NORTREK

Went with Nortrek on a Cerro Toco trip and can only recommend them. two well prepared guides Carlos and Ronald took good care of the group (6 people), making sure everyone could climb at his pace in safety.

Fiz o passeio com a Nortrek e sua equipe. No decorrer do percurso, fomos divididos em dois grupos. O guia Bastian ficou responsável pelo meu grupo. Achei ele um tanto quanto despreparado no tratamento com os turistas. Mostrou-se diversas vezes impaciente com algumas perguntas, chegando até mesmo a ser um pouco rude, além de não ter sutileza necessária para falar com o cliente sobre algo que não deveria fazer, como retirar o capacete para tirar uma foto. Ora, imagino que isso é super comum acontecer e os guias devem estar preparados para lidar com isso da melhor forma. Do contrário, podem tornar o percurso, que, diga-se, é surpreendente e desafiador, em tensão.Resumindo, um bom guia faz toda a diferença para o passeio ser incrível.PS: Soube que o guia Carlos, da mesma empresa, que ficou com o outro grupo foi excelente, trazendo inúmeras informações sobre o passeio, atenção com o grupo e acima de tudo cordialidade.Ou seja, dois guias, mesma empresa, dois grupos, e experiências totalmente diferentes.

Subí el Cerro Toco (5.604 msnm) con esta compañía y, aunque se hizo un chequeo de la ropa y material por persona, me sorprendió que no lleváramos crampones. En la parte de mayor pendiente había mucho más hielo del esperado y varios miembros del grupo deslizaron sin control ni seguridad y pasaron miedo. La situación se salvó porque los guías, ambos profesionales y con buena técnica y conocimientos de rescate, fueron prestando sus piolets a cada miembro para poder sacarnos de ese tobogán de hielo, pero el material no era el adecuado. Por lo demás, organización y personal recomendable.

Guías capacitados, servicio puntual y cercano al turista, vehículos aptos y cómodos, gran servicio en general.

I booked a day trip to Cerro Toco (5600m) with Nortrek last week. Being Swiss and familiar with mountains and their dangers, I went to the agency the day before to check my equipment was OK and ask about acclimatisation tips. On the day, I realised that my companions were completely unaware of the concept of acclimatisation itself and had equipment that wasn't at all adapted to snow and strong sun. As a result, two of them had to stop half way through because of strong sickness, one went through hell to get to the top and the last one almost froze his toes on the way back. In my opinion it is an agency's job and duty to inform potential participants of the dangers and challenges of such extreme heights. It appears that Nortrek doens't do that, and in my case it took away most of the pleasure on that day.

NOT RELIABLE.We had contacted this agency via whatsapp as their office was closed when we tried to stop by. They put us in contact with a guide (Carlos) who confirmed his avaiability for a hike on the 1st of March and asked for our names, passport number and hotel details to confirm the booking. At the agency's request, we could only stop by on the following day at 16h to make the payment as they were not open on that day.To our surprise, on the following day, we received a whatsapp audio at 15:50 from Carlos saying that he had many appointments (?!) and therefore would not be able to take us on the tour tomorrow but he could take us later that week.We were already on our way to the agency to make the payment, so we called him to enquire about what was going on. On the phone, he said that he actually had an issue with the car and it was not safe to go and that since we had not made any payments, no booking had been made (never mind we had sent all the information 'required for the booking' and the payment was delayed at their request). We explained that we were leaving in 2 days and asked if he could share the contact of other guides but he said he didn't know any (?!). To his credit, he ended up sending us a few contacts via whatsapp but not surprisingly, no guide was available on such short notice.Luckly, I remembered that I had spoked to Christian from Vulcano Expediciones a few weeks before and we reached out to him. We changed our return date so we could do the ascent with Christian and had a most wonderful time.From previous reviews, it seems that this company is experienced but unfortunately we did not have a professional experience with our booking and would recommend Vulcano Expediciones if you are not flexible on your dates and cannot afford a last minute cancellation.

Climbed Mount Toco and had a great time. It was very challenging so please be cautious.

Esta agencia y su equipo son lo más. Tanto el chico que te da las indicaciones en la oficina como los guías ( nos tocó con Matías y Carlos) y el conductor Hugo son gente simpática y profesional.Muy recomendable.Hicimos el Trek de los cactus y la cascada y el ascenso a Toco.Una cosa a tener en cuenta es que la agencia no se sitúa donde aparece en Google Maps, sino en la calle Tocopilla, no lejos de la iglesia.