Daily report March 7, 2007
Ready to go
We started our trip to the base camp at 11 am, after a photo shooting with the local Daimler Chrysler/Jeep® partner. On the way, we had some breaks due to several meetings with film teams and photographers. Finally we were on the road. Finally, the long awaited start. Finally the final period of the long-lasting preparations has started.
The trip to the base camp itself was fantastic. Even though I am familiar with the track, I am always anew excited of the beauty of the nature, the play of colours and changing structures. It was breathtakingly for those in my team, who have not been to the Atacama before. However, it was not just beautiful. The first symptoms of the altitude sickness showed up. Already after half of the trip, many team members felt the beginning shortness of breath. On top of this, they felt dizzy. At this point it should also be mentioned, that even our base camp is at an altitude of the highest mountain of the Alps – the Mont Blanc!!
After seven hours on the road, we were expected by happy rangers, a cook, fresh coffee, cake, but especially by our two transport and emergency vehicles Argo® Avenger 8x8.
Unfortunately, some team members are now aware of the altitude problems and already feel the symptoms of sickness. Some of them had not taken the altitude problems seriously enough before, but at last everyone stopped talking and laughing about it. Some have headache, others have troubles with sickness. However, these are all symptoms of the altitude sickness and the process of acclimatisation. Nevertheless, due to the good preparation of all participants in Germany, it was possible to climb from 500m(Copiapó) up to 4500m on one single day.
Our cars do a good job as well. Of course, there is less motor power due to less oxygen at that level. However, we have only powerful cars with high cubic capacity. The lack of performance out of exploding mixture turns out to be less than expected.
In total, we use 7 vehicles for the record:
- 2x Jeep® Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon 3.8 V6 manual transmission
- 2x Argo® Avenger 8x8
- 1x Dodge Ram SLT 1500 4.7 V8 automatic transmission (escort vehicle)
- Dodge Dakota 3,7 V6 automatic transmission (escort vehicle)
- Jeep Cherokee 2,4 R4 transmission (escort vehicle)
It looks quite materialistic, when all the emergency vehicles are standing neatly in a row in front of the base camp.
I am convinced that none of the other teams, who are trying to break the high-altitude world record at the moment, is better equipped than we. Therefore, I thank all the partners, especially DaimlerChrysler/Jeep®, Goodyear, ODG and Warn.
Finally, I would like to mention the competitors. We know that the “KIA-team” will start their expedition on Saturday. Furthermore, a team sponsored by Mitsubishi, will probably be starting next week on another nearby mountain. Obviously, both teams have successfully finished their exploration. Anyway, we will fight for our victory in a fair but nevertheless very tough way.
The Jeep® Wrangler high-altitude world record will become reality.
