Ricardo Demarco: Mountaineering

INTO THE WILD AND UP:

I have always loved mountains, maybe because I was born and lived for more than 20 years close to them, the chilean Andes. My first climbs started around 1990, when I was in high school, but it was not until a few years later that I took mountaineering training, under the instruction of Prof. Claudio Lucero at PUC, when I was an undergraduate student in Physics. The training included snow climbing, rock climbing and river-crossing techniques among others. When I moved to Europe to study Astrophysics I had the opportunity to explore other mountains in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. However, the demanding studies of Physics and Astrophysics prevented me from dedicating all the time I would have wished to the practice of mountaineering. Despite of the fact that I dedicate most of my time to do astronomical research, I try to go climbing as often as possible.

I have done a number of treks in South America, North America, and Europe. Summits attained reach about 3900 meters (about 13,000 feet) of elevation. In January 2006 I did a summit attempt on Ojos del Salado (6893m/22,615ft; Chile) where I reached an elevation of 6100 meters (20,013ft). Other attempts include Licancabur (5920m/19,422ft; Chile) on the Bolivian side of the mountain. As an astronomer, sometimes I need to observe from the telescope which means to go to the top of a mountain. A few times I have observed with the APEX radiotelescope on Chajnantor, Atacama, at an elevation of about 5100 meters (16,732 feet). This is the highest where I have worked from.

My Mountaineering Curriculum | UIAA | FFCAM | DAV | AAC