Jeep Wrangler Unlimited climbs highest volcano on earth and sets new altitude

Seventy years after the first man climbed the world's highest volcano, Ojos del Salado in Chile, two Jeep Wrangler Unlimited vehicles set a new world record by climbing 6,646 meters (21,804 feet) to the volcano's rim. The achievement, certified by Guinness World Records, is not one that is likely to be easily beaten.

Others tried, but only the "go anywhere, do anything" Jeep vehicles could make it to the top of the volcano. It is the second highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere (6,892 meters / 22,597 feet), and now dubbed the highest parking lot in the world.

Jeep parking only, of course.

Over five exhausting days in March, the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited vehicles carried a team from Extrem Events (Germany), led by Mattias Jeschke, from the base of the inhospitable volcano in the Chilean Andes to the highest point that a four-wheeled vehicle has traveled.

During the trip, the team endured hurricane-strength winds, temperatures that reached minus 30 degrees Centigrade (minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit) and the thin air of such high altitudes, as it maneuvered over malicious glaciers, fissured rock cliffs and volcanic sand. The last stretch of the climb was the most grueling. Both Wrangler Unlimited vehicles had to cross a glacier, parts of which were so smooth that any travel by foot required spiked shoes. At the far end was the glacier field, a fissured ice area strewn with razor sharp snow penitents. It was here that the vehicle's 3.8-litre V6 engine and Goodyear's MT/R tires proved their true capability, and made the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited the first vehicle to ever cross the Ojos del Salado glacier.

After reaching the initial goal, to surpass 6,500 meters, just beyond the glacier, the team continued to drive on and pushed forward until there was nowhere left to drive.

The two Wrangler Unlimited vehicles that completed this challenge were standard equipment Rubicon models. In addition to the standard equipment, both vehicles were fitted with Goodyear MT/R tires, electronic altitude measuring technology and winches.