Qualla: Monte Pissis https://qualla.com/monte-pissis en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:07 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/6/7/p/4/monte-pissis-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Monte Pissis https://qualla.com/monte-pissis Monte Pissis: Introduction https://qualla.com/monte-pissis/ Photo credit John Biggar (2005biggar at en.wikipedia), CC BY 3.0. For nearly half a century, nobody came back. Two Polish climbers, Stefan Osiecki and Jan Alfred Szczepanski, reached the summit of Monte Pissis in 1937 as part of the Second Polish Andean Expedition. Then the mountain waited. No one stood on top again until 1985. This is not a peak that punishes with technical difficulty — the ascent requires no ropes, no ice axes, no specialized climbing skill. What keeps people away is sheer remoteness: a massive extinct volcano straddling the border of Argentina's La Rioja and Catamarca provinces, buried deep in the driest desert on Earth, days of hiking from the nearest road.

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Image: John Biggar (2005biggar at en.wikipedia) | CC BY 3.0

]]> Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/7/p/4/monte-pissis-wp/67p4-monte-pissis-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Monte Pissis: A Giant in Dispute https://qualla.com/monte-pissis/ Photo credit sergejf, CC BY-SA 2.0. Monte Pissis is the second-tallest volcano on Earth and the third-highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere, trailing only Aconcagua and Ojos del Salado. But for a decade, even that ranking was in question. A 1994 Argentine expedition used GPS technology to measure the summit an...

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Image: sergejf | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/7/p/4/monte-pissis-wp/67p4-monte-pissis-a-giant-in-dispute.mp3 0:06 2 full Monte Pissis: Fire Frozen in Stone https://qualla.com/monte-pissis/ Photo credit Aprendiendo2024, CC BY-SA 4.0. The volcano formed between 6.6 and 6.2 million years ago, built from andesitic and dacitic lava that erupted as the Nazca Plate dove beneath the South American continent. Monte Pissis is part of a volcanic complex it shares with Cerro Bonete Chico and Incapillo, a cluster of peak...

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Image: Aprendiendo2024 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/7/p/4/monte-pissis-wp/67p4-monte-pissis-fire-frozen-in-stone.mp3 0:06 3 full Monte Pissis: Ice in the Desert https://qualla.com/monte-pissis/ Photo credit Silvio1973, CC BY-SA 3.0. A glacier on a mountain in the Atacama Desert sounds like a contradiction, but Monte Pissis carries one. The peak is one of the most heavily glaciated summits in the desert, with crevassed ice fields that begin at extreme altitude. The glacier is small relative to the mountain's ...

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Image: Silvio1973 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/7/p/4/monte-pissis-wp/67p4-monte-pissis-ice-in-the-desert.mp3 0:06 4 full Monte Pissis: The Approach Is the Climb https://qualla.com/monte-pissis/ Photo credit Silvio1973, CC BY-SA 3.0. Mining roads built in recent decades have opened the Atacama to visitors who once would have needed expedition-scale logistics just to reach the mountain's base. Most climbing parties now stage from Fiambala, a small town in Catamarca province, before driving deep into the desert...

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Image: Silvio1973 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/7/p/4/monte-pissis-wp/67p4-monte-pissis-the-approach-is-the-climb.mp3 0:06 5 full