Bottom Up Climbs

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Bottom Up Climbs Climb from the bottom to the top of an area of your choice "by fair means". http://www.bottomupclimbs.org

We knew this was tougher than all we had done before. For the first time, when we left, we felt that failure was at leas...
06/01/2019

We knew this was tougher than all we had done before.
For the first time, when we left, we felt that failure was at least as likely as success.

The Atacama desert, the driest place on Earth, is certainly not very inviting, but it's full of surprises and whenever from the depths of the mountains a little stream of water unexpectedly emerges, life springs in all his forms.

Still, cycling on and off road through the sandy desert remains far from easy: on our fifth day, we had to walk 15 km through the Salar Maricunga, a vast plane at about 3900 m, because we couldn't ride our bikes on the very soft sandy ground, as we had planned.
After that, we cycled up, almost entirely on paved road, to the Murray hut, 4530 m, at the base of Ojos de Salado. What should have been a relatively easy day turned into the toughest and longest day of the whole trip.

But the biggest surprise had still to come.

From the Murray hut to the Atacama refuge, 5240 m, the base camp of Ojos, there's a nice 20 km long offroad track.
Or, at least, we thought it was nice.
It was actually another sand nightmare: we had no chance to ride our bikes on it.

In the first 5 days we had cycled 290 km and 5000 vertical meters, and hiked up from 4100 to 4700 as a first acclimatisation.
It may not seem that much, but the heat and especially the extremely dry air are "extras" provided by the Atacama desert which we had probably underestimated, and they made the journey harder than we could imagine.

It was January 1st and we needed a rest day. But, instead, we decided to drive to the Atacama refuge and then hike up to the Tejos hut, 5840 m, where we dropped some material for the summit attempt.

On the same evening, we had a well deserved bath in the hot natural pool in Laguna Verde and started our long awaited 36 hours long recovery, which we spent largely chatting with other climbers in the Atacama camp.

At that point we had only three days left and we still had to complete our acclimatisation. We had to take a tough decision: either walk those 20 km of sandy "road", and reduce dramatically the acclimatisation program, making the summit almost impossible, or give up the BottomUp style, drive those missing 20 km and 700 vertical meters, do a probably still too short but at least reasonable acclimatisation and have some concrete chances to get onto the summit of the world's highest volcano.

We were drawn by Ojos. We aborted the BottomUp project, decided to do one further acclimatisation hike up to 6100 m and attempt the summit ascent on our last available day: January, 5th.

On the day before the summit attempt, Alessio didn't feel good: he got a viral infection which brought him high temperature and general sickness.
Only Anne and Beppe left the Tejos hut, 5840 m, at 4:30 am, not before realizing that most of the equipment that they had left there a few days earlier had been stolen.
Luckily, Carlito, a local climber who was affected by acute mountain sickness on that morning and couldn't climb the mountain, was so kind to provide what the two needed.

The ascent was smooth and relatively fast up to approximately 6600 m. From there on, moving and breathing became increasingly hard, but the summit got closer and closer, until, after the short final rock climb, it ended up below our feet. We were on the top of Ojos del Salado, 6893 m, at 11 am.

It has been a wonderful and enriching experience, as all our BottomUp climbs, but we will have to come back and start over, with better knowledge of the area, more luck and, above all, more time.

Thank you all for your messages and support.
Here below just a few pictures, more will come soon.

05/01/2019

Aaaaaand, we are on top of Ojos del Salado at 6900 m!!

31/12/2018

Happy New Year from the Murray Hut at 4500 m, base camp of Ojos del Salado! 🎉🎉🎊🎊🎉🎉🎊🎊

  day2 We are leaving! Ojos, we are coming!
28/12/2018

day2
We are leaving! Ojos, we are coming!

  day1 We finally started from the Pacific Ocean. 74 smooth km back to Copiapo, despite some annoying initial setbacks w...
27/12/2018

day1
We finally started from the Pacific Ocean. 74 smooth km back to Copiapo, despite some annoying initial setbacks with tires and tubes...

Now we take some rest and we go shopping.

As of tomorrow we are on our own in the wilderness!

  Hi everyone, the last two days were pretty busy. Yesterday was day0, Alessio and Beppe went to Laguna Santa Rosa, 3850...
27/12/2018

Hi everyone, the last two days were pretty busy.

Yesterday was day0, Alessio and Beppe went to Laguna Santa Rosa, 3850 m, on Christmas night, straight from the airport, by car, they slept there and then went to the Murray hut, 4530, for a complete recognition of the cycling track.

Amazing views.

They drove back to Copiapo in the afternoon where they finally joined Anne.

Im ready to take off and see the ragazzi in Copiapó soon!
25/12/2018

Im ready to take off and see the ragazzi in Copiapó soon!

  day-1 Merry Christmas from Santiago de Chile!
25/12/2018

day-1 Merry Christmas from Santiago de Chile!

24/12/2018

day-2 Finally we arrived in Madrid, but are stuck here. Our arrival in Copiapó has been delayed by 36 hours...

  day-3. We are taking just the bare minimum with us... But with persnickety craftsmanship we managed to have a total of...
23/12/2018

day-3. We are taking just the bare minimum with us... But with persnickety craftsmanship we managed to have a total of 6 bags, each weighing (almost) exactly 23 kg.
First stage.....completed.

  day-3 Ready to go!
23/12/2018

day-3 Ready to go!

13/12/2018

Dear friends, we have been silent for about two years. Many things have happened during this time but a new adventure is coming very soon.

During the coming holiday season we will be in Chile, to climb Ojos del Salado, the highest volcano in South America and in the enitre world.
Of course, we will be doing it "our way": cycling from the seashore 250 km through the Atacama Desert and then climbing up the 6900 m high volcano.

This is by far our hardest project up to now.

We are excited to leave and we will try to keep you posted, even though it won't be easy to stay connecteed.
The departure is scheduled for Dec 23rd and we wil be back on Jan 7th, with or without the summit.

Wish us good luck, we will need more than usual to be successful.

Hello from Tlachichuca, Mexico! Yesterday we summited the Pico de Orizaba after a final 7 hours ascent. A few minutes la...
03/12/2016

Hello from Tlachichuca, Mexico!

Yesterday we summited the Pico de Orizaba after a final 7 hours ascent.
A few minutes later, we skied down from the summit in thin air with amazing views. An unforgettable experience, after having gained every single one of the 5,636 m on which the summit stands.

It has been a really tough trip with many setbacks and a few times we thought we wouldn't make it, but we found unexpected help on the way and new energies within us.

Thank you all and stay tuned for pictures and videos.

27/11/2016

Cordoba! We made it!
It was hot and we had a couple of tough moments (and a flat tire) but it's been a good day and we feel strong.
We have made a new friend, Mario, who is from Cordoba and is helping us a little bit.
And we met el señor Gasperini, grandson of Italian emigrants who told us nice stories and showed us an amazing book, while we were tasting his own coffee.
That's the pure Bottom Up Climbs experience.

Cordoba! We made it! It was hot and we had a couple of tough moments (and a flat tire) but it's been a good day and we f...
27/11/2016

Cordoba! We made it!
It was hot and we had a couple of tough moments (and a flat tire) but it's been a good day and we feel strong.
We have made a new friend, Mario, who is from Cordoba and is helping us a little bit.
And we met el señor Gasperini, grandson of Italian emigrants who told us nice stories and showed us an amazing book, while we were tasting his own coffee.
That's the pure Bottom Up Climbs experience.

we are leaving!!!!
27/11/2016

we are leaving!!!!

Hard to believe, but we made it. At least this far.
25/11/2016

Hard to believe, but we made it. At least this far.

Munich here we are!!!! Now let's run to the airport. And hopefully find our flight.... one train more. Keep your fingers...
25/11/2016

Munich here we are!!!! Now let's run to the airport. And hopefully find our flight.... one train more. Keep your fingers crossed.

25/11/2016

Update from the train. We are going to Mexico, finally!

http://www.bottomupclimbs.org/bottom-up-mexico/

Bottom Up Mexico Posted on November 25, 2016 by Giuseppe Milanesi Hello everyone! We have been quiet, too quiet, but for good reasons. Our latest project is Bottom Up Mexico, fromVeracruz, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, to the Pico de Orizaba, 5,610 m, the highest volcano in North America. Thi...

Checked in: 1 bike, 1 pair of ski, 1 mountaineering equipment, 1 bag pack! I'm ready for bottom up climbs Mexiko! Hopefu...
25/11/2016

Checked in: 1 bike, 1 pair of ski, 1 mountaineering equipment, 1 bag pack! I'm ready for bottom up climbs Mexiko! Hopefully the boys will arrive as well due to the strikes of Lufthansa!!

See Anne's thoughts on our next trip. We are going to Mexico.We have been a little silent this time. Maybe we are too bu...
13/11/2016

See Anne's thoughts on our next trip. We are going to Mexico.

We have been a little silent this time.
Maybe we are too busy at work, maybe we are a bit nervous because this time, for the first time, we are entirely on our own.
No support from local friends. A new kind of adventure.

Stay with us, we leave in 13 days!

It is always exciting to start a new project when you have an idea about doing something. The thoughts in your mind are chaotic and they ar...

We are ready to start the planning of our next adventure: In November we will go to Mexico and climb the highest volcano...
08/08/2016

We are ready to start the planning of our next adventure: In November we will go to Mexico and climb the highest volcano of North America, the Pico de Orizaba! Bottom Up Climbs Volcanic Seven Summits turns to No. 3!

Ours is the video of the week on TrailBlog.de!!! http://trailblog.de/trailrunning-news-16-2016/
21/04/2016

Ours is the video of the week on TrailBlog.de!!!

http://trailblog.de/trailrunning-news-16-2016/

Die Trail-News der Woche mit den Ergebnissen vom Marathon des Sables, der Ultratrail-DM und dem Istria 100. Außerdem ein Blick auf die Top-Athleten beim Transvulcania und Annemarie Flammersfeld im Video der Woche.

It's about time, we are ready now to show you our Bottom Up Africa video!www.youtube.com/embed/_Db0ic_8kT0Thanks to our ...
18/04/2016

It's about time, we are ready now to show you our Bottom Up Africa video!

www.youtube.com/embed/_Db0ic_8kT0

Thanks to our amazing video crew!

Alessio Piccioli Anne-Marie Flammersfeld Giuseppe Milanesi Alessandro Serravalle Francesca Leoncini Charles Mponezya Godwin Msigwa Petra Hammelmann

In July 2015 we went to Africa, to cross Tanzania from the shore of the Indian Ocean to the top of Kilimanjaro, cycling and hiking, as part of our Bottom Up ...

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