Two Unimogs break the altitude record for wheeled vehicles

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An expedition team has driven to an, until now, unreached altitude in Chile with two Unimog U 5023s.


Numerous scientific expeditions in all parts of the world and climate zones have been relying on a real legend for more than 70 years now: the Unimog. A ten-person team lead by Matthias Jeschke has now dared to scale Ojos del Salado in Chile with two off-road Unimog U 5023s. Ojos del Salado is part of the Atacama Desert and the highest active volcano in the world at 6,893 metres.



More safety for mountaineers and scientists.

The team installed a system of emergency radio units at different high-altitude camps, so that each of the four base camps at Ojos del Salado could radio the other three in the event of an emergency.

After the last emergency radio unit was set up at the Amistad camp at 6,100 metres, the team tackled the next objective: the altitude world record for wheeled vehicles. In one of the Unimogs, Jeschke and his comrades scaled slopes that had only been conquered on foot and set a new record: 6,694 metres.

The expedition was supported by Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks: two off-road Unimog U 5023s of the newest generation transported the expedition team and the required equipment on the volcano. Specialists from the Unimog Museum, the Unimog bodybuilder AS Söder and Mercedes-Benz engineers got both Unimogs fighting fit for the challenges at these extreme altitudes – including special tyres, strong winches and special superstructures for varying the centres of gravity of the tare weights.



Broken its own record.

With this absolute altitude record for wheeled vehicles, Matthias Jeschke – owner of the firm Extrem Events – and his team beat their own record at the same time, one that they had set in the year 2014 with a Mercedes-Benz Zetros. “Both vehicles overcame the extremely steep and craggy stages thanks to their reliable and top-of-the-range technology, centre of gravity of the tare weight and ingenious tyre technology,” says expedition leader Jeschke. “Never before have two trucks reached such an altitude at the same time in a motorised expedition of this sort anywhere in the world.”




Photos and video: Extrem-Events/Matthias Jeschke

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