before you fly |
| The final section | Following the guide’s instructions in a harness and helmet | Practising with the equipment in gloves |
The phases of a training cycle
The length of the preparation is not the same for everybody. Start by assessing your health, your current volume, the terrain available to you and your past altitude experience. After a break, the base phase takes longer than it does for someone who trains steadily all year.
- Consistency. Steady aerobic work with no sudden jumps.
- Strength and stability. Legs, core, back, calves and control on the descent.
- Specific work. Hill work, the pack, and two days in a row.
- Skills. Crampons, ice axe, harness, clothing and camp craft.
- Tapering. Recovery before the flight.
How to keep a training log
Record the duration, the height gained and lost, the surface, the weight of your pack, your sleep, any pain, your food and how you felt the next day. Compare speeds only on similar terrain and in comparable conditions.
The log helps you tell ordinary tiredness from a decline that is building up. If your technique changes over several sessions in a row, your sleep goes, or pain persists in everyday life, stop increasing the load and look into the cause with a professional.
Climbing scree, and descending
Routes with a loose, uneven surface are useful for Ojos, but choose training ground that is safe and matches your experience. On scree, a short stable stride and good body position matter more than trying to hold your speed on the flat.
Prepare for the descent gradually. Tired thighs, unstable knees and rubbing feet all show up after the turnaround. Stairs and an inclined treadmill help when there are no mountains, but they do not replace practice on natural ground.
A separate technical session
Crampons are not just an item on a kit list. Fit them to the boots that are going to Chile, check they stay on and learn to walk without catching yourself. The ice axe is used for support and self-belay, within the technique your instructor demonstrates.
- Put crampons on and take them off in gloves
- Check the length and fastening of the straps
- Climb, traverse and descend under an instructor’s supervision
- Put the harness on over all your working layers
- Work a karabiner without taking your main gloves off
- Understand the commands used on the upper section
Online instruction is no substitute for practice. If there is no snow near you, arrange a session on suitable training ground in advance.
Getting ready to set off after a drive
On a training trip it is worth practising a short warm-up after the drive, the order in which you change and how easily you can reach water, goggles, sun cream and windproofs. Do not count on laying your kit out comfortably for the first time at the start of the route.
Distribute your equipment so that the important things are not deep inside a communal bag. The vehicle helps with the logistics, but you remain responsible for your own clothing, water, food and medication.
Early starts, sleep and your torch
The summit day starts at an unfamiliar hour. Practising an early departure a few times is useful, but there is no need to deprive yourself of sleep chronically in the name of adaptation. The point is to know the order of things and your torch, not to arrive tired.
Test your torch in the cold, keep spare batteries within reach and do the small tasks in gloves. Before the trip you should be able to assemble your personal kit without a long search in the dark.
Preparing for the dryness, the sun and the cold
Dry air does not cancel out the cold. On open ground, protection from ultraviolet, from wind and from heat loss all matter at once. Test your goggles, mask, sun cream, neck gaiter, gloves and layers together, because items that are fine on their own can get in each other’s way.
Rehearse your drinking and eating on long days out. This article sets no medical fluid target: needs vary, and drinking excessively can be dangerous too. Discuss anything personal with your doctor.
Preparing for San Francisco
On the standard programme, San Francisco is not a decorative training day. It tests your ability to keep going, your clothing, your food and your recovery before you go higher. So your preparation has to leave you able to work after it, rather than being built around a single summit.
Judge a successful long day by how you are that evening and the next morning. If you got there at the cost of complete exhaustion, the tick in the box does not confirm you are ready for the next phase.
The standard and the short programme
The standard route builds its own sequence of acclimatisation. The short format is for someone with recent, confirmed altitude of at least 5000 m. The preparatory summit is assessed together with the nights slept, the interval between the two programmes and the recovery.
Training at sea level does not satisfy that condition. If the preparatory climb fell through, if you were ill, or if the gap has grown, acceptance is reconsidered before the trip, not after you arrive in the Atacama.
Food and recovery between days
On a test weekend, check the food you can actually eat while working and whether you can eat properly once you are back. What matters is not only the calories you burn on the route but whether you are ready to repeat the work in the morning.
After a long day, note your sleep, your appetite, any pain in your feet and knees, the state of your skin and whether you feel able to move. Those observations are more useful than a general «the session went well».
A self-check a month out
| Area | The check | The gap it reveals |
|---|---|---|
| Two days in a row | The second day is still workable | Recovery is not good enough |
| Scree and descents | Technique holds up when you are tired | You need more gradual practice on terrain |
| Crampons | Putting them on and moving are confident | You need a session with an instructor |
| Camp | Personal kit is organised without help | You need a rehearsal of camp life |
| Altitude | Experience matches the format chosen | The programme needs reconsidering |
| Health | Personal questions discussed with a doctor | This article is not a substitute for a consultation |
How the plan changes with different backgrounds
A runner with good endurance usually needs to add terrain, descending, a pack and technical skills. A fast pace on the flat says nothing about how efficiently you move on scree in boots.
A walker with camping experience needs to confirm their current fitness and their work in crampons. Being familiar with a camp does not make up for a long break in training.
A climber coming off another high mountain needs to weigh not only the altitude reached but the fatigue. Fresh acclimatisation is useful, but illness, lack of sleep and damaged feet can make the pairing worse than two separate expeditions.
Someone with no altitude experience gets a fuller profile from the standard programme, but that does not turn Ojos into a first test of every skill at once. Before the trip you need a training mountain, an introduction to crampons and some multi-day effort.
Common mistakes in preparing for Ojos
| Mistake | Consequence | The correction |
|---|---|---|
| Treating the 4×4 as a substitute for fitness | The walking days turn out unexpectedly hard | Train for duration and for repeated effort |
| Training only the ascent | The descent destroys your technique when you are tired | Add downhill work gradually |
| Putting crampons on for the first time in Chile | Time is lost and the risk of catching yourself rises | Do a practical session in advance |
| Training only in the gym | Boots, wind and your personal system go untested | Add safe open ground |
| Trying to make up a month in a week | Accumulated fatigue before you fly | Reconsider the date or the format |
| Concealing a preparatory climb that went wrong | The short programme rests on a false acceptance | Report the altitude and the nights you actually did |
The test weekend before the expedition
The check consists of two consecutive days, not one maximum session. On the first day you walk a long route with a working pack, managing your clothing and your food. On the second you go out again without full rest and judge the quality of your stride, not a record.
- Your feet let you put the same boots on
- The descent does not destroy your technique
- The pack does not need constant readjustment
- Your food is still acceptable after the first day
- You can still pack in the dark
- There is no pain afterwards that changes the way you walk
Do the test weekend early enough to fix what it finds. If it goes wrong, you cannot simply declare the first day «a good session»: the reason the second day failed belongs to your expedition readiness.
What to agree with the operator in advance
Before the programme is finally chosen, pass on the dates of your high-altitude days, the nights you slept, any symptoms, your technical experience and the actual volume of your training. Establish separately what weight you carry, which personal equipment is compulsory and where the harness is used.
For the short programme the operator checks the basis for acceptance. For the standard one, they note the gaps to close before the start. Medical decisions stay with your doctor, technical instruction with a qualified instructor and route decisions with the expedition leader.
How to put a working week together
The core remains one long session on terrain. The other days are for steady aerobic work, strength, short hill sessions and recovery. Two consecutive walking days come in once a single long day stops disturbing your sleep and your ordinary activity.
Not every session is done with a pack. Increase the weight, the vertical gain, the duration and the intensity separately, so that you can see how your feet, knees and back respond. Do the technical practice fresh, not after a maximal strength session.
| Situation | Next step |
|---|---|
| The second day of the pair holds up | Make the terrain gradually harder |
| Scree destroys your balance | Slow down and add technique practice |
| Your boots rub | Fix the fit before increasing the duration |
| It is hard to get going after a drive | Practise the warm-up and the order of getting kitted up |
| Fatigue is accumulating | Reduce the volume rather than adding a test session |
Tell your coach what is particular about Ojos: the many days, the scree, the cold, the altitude, the vehicle transfers and the technical upper section. A plan for a short race or a single day’s walking does not cover that combination.
What to do in the last 30, 14 and 7 days
30 days out: finish the main test weekend and the technical session. 14 days out: reduce the volume, and close out your equipment and paperwork. 7 days out: keep the activity light, sleep, and eat as usual, without trying to make up sessions you missed.
Report any significant change in your health, any injury and the loss of a preparatory altitude to the operator. It may change the format recommended, but it leaves more safe options than concealing the problem does.
Readiness confirmed? Compare the requirements of the standard and short formats on the Ojos del Salado programmes page and give the manager the sleeping altitudes you actually reached and the dates of your last expedition.
Fact-checked: 17 August 2026. A training plan is not a substitute for medical advice.