Two Extreme Mercedes Off-road Unimog Trucks Sets World Altitude Record Atop Volcanic Mountain

Two Extreme Mercedes-Benz off-road Unimog trucks has set a new World Altitude Record. The record-setting Unimogs helped with installing emergency radio transmitters at various high-altitude camps on the volcanic mountain.

For 70 years, the Mercedes Unimog has been a celebrated vehicle when it comes to scientific expeditions in all places and climates around our earth.

And now, two Unimog U 5023 trucks have assisted a ten-strong expedition team in climbing the highest volcano mountain in the world.

At 6893m (21,962 feet), the Ojos del Salado in the Andes on the Argentina–Chile border is the highest active volcano in the world.

The team’s task was to install four emergency radio units at various high-altitude camps on the volcanic mountain. This system will improve the safety both for mountaineers and scientific researchers in an emergency.

Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks supported the expedition with two latest extreme off-road Unimog U 5023 vehicles to carry the expedition team and all of their equipment required to these extreme altitudes.

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To ensure that the vehicles were ready to tackle the challenges of such extreme altitudes, both Unimogs were equipped with : special tyres, strong winches and special bodies with variable centre of gravity balancing.

After completing the installation of the emergency radio unit there, the team set about achieving another milestone : To break the altitude record for wheeled vehicles.

This was achieved by one of the two Unimog trucks at an altitude of 6694m. According to Mercedes, no vehicle has ever climbed to such heights anywhere around the world.

According to the head of the expedition, both Unimogs have “mastered the extremely steep and rocky passages thanks to a combination of the best, reliable technology, a balanced centre of gravity and amazing tyre technology to bring the materials and equipment to these enormous heights.

At no point in time around the world have motorised altitude expeditions taken two trucks simultaneously to such an altitude.”

A double world record for the two Unimog U 5023 vehicles and a further step made in scientific exploration in the Pacific Ring of Fire.

The name, UNIMOG, an acronym for the German UNIversal-MOtor-Gerät, translates to Universal Motorized Machine. Other features of the off-road Unimog U 5023 used in the expedition includes a speed of up to 89 km/h and fording capability to a depth of 1.20 m in water.

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