Going High

Going High

The highest settlement in the UK is Flash, Staffordshire, at 463 m (1,519 ft) and the highest point in the UK is Ben Nevis at 1,343m (4,406 ft).  The northern parts of Chile, Argentina and southern Bolivia are a lot higher and it was time to test our ability to travel at altitude. From the Chilean coast we climbed steadily, and over several days, to the Tatio Geysers which are at a height of 4,320 metres (14,170 ft) or just over three times Ben Nevis.  We camped overnight and watched the temperature steadily drop to minus 15⁰c.  Luckily, Bocklet built our truck to withstand these temperatures and our heating systems kept us nice and warm inside Big Bertha!

Doing anything at this altitude immediately results in a shortness of breath, and even sleeping is troublesome.  According to the internet: “Most people don’t sleep well at altitude. Hypoxia (Low oxygen) directly affects the sleep center of the brain. This results in frequent awakenings, light non restful sleep and less total sleep time. Many people, even full-time mountain residents have trouble sleeping despite acclimatization.”

But we managed and, as each day passed, we acclimatized further.  And this gave us confidence to visit Bolivia which is even higher (>4900m) and colder (mid-year is winter down here).

However, low temperatures and high altitudes do not bode well for starting Big Bertha’s diesel engine. Starting the engine takes about 30 seconds of cranking (sorry batteries!) and, all being well, one cylinder fires and the others slowly join in, accompanied by copious amounts of smoke (sorry environment!). 

Aside from this, when warmed up, Big Bertha’s engine is behaving very well, although we do use a lot more fuel at altitude.

We have experienced other problems at high altitude. Our tea is cold! Water boils at 83⁰c at 5,000m and it takes an age to cook rice. Sleeping is more difficult. Big Bertha’s toilet is erratic – it works using a vacuum and the altitude plays havoc. Various suckers used to attach things (GPS, phones etc) keep falling off. And Francine’s numerous lotions act like mini volcanos when she goes to use them (also true of the tomato sauce).

Lastly, altitude plays havoc with our soft boiled egg timings. Luckily some kind soul has posted an egg boiling calculator online. For the curious, a 67 gram egg, straight from the fridge, at 4,300m, needs a boiling time of 10minutes, 41 seconds.