Mountain · Chile, Argentina
Ojos del Salado
Ojos del Salado is the highest volcano on Earth, a giant of ash and rock that rises on the dry border between Chile and Argentina. Near its top lies a small lake, the highest in the world.
Picture credit: sergejf (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Ojos del Salado?
Ojos del Salado is part of the Andes (Puna de Atacama).
You will find it in: Chile, Argentina.
Summit: 27.110° S, 68.541° W
The story behind it
The volcano stands in the Atacama, one of the driest places on Earth, so even at 6 893 metres it carries surprisingly little snow. Two Polish climbers, Jan Alfred Szczepański and Justyn Wojsznis, reached the top in February 1937. High on the eastern side lies a crater lake about 100 metres across at roughly 6 390 metres, thought to be the highest lake of any size in the world. Warm steam still leaks from cracks near the summit and the rock smells of sulphur, a sign that the volcano is only sleeping. In 2015 a specially built car was driven up its slopes to 6 688 metres, a world record for a vehicle. Surveys do not fully agree on the height: 6879, 6887 and 6 893 metres are all in use, and one mountaineering source suspects the real figure is closer to 6 870 metres.
Find it on the globe
Ojos del Salado is there as a small peak with its own shape — a horn, a ridge, a volcano — standing on the surface. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
How high is Ojos del Salado?
Where is Ojos del Salado?
On the border between Chile and Argentina, in the Atacama Desert about 27 degrees south of the equator. The nearest Chilean town is Copiapó.
Is there really a lake near the summit?
Yes. A crater lake roughly 100 metres wide sits at about 6 390 metres on the eastern flank, and it is regarded as the highest lake of any size on Earth.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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