lascar volcano

We booked our climb with the agency Vulcano Aventura from San Pedro, which organises ascensions to all major volcanoes from the region. The young lady from the agency called Nicole gave us professional, intelligent, patient and accurate advice. The agency provided us with an experienced (has been working since 10years) and English spoken guide called David Dominguez, which we warmly recommend. We were a nice group of 4. It is not a tricky climb, yet the altitude is the challenge (the summit is at 5600m). The views from the top over the altiplano until Argentina are marvellous. If you do not know how to organise your climb - as we did - then go for this agency and this guide.

Lascar - or Laskar - is 5.600 m above sea level and, even though it's not the hardest climb around San Pedro, the effort you put into it makes reaching the crater a very special experience. It's an easy climb - 800 m up and around 4 km of path -, but you can feel the altitude, therefore you walk pretty slowly. For that reason, it's very important being acclimatised. My boyfriend and I booked the tour with an agency named Ivero, on Caracoles street, and loved it. We were with a group of 7 people and there were 2 guides. One of them spoke reasonable English and they were both very professional. They took our pulse and didn't let us eat much for breakfast, cause digestion takes a lot of oxygen. The price of the tour was 85.0000 pesos per person. It's not cheap, but totally worth it! The agency provides walking poles and boots if you need them. You don't have to be fit to do it, just pay attention if you are feeling headaches or too much dizziness. We had no problem and recommend it! The view from the top and the crater is incredible!

A really nice day hike for a 5,550 masl summit!! If you wanna try an above-5000 peak in a the desert climate, go for this one! I went there with Atacama Mistica, got a pretty nice price (80,000 CPS) and a reaaally responsible guide. The only thing that dissapointing was my guide didn't speak English quite balanced since the other 3 people in my group speaks Porto. If you book through agency, one of the thing that you should realize is that you'll adjust your pace with the rest of your group (means if you're quick, probably there'll be waiting), and there's only 1 guide instead of 2, so if one person in your group was really sick cannot complete the summit, there's always a possibility that the guide will refuse to complete the summit for the whole group. I was lucky with our group because we were about the same pace and all the girls have really cool mentality. The trek to the crater took 2.5-3 hrs and another 30-45 min from the crater to the peak. View along the road were amazing. Although I didn't feel any acclimatization problems during the hike, I was miserable upon reaching our car and went back to the city. Anticipate the accumulation of sun heat plus the wind plus motion sickness caused by the bad road when making your way back to the city.

First of all, this is a significant elevation with a summit at 18,000+ feet, so I HIGHLY recommend not attempting this unless you have been at elevation before (and spend a few days before acclimatizing in the area) because the extremely dry air makes dehydration set in quickly. But that said, if you can handle the elevation, this volcano is definitely worth climbing because the view at the top is amazing. Take a down jacket because it's extremely cold if the wind picks up, and take plenty of water! It's active, so there is sulphur in the air, so be cautious as well. We spent about 20 minutes at the summit. The climb is not technical, but it's challenging and being in shape is a necessity to do this safely.

Did the tour with volcano expediciones and it was great. In the morning we had breakfast at a lagoon with great views to the volcanos and afterwards we climbed the Lascar. The Lascar is active but you see only smoke, no lava. But the views from the top are amazing.

I booked this through one of the travel agents on the high street (the one directly opposite hostal international). They recommended the flamenco tour the day before to acclimatise, I would say this is not enough as there is no physical exertion on the flamenco tour...! I completed the volcano summit ok, but really felt the affects of the altitude. The guide, David was good and explained things very well. The views at the top are truly amazing and it's worth the effort to get to the top. I would recommend some bike rides a couple of days before to help acclimatise and give yourself the best chance of summiting.

Encouraged by many good reviews on Trip Advisor I decided to climb Lascar Volcano on the last day of my stay in San Pedro. Fortunately I had brought my hiking boots and a backpack. The road is paved to the village of Talabre, then a gravel road continues through a wonderful landscape with little farms and herds of Lamas to the Laguna de Lejia. Just before the laguna a fairly ok track continues straight to the beginning of the trail at an altitude of about 4900m. The path up to the crater is straight forward, easily found and poses no technical difficulties, apart of the altitude of course. However, if you are not an experienced climber or don't have the right equipment I very strongly recommend you book a guided tour! I passed some groups and the guides all seemed very competent. Once you reach the crater at 5500m there is an absolutely stunning view into the caldera with fumes and smoke emerging from the steep cliffs. I was a bit worried about toxic gases, but the air was totally clear and there was no bad smell. The path then continues further up to the summit at 5600m, an extra effort absolutely worthwhile. The view over the Salar de Atacama and all the surrounding high peaks is (literally speaking) breathtaking. It took me a little less than 2 hours to reach the top. The only real difference I felt to hiking in the Alps was the enormous amount of water I had to drink. Getting down on the sandy path was quick and fun like skiing. On the way back to San Pedro I had lunch at the Laguna de Lejia and watched the Flamingos (avoid walking into the mud, it stinks and is really hard to get off the shoes...). What a great day out!

We did the Tour with cumbres6000 (located at caracoles Street). They are great there and have the most Trekking shoes (in other agencies they didnt have our sizes). We did the Tour with David, who also was great. The tour was an amazing experience, but to be honest, we underestimated it. We didnt make it to the top because of high altitude sickness and our physical condition. Up there, walking is quite exhausting. You have to get used to the cold Wind (and the cold wind in your lungs). And hicking there is a little bit like walking on sand. Today, there were more than just our Group. Id say, 80% of them made it to the top. Clothing wise: dont forget gloves, hat and wear layers- even in spring. Even though we didnt make it, its totally recommendable!

This tour was just the best tour we did in atacama. We booked it in the agency cumbre6000 with rosanna. She was so nice and helpful. Our tour guide was fabricio xavier. We stopped in the morning at a lagune. We had breakfast there and were watching the flamingos. The patricio walked up with us to the volcano very slowly with lots of breaks. We needed nearls 3 hours to go up and the view was just amazing. Best tour we did. Not touristic at all. Thanks rosanna and patricio for this wonderful day!

There is a legend about this volcano. Lascar is a father of two other volcanos, which are close by, namely Licancabur and Juriqes. Licancabur and Jeriqes fell in love with a girl Kimai. Licancabur was an angry guy like Cain and he chopped of the head of his own brother. Close to Licancabur you will see another shorter volcano with a large orator, which is not active. Father Lascar did not want to have a war in his family and he sent Kimai away. Kimai is also a mountain but not in the Andes range. Kimai is a highest mountain in Domeyko mountain range, which is in front of Licancabur and Juriqes :)

Maybe the most beautiful landscape I have seen in my lifeBenoit, SwitzerlandMany thanks to Gonzalo, our guide

We went on a trekking tour to Volcano Lascar with Vulcano Expendicons and we had Christian as the guide. He was very experienced and professional. Afterall, it's our first high altitude / volcano hike, we were a bit nervous about getting high altitude sickness and volcanic activities. Christian ensured us that it's very safe to walk this active Volcano and it was! We had an awesome experience and we were glad we did it. The maximim capacity is 4 people but only 2 Of us went that day. Christian was very caring, he let us take our time to get used to the altitude and there was no pressure to go fast, he told us it'd important to go slow and enjoy the journey. The view was absolutely amazing when we got to the crater, the smell of sulphur was pretty strong and we got to see a lot of volcanic activities! There was a lot of smoke coming out and you can feel the heat. We would definitely recommend our friends to do it. You get a little dizzy along the way and feel a bit out of breathe, but it's definitely worth it.

We did this tour as private tour with the guide Felipe Staig. This guys did a great job providing equipment and pace for elevation. Good English knowledge is also a bonus on a long drive from SPA :)It's really fantastic place. We've never been to active volcano, well frankly speaking ANY volcano and we did it going to the crater and to the nearest summit. The views, and whole impression is "OH MY GOD!""I saw Orordruin!", "#%%#! It's still working!".I just can't express all that. The views from up there are amazing!IMPORTANT!!! FOR NON-PROFESSIONAL CLIMBERS!!! Attitude 5500 is not a joke! Prepare yourself for it before going there, go to a couple of tours above 4000 at least. We had the private tour. We - married couple and one guy from Germany, who didn't do the preparation. He felt really bad after getting to the crater and had to leave back almost immediately. Even that elevation itself is 500 meters only, it's from 5000 to 5500!!! Attitude sickness can destroy your journey!!

I'd a great hike up this volcano, well worth the effortBooked with Vulcano Expeditions in town, very professional and all equipment provided. Guide didn't have great english, but it didn't matter

Wow what an amazing experience. It's a climb of 4 hours and with the attitude not easy but believe me it's worth it!We had breakfast at the foot of the volcano and then the climb start. The guides where very patience. You walk to the crater at 5500m it's amazing! The volcano is still active so you see the smoke. I'll definitely recommend this trip if you love challenges!