Climbing The Volcanic 7 Summits with Ricardo Kaljouw

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Ricardo Kaljouw is a Dutch adventurer and mountaineer from Flushing (Vlissingen) in Zeeland, Netherlands — a province that sits below sea level, making his obsession with the world's highest volcanoes all the more fitting. By day he works in military shipbuilding, constructing frigates for governments around the world. By adventure, he has just become the first person from the Benelux to complete the Volcanic 7 Summits — a challenge so rare that only around 68 people in the world have ever achieved it.

Chapters

• 00:00 – Introduction: A Dangerous Encounter
• 01:28 – Welcome to The Adventure Diaries
• 01:50 – Meet Ricardo Kaljouw: Volcanic Seven Summits
• 04:35 – Growing Up Below Sea Level
• 06:39 – Navy Life: Battling Pirates in Somalia
• 09:13 – Inspiration: Climbing Kilimanjaro
• 12:16 – Inside the Crater: Virunga's Lava Lake
• 17:19 – Mount Damavand: Winter Climbing in Iran
• 23:41 – Mountaineering Lessons: Snow Blindness
• 28:04 – Papua New Guinea: Jungle Trekking Challenges
• 31:49 – Close Call: Mistaken for a Witch
• 33:07 – Survival Story: Stranded on Ojos del Salado
• 41:00 – Romance on the Peak: Pico de Orizaba
• 42:33 – Antarctica: The Ultimate Expedition
• 45:40 – Landing on the Frozen Continent
• 1:00:25 – Summiting Mount Sidley: A Historic Feat
• 1:13:26 – What's Next: The Volcanic Grand Slam
• 1:17:16 – Book Launch: A Million Steps on Lava

Key Topics Covered

• Growing up in the flattest country on earth and joining a walking club as a kid
• Serving in the Royal Dutch Navy, including an anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden in 2010
• How a safari to Kenya and a first glimpse of Kilimanjaro sparked a lifelong obsession
• The Virunga documentary that sent him to the Democratic Republic of Congo — and sleeping on the rim of Nyiragongo, home to the world's largest lava lake
• Climbing Damavand (Iran) in winter and going snow blind on the descent
• Surviving near-starvation and a machete encounter in the jungles of Papua New Guinea
• Getting stranded alone at 6,600m on Ojos del Salado (Chile/Argentina) in whiteout conditions
• Mount Elbrus (Russia, 2017) — his first experience on glaciers, roped teams and crampons
• Carrying his proposal ring to the summit of Pico de Orizaba (Mexico) and the Aztec legend behind it
• The full Antarctica chapter — flying to Union Glacier, a 1,000km internal flight to Mount Sidley, two weeks in a 10-metre safe zone, a guide evacuated with pulmonary oedema, and a last-gasp summit window in minus 42°C
• Reflecting on what it means to finish a multi-year, multi-continent challenge

Lessons from the Mountains

• You're only at 70% when you think you're at 100% — but know where the real limit is
• The descent is where most accidents happen; the summit is only halfway
• Always use your equipme

Transcript

Teaser & Introduction: The Adventure Diaries
 We found our way back to, let's say the civilized world. There's some small villages where people still live, uh, in, uh, well, older times. And, um, there were some people coming towards me and it was pretty dark and I only had my, uh, my torch on and I had it on red light and I was just walking there. And eventually people in their local language, they came to me and they started to touch me. And there was one with the machete and he, and he was, he was touching me and I was asking what is going on? And he didn't, and my guide could not really explain it, but later I came back to the refuge and there was a church and there was a lot of people over there. Well, there was a priest over there. And the priest said that somebody in the village, they saw a witch two days before and they said, capture it or kill it.
We were at very high altitude, of course. And eventually you start to descend and then you start to see that it has way more texture. And you see crevasse fields who are big, and you see these, these mountains who are, well, almost like Stracciatella, you know, like pieces of chocolate just coming out of the ice and wind scoops, big wind scoops you have over there. And then yeah, eventually. Um, but what happened with me was I was totally glued to the window, first of all, because I could not believe my eyes what I was seeing. I never saw anything like that. And then, yeah, you just land the plane on the ice.
Welcome to the Adventure Diaries Podcast, where we share tales of adventure, connection, and exploration from the smallest of creators to the larger than life adventurers. We hope their stories inspire you to go create your own extraordinary adventures. And now your host, Chris Watson.
Welcome to another episode of The Adventure Diaries. Today we are joined by Ricardo Kaljouw, a Dutch adventurer who has become the first person from the Benelux region to complete the Volcanic Seven Summits. Ricardo grew up in the Netherlands, one of the flattest countries on the planet, but found his way into mountaineering and specifically set out to scale the highest volcanoes on every continent, which culminated in a gruelling expedition to Mount Sidley in Antarctica. And Ricardo's journey is packed with adventure, but also close calls — from engaging pirates in Somalia, to a near fatal encounter in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, to being stranded well above 6,000 metres in minus 28 degrees, battling against Antarctica's brutal weather. This episode is packed, so please settle in and enjoy this fantastic conversation with Ricardo Kaljouw.
So Ricardo Kaljouw, welcome to the Adventure Diaries. How are you?
I'm great. Thank you, Chris, for having me.
It's a pleasure and I'm a little bit surprised we finally got here. We were talking off camera. It has been an absolute mission for both of us. I think our lives have been colliding and
I don't know, the agendas are not working together somehow, I don't know what's going on.
It's crazy. It's crazy. But we are here finally, finally. And it is an absolute privilege to have you here. I'm excited about this. Speak to a lot of adventurers, naturally, a lot of mountaineers. But there's something absolutely captivating about your journey. And before we start with that, I'd also like to say for anyone that is watching this, I'm a little bit jealous. I thought my background was pretty cool, but your background trumps it quite considerably. You've got some fantastic volcanoes by the looks of it across your wall. So
yeah, this is just a small area of my, well, my wife calls it an ego room. Every time when I come here, I am transformed back into the mountain area and yeah, I appreciate everything that I did.
Yeah, fantastic. And the branding as well looks excellent. So, perfect frame for today, Ricardo. So we are here to talk about the Volcanic Seven Summits, your expeditions that you have just concluded, I think earlier this year with Mount Sidley in Antarctica, I believe. So that's the frame. We want to step through that today. But as we always do, I'd like to roll it back and let's give a little bit more context about Ricardo, where you're from, you know, early formative experiences. And so you're from the Netherlands and I'm going to try and pronounce this.

From Sea Level to High Seas: Early Life & Navy
 Is it.
Vlissingen. Yes. Yeah, it was a very small fishery town in the 1600s, being captured by many armies. The French, the Spaniards, you name it. A strategic point at the Scheldt. Yeah. And well, quite remarkably, we were talking about high volcanoes and everything, but I live underneath sea level. So there's a very big difference in where I live and where I like to spend my free time.
Yeah, I mean it's probably one of the, if not the, flattest countries on the planet, so.
Exactly.
Yeah. So what, before we come onto the inspiration for the Volcanic Summits, what was life like for young Ricardo? What kind of adventures and things were you into, or what influences did you have?
Well, I was always an active kid. And well, my parents always thought like, okay, how can we get rid of this energy? Abundant energy. First they put me on football, like every kid. So I go run on the field and everything. But I remember, well, now decades later, I saw a picture of myself and it's like, well, I'm not really enjoying that football. So I had to do something else. And then my parents came up with the idea that I will go to, and it sounds a bit yeah, weird, but going to a walking club. And they put me in a walking club as a very young kid. And they said, well, you're going to walk 10 kilometres, you're going to walk 15, you're going to walk 20. And yeah, that's where my passion for, well, walking also in the nature and navigating and stuff like that, it started over there.
Yeah. And was most of that in the Netherlands, or did you
It was mostly on the islands where I live. So I live in the province called Zeeland, the original one.
Okay.
And it consists of a lot of islands, nature and beautiful areas.
Yeah. And so what, before we kind of foreshadow and jump ahead, what's your career path been like? What's kind of taken you to, so what do you do as a day job? Because you're not a full-time adventurer yet, are you?
No, no, no.
Or are you?
So, well, I live near the sea, close to the North Sea. So what we have here, we have a lot of, well, wind turbine industry. We have shipbuilding and yeah, where I work is I work specifically in a military shipbuilding company. And yeah, we construct frigates and other types of vessels for governments around the world.
Do you get much travel with that? Does it get you out and about?
Yeah, yeah. So what is unique about our company is that we don't only construct here in the Netherlands, but mostly we try to construct as much as possible in the country of the, well, let's say the government who ordered the vessels.
Yeah. So what was your first trip abroad outside of Europe then? Because I know you've been over to Africa. I think Kilimanjaro was probably the seed of it all.
No, no, it was probably before that because before that I went, so I was, let's say the waves of the beach over here were luring me in to come into the sea. Eventually I went to the Royal Dutch Navy. And yeah, then I started to explore all the seas everywhere. Maybe my biggest furthest trip that I made was I did a deployment near Somalia in the Gulf of Aden in 2010. It was an anti-piracy mission. So that was my first trip away and also other parts of the world, of course.
That was right at the peak when that, well certainly from an international news perspective there was a lot of hijackings and pirate activity, yeah. What was that experience like then?
Well, for me it was of course a total different experience because I was on the armed vessel. And I also, years later, I spoke to merchant sailors who were terrified to go through that area. But yeah, I was in a vessel with weapons, everything, radars, you name it. And so, but yeah, we did have some multiple encounters with real pirates and even firefights. Yeah, it does happen.
Wow. Did you ever, were you ever off the ship at all into Mombasa?
Yeah, Mombasa for example, Djibouti. But you have to understand that the area of operation over there was so big, it was almost like the mainland of all Europe.
Yeah. Wow. So how do you go from that, you know, fighting pirates by all accounts, to then getting the inspiration to go mountaineering? Because it doesn't seem like you had much mountaineering experience before that, did you?
No, no, I didn't. No, no, no, no. Like zero.

The Spark: Kilimanjaro & Virunga's Lava Lake
 I was into winter sport, like snowboarding and stuff, but it's completely something different. No, it was when I was in Mombasa, I wanted to fulfill another dream and it was go on a safari in Africa. And yeah, well, somebody on board made a reservation that we will go to Tsavo all the way to the west. And when I was over there, yes, I enjoyed the animals and everything and the views but something was luring in the back and that was a very big, well, famous volcano and that was Kilimanjaro. And I always thought, like I was always, when I was young, I was walking in the nature and everything. I was like, how would it be when I will be up there? Can I do that?
And then unfortunately it didn't happen for many years because I have many deployments and taking days off was, well, difficult in some way. And it took me a couple of years to finally really start and say, I'm going to go to Kilimanjaro and do this.
What was it like? In fact, sorry, before you answer that, what kind of training did you do? Because you're not getting access to high altitudes or mountains.
No, especially not in the Netherlands. I cannot put a rucksack on and go somewhere.
I did a lot of cardio. I did, and also weight training. So normally I train like six days in the week, and normally it's three days of cardio and three days on weights. And then when I do weights, I, well, different muscle groups, and mostly also try to train the legs on endurance, but also on strength, of course. And that, yeah, for me, that program has been working for me already more than, well, let's say a decade or almost 15 years.
Yeah.
So I keep going with the program.
Yeah. Can you remember climbing Kilimanjaro? Did you have any sort of trepidation? How did you deal with it?
Nah. It's the unknown, you know? You have always been living on, well, never been high up the mountains. You're always at the seaside and oxygen is over there. And then as soon as you go your first time above 4,000 metres, I really started to feel it. And I remember when I did Kilimanjaro and I think I did like six days. It was my first high volcano and I did that.
And I was, of course, proud of myself, but at that moment I really thought it was like the most hardest thing that I could ever do. Which now, if I look back, if I look back, that is not the case. That is not the case. But that is the beauty of Kilimanjaro. It's for many people and many mountaineers, it's a starting point. Which yeah, eventually can lead to something way bigger.
Yeah. And so where did the idea for the Seven Summits come from? Was that born on Kilimanjaro or it, you know, no?
No, no, it was not born. Let me check something. It's over here. So I went to more different places before that. I got really interested into climbing volcanoes when I went to another, well, let's say more treacherous area. And that is the Democratic Republic of Congo. I went over there. I saw, I saw an, what's the name? A documentary. It's called Virunga.
Yes, yes, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Now that area where a lot of people would say, okay, I see so many crazy things are happening there, I should not want to go there. I saw it and directly a couple of months later I was there.
Wow.
So I went there and it's sketchy. Yes, it is. But however, though, there is this beautiful volcano over there. It's called Nyiragongo, and that one has the biggest lava lake in the world.
Wow.
And what you could do, you could sleep on top of it. So on the rim, on the crater rim, and you stay there one night. And then you see the lava just like bubbling and going in and coming back. And that's, I always, when people ask me like, where did the really the love for volcano started? It was at that moment.
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See if I can climb a volcano of 6,000 metres. I want to climb a very isolated volcano. I want to climb one in the ice, with ice or something, you name it. So I did a couple of volcanoes. But to come back, when did my journey really start to do the Volcanic Seven Summits? That was after I went to Russia. I went to Russia in 2017, I think. And then a year later, I went to Iran. So I did like a couple of countries that some people are like, maybe you should not do. I went to Democratic Republic of Congo, then Russia, then Iran. But when I went to Iran, I was in my local library and I saw something in my eyes. I was like, what is that? And I found this book.
Seven volcanic summits.
Yes. So this is from a photographer who had the privilege of joining an expedition and was going to do this in, I think, like in 14 months or something. He went to all of the volcanoes. He didn't succeed. He didn't climb them all. He climbed a few of them. But yeah, he showed that something like this existed. And for me, that was something that I was maybe looking for because I didn't know what was my journey in this volcanic world. And then I was like, maybe this is something. And then at that point when this was written, I don't know exactly which year, I found out that there were only, at that time, there were 23 people in the world who ever did it.
Anyone from Europe?
Yeah, there are some Europeans in there, 100%. And of course, if you also consider, let's say, Russia also as Europe, you will see a lot of Russian names in there. Yes. And especially also today. Well, of course, we have difficulties now in Russia and in Iran climbing. I'm very happy that I already did those prior, before that.
Yeah.
Ricardo, coming back to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Virunga, what was the experience like camping and sleeping beside a volcano? I mean, I'm thinking of the gases, the atmospheric experience, the visuals, what was it like?
Yeah, well, it's hard to describe. Well, you should be there, of course, but you are right. You smell the sulfur. You are drawn to the light. It's even dark and in the cold in the night over there. But when you are there, at that moment, you realize you are in a very special place. And that is the crazy thing about that place. It's so remote and so beautiful, but everything around it is considered dangerous. Not because of the volcanoes, but because of humans, because of, well, militia, other things happening over there. So it's a colliding of two different worlds.
Yeah. What, how high was that?
Uh, 3,400 metres.
Right, okay. Yeah, yeah. And what did it sound like? I've got ideas in my head.
It's rumbling, it's rumbling sounds. Yeah, it's a very long tone rumbling. Maybe you've stood sometimes at a music festival and you have this kind of bass, but a very, very long bass, not like a really hard thump. No, it's very long bass. And sometimes you feel the vibration a little bit. Yeah, but mostly it's the atmosphere of in the night when it's the colours and there's this red pillar that goes up into the sky and yeah, beautiful.
Wow, wow, yeah, that just sounds absolutely epic. Right, so Iran, you got there before the current political tensions and stuff. So what was your experience like in Iran?

Winter Challenges: Mount Damavand
 Yeah, and that is a bit, well, it's a full circle in some way because when I came there, it was the first time that the Americans, they went out of the nuclear treaty. It was literally one week after that. And then I went there and I have to say the Iranian people are very lovely people and everything. And the nature, beautiful, stunning. But what I could sense is that when you come there, there of course there are sanctions laid upon the economics and everything. People were looking at you like, hey, you are causing the economic state over here, which is not of course true. But yeah, it's a very special place and I'm lucky that I went there before everything, well, what's happening now.
Yeah. And see when you went to Iran, how did you get access to Damavand? Was it guiding or?
Yeah. So what was unique with my travel, so like I explained, I didn't know exactly what my journey in the volcanic world was. I wanted to climb one with ice. I wanted to do one at 6,000 metres in Ecuador. And then eventually I said, well, you know what? I want to do one in winter season. So when you go to Damavand in the summer, it's just a rocky, maybe some snow at the top, but mostly it's just rocks. But I went in the winter and I wanted to see if I could do that. And it was really tough, yes, at that moment. Big snowstorms and well, no people and low visibility. Yeah. But then from that point, when I could strike off that I had three of the seven, I was like, this is my way forward. This is what I want to do.
But Antarctica must have been in your mind. I mean, we'll get to Antarctica but, you know, I mean, that's the pinnacle.
That's the pinnacle. It's the pinnacle.
But what happened with me was, and that was a little bit a shame, is when I really found my passion and was like, I'm gonna do this. And let me see, I had a very big year. I was working in Mexico. So I got lucky because Pico de Orizaba is over there, which is the highest volcano of North America.
Okay.
However though, that was my first time I was really failing on a volcano. And that was because I had no time. It was so busy with work that I tried one weekend, or maybe in one day or something, I tried. I was working of course at the coastline. I flew in and then directly in the evening I tried to go to 5,600 metres. Well, my body was not having that.
Jesus. Wow. Wow.
I had to try. But yeah, first of all, that was a bit of a bummer that I didn't make it that time. And I was like, it doesn't matter, I can in a couple of months try again. But then COVID happened.
And COVID started in, let's say 2020, and the whole world went well into lockdown and well, access to mountains anywhere was very difficult. I had a couple of course on my list. Mexico, while the national parks were closed. The other one was somewhere in Oceania which was very difficult to get to. And yeah, South America was with Chile. And Chile had very strict rules. And Antarctica I could forget, of course. So yeah, I had to put it on hold for a couple of years.
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, yeah. COVID's a recurring theme on this with some of the adventures. It seems to kind of just punctuate expeditions, but some people, including yourself, come back bigger and stronger on that and actually kind of bring it home. So that, so what peak was it? Was it Pico de Orizaba?
Pico de Orizaba!
Yeah. How did you, in terms of your physicality, Ricardo, how did your body react when you tried to ascend to that level?
Well, if anybody ever went to altitude and well, went very fast to altitude, and of course your body gets a little bit accustomed to altitude. Yes, if you've been there many times. However, though, you still have to acclimatize. Yeah, what happened with me was that the body didn't have the power anymore. Your progress, what you would normally do when you are acclimatized on that same altitude and you have to climb, let's say, 100 metres up, yeah, it takes you three times longer to do something like that. And then I was on a time constraint. Well, I also had to return back to my work. So it was a fairly short period. So I was fighting against the clock. And eventually you have to know that you also have to go back. And everything was not happening. But I'm happy that I also learned from that experience.
Yeah. What, in terms of the lessons that you learned throughout your expedition, what was the most important? We'll get to the other summits and stuff, or the other volcanoes, but was there any other hard lessons to learn on that journey?
Many, many things. First of all, well, first of all, is the obvious one, is that if you think you are done, you can do way more. You will hear that way often from adventurers and athletes and everything. There's a famous quote, I think it's an SAS operator or something who one day said that when you think you are at 100%, you're literally at 70%, or something. You can go way and beyond. However though, in mountaineering you also have to understand that yes, you can push your limits, but you also need to know where the limits are. There's a balance because you can push very hard towards the summit and of course on the lower mountains probably it's not really a big issue, but you always hear it on Everest and stuff and I haven't been there, but people go to the top, they are euphoric and everything, but you also have to come back.
And when you go back, most of the accidents unfortunately happen because people are not paying attention to anything or they are fatigued or you name it. So that is the other one. And the third one is, well that is a lesson I really learned when I went to Damavand. Is that, well, if you have the equipment, use it. And what I mean by saying that is when I went there, it was winter, it was a snowstorm, but still there was not a very thick cloud layer, so there was still some sun. What I, well, very big mistake I made, was I removed my sunglasses because it was so cold, the inside of them was freezing, I could not see clearly anymore.

Hard Lessons: Surviving Snow Blindness
 Made it to the summit, came back, and then I think just one hour after I got back at the refuge, my eyes started to hurt really bad and well, eventually I found out that I was snow blind. So I had too much exposure of ultraviolet light in my eyes. And yeah, well, it lasted for quite a long time.
That must have been really unsettling.
It is, especially when you have to go down eventually still. You're walking down like a blind man and double stacked with sunglasses and walking down is horrible.
Yeah. The wild is unforgiving. What kind of winter skills had you accumulated by that point, Ricardo? Had you done much training in winter skills?
Well, I have a little bit of an approach by, should I go to a mountaineering school? I never went to a mountaineering school. I learned everything on the get-go. I always ask my guides everything, what they are doing and if they could show me and teach me. So we're talking about knots and how we're going to walk over glaciers and other kinds of things. I want to learn it until I can do it almost myself. And I do that on the get-go when I'm there and sometimes it takes more time than other times. But that was my progress. So yeah, when I went to Damavand, I learned how to do crevasse rescue. I understood how to walk over glaciers, navigating and stuff like that.
What was the, when I think my mind goes back to Kilimanjaro, the different kind of climates you go through, like jungle, desert, rock, you know, glacial to an extent. What was it like in Damavand in Iran? What kind of terrain did you experience?
Yeah, well, in the lower regions you have a lot of, yeah, well, you have rocky and then eventually it becomes more, well, when I was there, it was more snow until the refuge. But eventually when you go higher, because of the winter over there, it just became ice. And you had to, what you have over there at Damavand is the famous false summit. So you think that you made it, but then another one pops up.
Yeah.
And yeah, nobody likes those. But no, when I was there it was really icy so we had to use our crampons, almost with our front points in just going up at some point.
Yeah, yeah. What was it like when you got to the, in fact, sorry, let me ask a different question. How does that compare to like Virunga and the lava and stuff? Is Damavand a live volcano? Is it dormant?
It's geothermal. There are some sulfur vents over there and it depends on how the wind is blowing and everything. Well, when I was there, I could not see anything and I could smell it. But yeah, you hear sometimes that you have to be careful with those. When I came to the summit, visibility was low. Everything was frozen. Didn't stay much long over there, made a picture, enjoyed. Then I made my way back.
Yeah. How long were you in Iran for altogether?
So I was there around eight days because I went also to the Alborz mountains so that is in the northern regions of Tehran, and there you have, I did an acclimatization climb over there. Alamut is the name. A beautiful region. But when we went there, it was quite unstable because there was a lot of snow and there were avalanches happening left and right.
So we camped there a couple of days and found a route to go up and then we were acclimatized and we said, well, because that is a peak I think is like 4,800 metres, which is perfect. Then we went to Damavand, I summited, and the day after I had one day to recover from my snow blindness, and then the day after I flew back. So I haven't seen a lot of the country itself besides well, one day in Tehran, in the mountains, and the volcano.
Yeah, that's a pity what's happening in the world right now in that region. So switching volcanoes, I wanted to talk about, yeah, I won't talk about them all, but I'm kind of jumping around in different orders, Ricardo.

Jungle Treks & Close Calls in Papua New Guinea
 Papua New Guinea. I mean, I've had, so I had a guest on, Benedict Alan, who had done some expeditions into the jungles of Papua New Guinea, lived with the tribes and stuff like that. What was your experience like in the jungles of Papua New Guinea and getting to the volcanoes?
Yeah, so when I was there, and in recent years they have another route to go to the summit which is an easy route, but when I was there to climb Giluwe, I had to go, they decided to go through the jungle. So we had to go, I think, three days, three days trekking through the jungle. And that jungle is just unforgiving. It's just, it doesn't want you there. Everything is against you. There's insects who, the only reason they exist is drinking your sweat. Well, let's say the sun is there because on the equator it's just burning you. The humidity is crazy. There are trees who have these kind of spikes. So you cannot hold onto them. You have plants who have leaves and if you touch them you get this kind of rash over your body. And everything because of the humidity, everything is rotten. So the floor is rotten, you walk, and that for three days long is just,
Yeah, that must be tough on the mind.
Yeah, well that is the beauty of Papua New Guinea. If you look at all the other volcanoes on the list, this is a unique one. Because it doesn't have snow and everything, but yeah, it does have a jungle that you don't want to.
Yeah. And what was that like in terms of like getting to the summit? And what did the volcano look like? Was it kind of rich in vegetation as you got to the summit?
Well, eventually you come to the highlands and then you have only this very small grass over there and then you can see well part of the volcano. But Giluwe is not like a stratovolcano anymore, not that you would say a Cotopaxi or something like that's beautiful. Now it's just some eroded parts who are still there and some peaks that you have to eventually climb onto.
Yeah. Did you have much interaction with the locals when you were in Papua New Guinea?
Yeah, I did have an interaction. What happened with me and my story was eventually, well, it was a big miscommunication because what happened was when I came to my expedition, my agent said, well, everything is arranged, we're going to go. I went and on the first day I had a very big lunch and then eventually the first night I was like, I'm not so hungry. Not really. And then the second day in the jungle, after a full day of trekking, we made a fire and then the guy said, yeah, give me your food. And I said, what do you mean? And I had no food. I thought it was arranged. So we had to, well, cut our food down. And that was, well, there was one porter who was not happy with it. And eventually on, I think it was the third day, fourth day, something. Yeah, probably four days. When we went to the summit, yeah, then he decided to, when we went to the summit, he decided to leave with the remaining food.
No.
So, and then we still had to, well, go down, let's say one and a half days. But what happened, you were saying about the locals, that is the first one. And the second one was, so after that one and a half days of trekking all the way back, we found our way back to, let's say, the civilised world over there, which is, well, it's not big. There's some small villages where people still live in, well, older times. And there were some people coming towards me and it was pretty dark. You have no light over there. I only had my torch on and I had it on red light.
And I was just walking there and eventually people in their local language, they came to me and they started to touch me and there was one with the machete. And he was touching me and I was asking what is going on. And my guide couldn't really explain it. But later I found out, and this is the story. I came back to the refuge and there was a church and the church had, what happens over there is you have a lot of blackouts. So the whole area, nothing. But the church had electricity. And I asked the owner, they have electricity, what's going on? There were a lot of people over there. Well, there was a priest over there and the priest said that somebody in the village, they saw a witch two days before. Yes. And they said, capture it or kill it. And I was walking there with a red light in the total darkness. So some people, they needed to know what it was. And I'm very lucky that they saw we were just humans and, hey, we are here. And that somebody didn't swing the machete first. And then, yes. So that was my, yes.
That is a close call. Geez. Wow. Wow. What's the scariest thing that's happened throughout your, is that one of them?
One of them, yes.

Survival Mode: Stranded on Ojos del Salado
 Well, we can skip towards the next mountain, which is the highest volcano in the world, which is Ojos del Salado in the Atacama Desert. Unfortunately, what happened over there was we started too late. In my opinion, we had a group and we started too late to climb up. And eventually, made it to the summit around when the sun was already going down. So we started in the morning. There was some miscommunication happening and eventually what led to that, some person was left behind at the crater. And yeah, we have to understand it is minus 25 or something. So when you are static, that's not good.
So when we came back from the summit, that person was in really bad shape. We decided to carry that person down. But eventually after that, we had a couple of guides and everybody was just dispersed everywhere. But nobody was closing the ranks in the end. So we were carrying somebody, we were on the way back because we are not that fast. And eventually all the lights were gone.
And we were at 6,700 metres. And normally Ojos del Salado is again like Damavand, a rocky volcano where you can climb up and everything. But when I went there, there was a very strong Bolivian winter effect. And that is an effect when the humidity of the Amazon is arched over the Andes and then because of the altitude everything just drops down, loads of snow. So in my climb we walked up, I think until my knees in snow, to go up and to go down, which was of course difficult to go through. So we lost a lot of energy, pace, and eventually we came back together. But the most scary part for me was even later, was when we made groups. And again, in some mysterious way, I got between two groups and there was no visibility and I decided to just sit in the snow at 6,600 metres and wait it out. And that was a really scary moment for me because it was at that point, I think, minus 28 or something. And then, yeah, you don't know the route, the visibility is bad and you have no one around you. So that is a scary feeling.
Wow. And if you're in like a couple of feet of snow as well, how technical is that? Is there much exposure, is it rocky and all that?
No, Ojos is not very technical and most of the volcanoes aren't that technical to climb. Because of their geological structure, of course, because they are mostly the stratovolcanoes, just gradually they go up. But don't be mistaken, you do have, you're talking about mixed terrain, also glacier terrain, crevasses, seracs. All the things. Avalanches that can happen, rock fall, you name it. All the dangers that you have with other mountains you can also have with volcanoes. But you are not, there are some parts in Ojos, I think it's all the way at the end, you have some rope work, but it's not too crazy. But still, it can be quite dangerous if you are alone over there.
How did you get out of that situation, Ricardo?
Well, I waited it out. Something in my mind was saying like, you know what, when we went to the summit, the sun was going down. I calculated that we were already three or four hours going down. And I was like, well, you know what, probably another couple of hours, the sun will come up. I will have some more visibility and I will find my way.
First of all I put my torch of course on the lowest illumination to spare battery and everything. But what happened with me was that, and I don't know how long it was, eventually I was found by another group who was the second group coming down. And I was just a person with the torch and they saw me sitting over there. But they were already in some other part of the volcano itself. So luckily that person turned his head to the left and saw me over there. And then I regrouped, of course.
Oh, that's, I mean, that just gives me the shivers thinking about that. Like, you know, when you're separated in those types of conditions, it's, I mean, that's kind of life and death, you know? So, I was kind of ruminating on that. So in terms of all the summits that you've done, how many of them were you doing in terms of like the summit push was nighttime versus morning, daytime and stuff? Because they're varying degrees of height. What was your sketchiest or most challenging summit push?
Well, first of all, with me, Ojos was a very long one. I think we did a round trip of 24 hours. The altitude is almost, I think, almost 7,000 metres. So it's really high, you feel everything, hurts because of the thin air. And then, yeah, the snow over there and the psychological effort that you had to put in, that was for me, well, maybe that is the one that is now at the top. And then maybe there will be some listeners who also did Ojos del Salado and they had totally different experiences. That could be. But that is also mountaineering. Some people find one mountain very easy and then the other one is like, this was a really tough one for me. And mostly that is because of the elements that you get thrown at you.
Yeah. I mean, no two climbs are going to be the same, are they? You know, yeah, there's so many factors that go into it. Jumping back then, I wanted to, going back to Russia, wanted to touch on Mount Elbrus. So when did you go to Russia?



Yeah, yeah. And what was that like in terms of terrain? Because I think that's quite, is that quite glacial as well?
Yeah, it's a very big glacier. It's a double, you see it here in the back? It's a double coned volcano. A very big glacier. However though, again, if I look back now at all the other things that I did, even outside of the Volcanic Seven Summits, Elbrus is not so difficult or demanding. There is one part where you are between the two cones and eventually you have to go up. That's a quite steep area and it's well, probably at 5,400 metres or something. And yeah, that was my first time when I was climbing in ropes attached to a glacier team and using crampons and having an ice axe, yeah, how to use it, how to do self-arrest and everything. And that was the beauty of it. I gradually made my way by all the volcanoes and well, later, and we will come to that of course later in the episode, is the end boss for me and that is Antarctica.
Yes. Yeah. So before we touch on Antarctica, what if you were to grade the other, what sticks out? And let's not talk about Antarctica yet, because I've got lots of questions on that. So in terms of the other six, what sticks out as the most inspiring? What are the most captivating, what kind of captured your imagination most?
I'm a big lover of let's say mythology. Yeah, what's the legends and stuff like that. And well, there's one place of course that you have a lot of these legends happening and that is well in Latin America. So yeah, we're gonna go to Mexico. There you have a lot of stories and links to the volcano Pico de Orizaba, into Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl. But yeah, I really love the story with Popo and also with Popo and Izta. But the one that stands out for me is Pico.

A Proposal on Pico de Orizaba
 And there is also a personal touch for me because yeah, I decided to, well, my wife is from Mexico. So as always, yes.
Excellent! Yeah!
And I decided to bring the ring that I would propose with. I brought it to the summit of that peak. And the reason why I do that is because of, somebody is gonna correct me on this, because why do people always make difficult names? Quetzalcoatl. Yes, the feathered serpent. Maybe you heard of that one.
Yeah, maybe.
Well, it is a very famous deity of that time. And when he went there, the story goes that he went to the summit and he ignited the summit and the smoke of it is the link between the earth and the heaven. And so that was the reason for me when I was bringing the ring over there, that it's a connection between us for a very long time.
Fantastic. See, there's more to the story, there's more purpose behind it, it's fantastic. There's always a thread.
There's romance. Just for everybody, something.
Yes, the hero's journey, living and breathing it, excellent. So did you meet your wife in Mexico? Did you live there, Ricardo?
Yeah, when I was doing the project for the Mexican Navy. Yeah, I met her over there.
Ah, excellent, excellent. And I take it you guys are living in the Netherlands at the moment?

The Antarctic Expedition Begins
 Yeah, at the moment we live here.
Oh, fantastic. Fantastic. Yeah, I love Mexico as well. I was actually on vacation in Mexico in January this year. Yeah. So, so let's talk about Antarctica then. I mean, it costs a blinking fortune to get there.
Yeah, it's a tremendous amount and yeah, I'm happy it's over. Let's do it that way.
Yeah, so for context, we're recording this in July. I think you completed, was it February, March this year?
I went, so my expedition was, I flew into Antarctica around the 10th of January, but my journey already starts when you have to go to Chile and Punta Arenas and you have some pre-checks, you have briefings, all those things. So in total, it took like one month that I was away. Yeah, and I came back, I think the 2nd of February or something. I came back to the Netherlands.
Yeah. And it was Mount Sidley, which not many people on this planet have ever been to, let alone climbed. So Antarctica, and I've watched, I've interviewed a few people who have done expeditions in Antarctica. Antarctic Logistics, that's who you used, isn't it? Because I recall, well, in fact that's, yeah.
Yeah, those guys know what they're doing and they've been running this transportation already for a very long time, very professionally. It's one of the, I think it was until two years ago, it was the only company which you could use to go towards this very remote volcano.
Yeah. And I'm going to ask the same question I ask everyone that's been to Antarctica. I can see here I haven't been yet, but that's on my list hopefully in the next 36 months. But that aside, what was it like when you flew over the continent and when you landed in the continent? Can you remember and describe what that was like?
Yeah, so what happens is, first, very weather dependent, of course. When I was in Punta Arenas, they said, well, it could be that you go in two hours, it could be that you go in three days, that you fly in there. So I was waiting and eventually somebody came to us and said, hey, pack your bags, we're going. And then, yes, somewhere in your mind, you're like, okay, I'm gonna go to this wow frozen continent, everybody's dream to go there. And then you go to the airport and when you go to the airport, everything is normal. You're just checking your bag. You go through security. You wait at the gate. But there's one thing that looks a bit different because yes, there's one gate who has all these guys with big hardcore winter gear and all the others who are in summer flip flops, you know. So, but then you go to the airplane.
You board it, you get a safety briefing, you name it. You take off. Everything is still the same as all the other airplanes. But eventually after around like one and a half, two hours, then you made it over, what's the name? The strait over there, the treacherous water. The Drake Passage. Yes, exactly. So you go over there and then the first time I saw the continent I got the illusion I was still looking at some low altitude clouds. And just until the end, how far you can look. But we were at very high altitude of course and eventually you start to descend and then you start to see that it has way more texture. And you see crevasse fields who are big, and you see these mountains who are well, almost like Stracciatella, you know, like pieces of chocolate just coming out of the ice. Wind scoops, big wind scoops you have over there, beautiful features. And then, eventually, well, what happened with me was I was totally glued to the window, first of all, because I couldn't believe my eyes what I was seeing. I never saw anything like that. And then, yeah, you just land the plane on the ice. Just, it's there.
What is going through your mind when that's coming down?
No, it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. And then eventually you are allowed to go away from the airplane. And yeah, you place your first steps on the frozen world and then you look around you and then you realize, I made it. I'm here. But then you also realize it's such a unique place.
Yeah, and there's no going back when you're there in that instance.
Yeah, well, eventually the plane gets loaded with the other people and in two hours it's gone again. But where I was, there's this hub of adventurers and this Union Glacier Camp and people from all around the world come there. Some people only come there to stay a couple of days at that camp. Some other adventurers, they start their skiing operation from there to do the last degree to go towards the South Pole. There are people who climb Mount Vinson, the highest of Antarctica. People come there to take the flight into the South Pole. There are people who go on an expedition to make photos of Emperor penguins. And then there's some other activities over there. And then you have, besides all those activities, you have my expedition, which is probably the one who's the most furthest away from that camp and remote. It's a thousand kilometres away.
A thousand from Union Glacier Camp? Wow, I did not appreciate that. Geez. Wow, that's like twice the distance from Glasgow to London.
Probably. Now that is pretty far away. So when you are there, that is only your main station. And over there, you're going to wait and you're going to collect your food and your gear and everything and just have your pack ready. When there's a green light, you just get in, you go. That can be in the evening.
So did you fly from Union Glacier on to one of these little twin otters or something like that?
No, no. I flew in a converted DC-3. Yeah, it's called something in the common name. They call it the Basler. It's way bigger than a Twin Otter. But it has turbine engines. Yeah, pretty spectacular. Because when you go there, not many people went to that area, mostly because well, Antarctic winter is over there and not many expeditions are over there. So for those pilots, very skilled pilots, they just find a spot like a vulture. This is the spot and you just land.
Yeah, that fascinates me. I've had a few people on that have been, that speak about that experience, and I had a geologist on, a guy, Bruce Luyendyk, who had spent a lot of time researching the geology of Antarctica, and some of his stories about them being trapped for weeks in their tent because the aeroplanes couldn't come in to land. You know, you talk about the crevasse fields shifting, sastrugi I think is the term, yeah. That must have been an experience coming in to, did they drop you with all your gear then and then what happened, Ricardo?
They stayed, because this year was quite unique. There were also other expeditions they were allowed to join. What I mean with that is that there are other expedition companies who can use the logistics of Antarctic Logistics and they went to that base camp. When we went there, I had a guide and I really thought it was going to be one of the most easiest expeditions I ever did.
Okay.
Because when I landed we started to make camp, and then the next day put on the crampons, put on the sled behind you, start pulling and we go. First of all, what happens in Antarctica is that distance and height just, it vanishes because of the white contrast. So you think something is very close, but no, pretty far away. You think it's not high, but you have a lot of altitude still to gain. But we made it to high camp and my guide said the next day or in the evening, tomorrow we're gonna go to the top. It's gonna be great. So I was only gonna be there for three days. But my guide got sick in that night. He got altitude sickness and he got pulmonary oedema.
Oh right, okay.
It's like fluid in your lungs. So you start to cough and eventually you have to go down to a lower altitude. So we buried everything, almost all our gear, just over there, made a cache, and then went back to the base camp. And then we were pretty unlucky with the weather. The weather can just change rapidly over there and you need a very good window. And to say when we were there, we were almost constantly, we were in day and night. Well, it's totally day, it just keeps going. Minus 30, that is like a good day, but it can go way more colder. And especially when you go to this high volcano, it's 4,200 metres. Yeah, you don't want clouds to be there. Because if there's clouds you don't have the heat of the sun and then it impacts your capability of staying warm.
Something that happened because I want to come back to the question, were you there alone? For some time we were not there alone because there was another expedition. But they chose not the right time to go up and eventually that led them to have very bad cold injuries when they came down. So bad cold injuries that there were noses who were just, well, let's say they were done. One nose that had to later, somebody told me, they had to amputate a piece of it. So that is scary, first of all, to see something like that, especially when you still want to go up there. But what happened of course then was those people were loaded into the aircraft and they went back to the bigger camp. And then at that moment, we were only with three people, one guide, one guy from India, very well, he had done a lot of climbing, and me, in a radius of maybe a thousand kilometres around you. There's nothing, only you and nature.
That must make you feel really small and vulnerable.
Yeah, it makes you very small. First of all, well, there's a strange cycle because there is no day and night. It's just one continuous. It never stops. Yes, you have food, 100%, but you have to understand that where they land the plane and what they do, normally they make a circle with the plane. They say, this is the area. You can place the camp over there. This is maybe safe. But everything outside of it you should consider as dangerous. There are hidden crevasses, other things. And wandering around over there by yourself is a no-go. So what that means is that you have a living quarters of maybe 10 metres.
Not much.
And I did that for almost two weeks.
That must drive you crazy.
Yeah, yeah.
Geez. Wow. How did you deal with the mental side of that?
It was really tough for me. It was really tough because you know, in the first days you're like, you know what, we still have a lot of time. Everything will be fine. But eventually you start to cross those days off and you also know that the end of the season on Antarctica is coming. That's normally somewhere at the end of January. You know it's coming. So you, and you still see those clouds hovering over there, and then one day they are gone and then you're ready to pack and you start to go up and then the weather changes again, you return again. And a couple of times that happens. We had one time we came to this, well, we had almost no visibility and we came to this crevasse area and we were just like, this is not where we went yesterday or the day before. We have no idea. So turn around again.
And that hits you mentally when you do that like three or four times. And when you hear the stories of other expeditions who went there from the years before, I talked to a couple of those people who went there and they said, it's not a difficult climb. The only thing is the cold. Okay. But for me, it was really like a mental game. And what happened was eventually I even started to question myself like, do I have to return next year? And we were talking about money, of course.
The cost of that must be weighing on your mind as well. It feels like it must.
So you paid almost 75,000 American dollars to go on this expedition and then you don't even have a summit attempt. And then you start to question yourself like, okay, what's the liability of this? Can I ask the company for a certain refund or whatever? All these questions that go through your mind. And you have to understand that when we are there, there's almost no communication with your loved ones or anything. So they are also a bit worried because, well, you should be there for five days and then after, well, 12 days, there's still nothing. So that is difficult.
What was your evacuation plan, Ricardo, in that situation with the guides and stuff? Because if you're going up to altitude and you're out in that area with limited landing zones, confined quarters and stuff, what was the evacuation plan?
Well, first of all, you do sign a waiver. If you die over there, then well, it doesn't mean that your body will be returned. Because the plane can only land at a certain area of the flat area near the volcano and not at the slope. No. So when you are at the base camp or at the summit, yeah, you are totally on your own, which is of course a bit of a scary thing because in most of the mountain areas, you name it, there's always, you can call maybe a helicopter or something. But there, forget about it.
Yeah. Wow. But you made it.
Yeah. So what happened eventually was that there were still three days to go and we were asking the guides, hey, do you know anything? What eventually is going to happen? Are they going to close the season? A plane was going to come to us. That was 100%. But was the plane going to come there to just open the doors and say, hey, start packing and we're going to go? Or was the plane coming with extra supplies and telling us an end date? So that last thing happened. They told us, you have three days, then you have to be on this plane. Season is done. So what we did, what we did eventually, we came up with a plan and some miraculous way it came out pretty good. What meant, the first day we will go to high camp. And then from the next day, high camp, we go to the summit and back to high camp again. And then the third day, go back, back, plane, go.
But when we went up, there was still this cloud hanging over there. Still there. Never went away. And eventually we came to the high camp and well, we made food, water already, going to bed. And then in the night, well, there's some cycle of course on your watch. So I checked the weather with my other climber and I could see way further over the continent than before. I could see volcanoes. There's a volcanic range over there, so a couple of volcanoes. I could see volcanoes who are literally like 150 kilometres away. And it was like, well, the weather is somehow just very stable. But that was on the other side of the volcano, so I still had to see the volcano side itself. I checked again and also over there I saw perfect sky, almost no wind. And at that point we decided to wake up the guides and say, hey,
We are going.
Maybe this is the moment. And the funny thing is, over there there is no route. So everybody chooses their own route. Of course, Sidley is shaped like a U. Yeah. So there's a big crater and it was one eruption. It blew just out one side. So you have to make yourself to the crater rim and just go all the way. But normally in most of the mountains you have like a, well, you can zigzag over there, or you make it first to that point and then you go, and my guide said, no, we're gonna just straight shoot it to the moon. One straight line, go up there. But what you have over there is also something quite unique. Maybe you have ever seen those, they call them ice mushrooms.
Ice mushrooms, no?
Yeah. Look it up on the internet, it's quite unique. They have it also in Cerro Torre and stuff in Patagonia. It's like this community, it's like snow, packed snow or ice together by the wind. It brings moisture and it becomes bigger. And it looks like ice scoops, really big ones. But you have them all the way around the crater rim. You have those, and some of them are really big. Really big. We're talking about like 30, 40 metres high.
Yeah?
Yeah. I was going to ask, when you got to the rim, what did it look like? Was it ice or?
Yeah, in the crater itself there's ice of course. But yeah, you have some rocky sections, but most of it is just total ice.

Summiting Mount Sidley: Making History
 But when you are there, and especially when we came to the summit, when we came to the summit it was around minus 42, I think. Yeah. But I didn't feel cold. Let me tell you this, I didn't feel cold. No. The sun was there, I had every part of my skin protected, and I was moving. And when you're moving, generating heat, you go. But the second when you stand still, then it just, I don't know, it goes everywhere, the cold. So you cannot have long rests, you have to go.
But once I made it to the summit, of course I was very happy because I was the first person from the Benelux area who ever achieved this. I achieved my mountaineering challenge. And I became part of a very small group of people in the world who, first of all, climbed Mount Sidley. And I think it's now around 110 people in the world. And the number of people who completed the Volcanic Seven Summits is around, I think it's now just 68 or something. That's it.
That's crazy, it's crazy.
Congratulations. Sidley in its own right is phenomenal, but having completed the seven, it's phenomenal, Ricardo. Great achievement. Great achievement.
Yeah, thank you. So when you come to that summit, then you really see the beauty of it because then you are at one on a very elevated point and you can look 360 degrees around you and you just see as far as you can look, frozen landscape. It's, it's, it's maybe, and it's not a maybe, it is the most well, craziest panoramic that I ever saw. Because I really at that moment I really thought, and everybody had that dream when he was a kid that he wanted to be an astronaut. Everybody, we wanted to explore, we want to fly there, we want to do this. I really thought I was just some international astronaut exploring some frozen world, you know? It really felt like that at that moment. However, though, when you are at the summit, that is maybe the most dangerous part where you can be on this expedition. Because you are so far away from any help or anything. And you're halfway there.
Well, in terms of when you were talking about not being cold, through Antarctic Logistics, do they give you equipment? Do they kit you out in terms of what you have to, or do you have to take your own mountaineering cold weather gear?
Yeah. So one of the things that happens when you come to Punta Arenas, and that process starts really way before that. First of all, you have to, well, fill in your own requirements, you have to fill in like your name, everything, where are you from, is your country linked to the Antarctic Treaty, you name it. All those kinds of things. And eventually you start to talk about experience. And you have to give a resume of what did you do, and do you know how to do crevasse rescue? Do you know how to do this? And then after that, money of course also comes, can you finance it? But also you get a gear list. And what happened for me, and I always describe it like this, so I'm a character of a video game. And I went through all this like a Metroidvania. Maybe you know what it is. It's an old video game where with a certain power-up you unlock different areas of the map.
Yep, yep.
So you learn your skills and you need specialized clothing to go there. And that is on the list. So I went from a mountaineer who was climbing 6,000 metre peaks and a lot of 5,000 metre volcanoes, eventually to go to Antarctica. And then you look on the list and you see like equipment on there like, well, three-layer boots, big parkas, and a sleeping bag rated to minus 40. And I think there are three brands who make something like that. So everything is humongously expensive, on top of your transport and the expedition itself.
And then when you come to Punta Arenas, they check all the gear and they go through all the list.
Do they? Yeah, right.
Yeah. It can happen that, and it happened to my other climber who was there, there was one thing missing and they say, well, you have today to buy it. And yeah, the ironic thing is that there are a lot of things on the list and not all of those layers you're going to use, but yeah, that is mountaineering. You have to be able to switch layers all the time. But you need to have it.
Yeah. What, see, going, after the summit push, getting back to camp and stuff, how was that journey? Obviously you must have been ecstatic.
Yeah, of course. So what happened was we went literally at the right window because when we started to go down, first of all, I started to get really cold. So I had to put on way bigger jackets. I was not generating the same heat anymore because walking downwards. But we got lucky that the wind was in our back. The wind was picking up, pretty hard wind. It was in the back, so it was pushing us down. However, though, what happened to us was finding your way over there is quite difficult because like I said, everything is white. There are some marks that you're like, this ice mushroom, yeah, I think we passed this. Did we? Did you go left of it or you go right of it. So you just go like this. And one time we got lost. And something that I always learned is when I climb, every couple of minutes I look back. And I just make like a mental photograph and I can trace my way back. So I told the guide, no, we have to go this way and then we will find it. However, finding two small orange tents in a white area, you would think you will find them. But yeah, the snow was accumulating on top of the tents. So it was difficult to find them. Eventually we found them.
And what happened was, that was the time when I really started to feel cold. First of all, my jackets, my zippers, everything is just frozen. Yeah, you cannot operate it anymore. My buff, the nose guard, is just one piece of rock. But the thing what happened with me was my goggles. And my goggles were literally just attached to my face. I could not, if I would do this, probably I would have some line over here.
Take your face off. Jeez.
Yeah. But however, the tent was a sauna, very well, and then you just wait a minute and then you can really celebrate. We did it. We really did it. Because we knew the day after, even if it's bad weather, we just pack everything. We start our way down, get into the tent, get into the aircraft and we're out.
Wow. And did you go back to Union Glacier Basecamp?
Yeah, and that was a surreal thing for me. So I was fighting to come towards the summit of Sidley. And eventually when I made it to the top over there, then came back to the base camp, got directly into the plane, came to Union Glacier Camp, celebrated, finally came back into a heated tent, very well. Got a beer. Enjoyed it. And that was also the thing, almost the whole camp was already gone. So there were only a couple of tourists and most of it was staff. And me and the other guy, the Indian, we were just three or four people there. But what happened to me was they told us tomorrow they're gonna fly back. So I went to Punta Arenas. So I went, maybe in 26 hours, I went from high camp of Sidley, the most remote volcano I had ever climbed in those conditions. Took a plane to Union Glacier Camp, the big plane to Punta Arenas, and then in the evening I was back with all the people in the plaza, just, and everybody was doing their normal lives. And that was just, it didn't make sense. It didn't make sense.
Your mind must be like sensory overload, especially, like, what was it like coming back into, I mean, because it was daylight, wasn't it? Mostly daylight when you were in Antarctica.
Yeah, no, for three weeks. Almost. Let's say 16 days or something. 16 days of just light.
And then coming back into a normal cycle. Your brain must have, your body must be like, what's going on.
What happened with me was I had been of course in those cold areas, well, not eating so much food. The lack of exercise. The lack of, well, mental stimulation that you could do. And eventually when I came back to Punta Arenas, let's say first this. The first night I slept pretty well. I was totally knocked out. But also what happened with me was my body knew that I was safe. And after that, it was like, this is my time. I can start to get sick. And I got sick for like three, four days because my body probably was just all the time in red, trying to survive, survive, survive.
Yeah. What does it feel like now? Because it's not that long since you've returned, you know, when you think about it. I mean, it's a huge achievement, but what is it like reflecting on it?
Yeah, I'm very proud of myself of course that I did it and that I followed a dream that came on my path. I never thought I would do anything like that. Let's start with that. But yeah, sometimes life gives you these kind of opportunities and I've always been, if it gives you an opportunity like this, don't be scared, go for it. Yes, you can fail. I failed also a couple of times in the mountains. But if you keep pushing yourself and everything, you can do something really remarkable like this. And yeah, that is something that I want to continue.
Yeah, it's phenomenal. It's excellent. It's such a different thing to do. And if you think about the terrains, the continents, they've got it all pretty much, haven't they? You've been through every terrain from deserts in the Atacama to the jungles of Papua New Guinea to the ice of Antarctica. It really is. And each of those has its own logistical challenges that should not be underestimated. You know, the endurance and the achievement is one thing, getting the logistics and learning, I think was what really struck me. Learning on the job to an extent, whereas there are people that are pro expeditioners that do this stuff, that's what they do. And you're kind of learning as you went and you've done a phenomenal achievement. Congratulations, it's wonderful.
And to finish in Antarctica, that's,
Yeah, there were different reasons for me to end over there. First of all, it's a financial thing, of course. It is just humongous. And secondly, I thought that I needed to learn all the skills that were needed for that. And when you gradually go higher, I also have to learn how to handle altitude. Because like I said, I was pretty anxious about Ojos. Because I felt very comfortable at 5,000 metres. At that point I started to feel comfortable, and then I started to make my way to 6,000. But yeah, Ojos is almost 7,000 and you don't know, it's like uncharted terrain for your body. So what I didn't want to do is already go to Antarctica, do that, and then I go to Ojos and my body is just shutting down and I could never make it. Yeah, so that was why the sequence was like this.
Yeah, so quite deliberate. That's quite interesting. Did you feel much of a strain on your body between five, six and, you know, 7,000 metres?
Yeah, you do feel. Personally, I feel when I now go to 5,000 metres, yeah, I'm okay. Of course, it's tough, I'm okay. But yeah, when you start to go to 6,000 metres, you start to feel it. And then I went a couple of times almost to 7,000 metres, yeah, those start to hurt you. And then of course, eventually you go even higher, higher, and never been there. But a lot of people they go to the 8,000 metres, of course. Yeah, you have people who climb those without oxygen. I cannot imagine that, honestly.
Yeah, that's crazy. Ricardo, has Antarctica given you the bug for doing more polar style adventures at all?
Yeah, of course, of course. I would like to do more of these kind of things. But yeah, it's such a costly thing that you could, for those kinds of expeditions, you could do way more other expeditions around the world. Would I want to return one day to Antarctica? Probably, yes, of course. But the other thing is maybe Greenland. You also have in Greenland, you have a lot of these polar expeditions that you can do the traverse of, or climbing the highest mountain in Greenland, which is a little bit similar. They will also fly you in from Iceland with a twin otter and then you have a couple of days on skis and sleds, and something I'm looking into, yes.
Yeah. Excellent, excellent. This has been excellent. We've been on for an hour and 20 minutes and yeah, it's just, it's flying by. Yes. So the other thing, so the Volcanic Seven Summits aside, what is next? What are you looking at? Have you got any other projects that you would want to share?

Looking Ahead: The Volcanic Grand Slam
 Yeah, I'm doing a lot of things. So yeah, my love is at the volcanoes. Well, as you can see everywhere. And I think sometimes volcanoes are a little bit living in the shadows of the big mountains. Literally and figuratively, of course the other ones are higher. But also a lot of people don't pay a lot of attention towards them. Yeah, I want to do that also, but I want to climb volcanoes everywhere. Which means I'm planning to climb volcanoes in Alaska somewhere over there. I'm planning to climb active volcanoes in Indonesia. I just came back from Peru. I climbed there the highest volcano over there. It's Coropuna, 6,425. I want to climb peaks that are not climbed by many people. Nevado del Huila in Colombia, but the centre peak. In the middle of the Sahara, you name it.
Sahara.
Yes. And what I'm doing currently is the top 25 volcanic country high points. That is what I'm doing. So all the countries who have volcanoes, I go through the list, I check which one is the highest of that entry.
Does that include Scotland? Because in Scotland there is the Isle of Skye. Well, the highlands in Scotland are volcanic, but I think 1,500 metres, maybe 1,300 metres, they're not high enough, but dramatic.
No, no, no.
Yeah.
No, that's not enough. The list for me stops somewhere at 3,400. Those are the lower ones. But then you've got a lot of 5,000, you've got a couple of 6,000. No, I gave it a name. I came up with it myself. And the name is the Volcanic Grand Slam, I call it. And yes, so,
Volcanic Grand Slam.
Yes, it's experiencing volcanoes all around the world in different environments.
Oh wow, excellent. How many have you done out of the 25 then?



Wow, so you're halfway there. Excellent.
Yeah, because some of them I can strike off because of the Volcanic Seven Summits. Yeah. But I did also some high ones. Chimborazo I did. That's in Ecuador. Sajama is also a very high one. 6,542 in Bolivia. And then Coropuna I also did. And yeah, there are some smaller ones in Africa that I also already did.
Yeah. So are you having to take vacation time to do this or how's your,
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So normally my vacations are not about lying at the beach. Mostly I rest at my work, let's say it that way. Because I'm going now in two weeks, I'm going to Armenia. Are you? Wow. I'm going to Armenia to climb over there. And then directly after that, I think two days later, yeah, I crossed the border to Georgia and to go to the Caucasus. And I climbed Kazbek over there, like the 5,000 metre high volcano which is the second highest volcano of Europe. There's a debate always about that region. So yeah, I'm full throttle already with my next adventures.
Wow. Is this your purpose then? Do you think this is, this has got to be, isn't it?
Yeah, I think so, of course. Will I ever go towards the higher mountains in, what's the name, in Nepal or in the other regions? Yes, of course. That something in myself is also, I made it almost to 7,000 metres, but I want to go over that edge. I really want to do it. But yeah, I have to find a place for that and when, and maybe some teammates that I know out of the mountaineering world that I have a lot of faith in, to join as a kind of Avengers and just do it.
Yeah, good luck. Excellent. And what about your book, Ricardo? Was it A Million Steps on Lava?

Authoring 'A Million Steps on Lava'
 Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, well, it's a special day. Well, we are recording this in the evening, but now in one and a half hours, my book. Well, this is the English version. Is this? Yeah.
That was going to be my next question because I know it's in Dutch but I hadn't seen it in English yet.
Yeah, so yes, it is in English, but this is just a draft version of it. And this is the cover picture. The cover picture is inspired by a picture that I have from Nyiragongo. So where you stand on the edge and you can see the lava lake underneath.
Wow. Wow. Excellent.
Tomorrow, yeah, on the, it's then the 11th of July. Yes, that is the book release of the Dutch version of A Million Steps on Lava.
Excellent. You must be excited.
Yeah, I am, of course. I worked a very long time on it. I worked almost two years on the book. And eventually I did already some summits. And I think I did like five of the seven, or four out of seven. I think I did four out of seven. And my wife said, hey, all these stories of you and your craziness, you name it, start writing something.
And my first version of the book was really bad because I'm not a writer. I had to learn a lot of things. And then when I came back from an expedition, when it was very fresh, directly, I started to write. So also in Antarctica, when I came back in February, I put it directly in and then start talking to a publisher. And yeah, well, they were very happy to have this book, of course, and it's now coming.
Fantastic. You're not going to sleep tonight are you? Are you going to be sitting there refreshing? I wouldn't be, I'd be refreshing the screen every 10 minutes.
Nah, I will, yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.
Tomorrow is Friday, it's the end of the week, and then we can definitely celebrate.
Yeah, yeah. Well I wish you all the success with it. I'll pick a copy up when the English version comes out as well.
I will let you know.
Yeah, excellent, excellent. This has been phenomenal, phenomenal. I'm equal parts excited for you and a little bit jealous about some of your adventures if I'm honest. It's brilliant. Let's move into the closing traditions, Ricardo, of which there are three. A pay it forward suggestion, a call to adventure, and then I've got some quickfire Q&A questions which I'll need to look at my notes. So if we start with a pay it forward suggestion, something to a worthy cause, project, or anything that may be important to you, what would you like to raise as a pay it forward suggestion?
Well, for me, it's quite an obvious one. It is the Virunga Foundation. It's an area in Africa that is going through a lot of difficult times. But it is very important and I think the Virunga National Park was the first national park in the whole, I think, whole of Africa. And it's very important that we protect this area because the nature is giving us a lot of things back. First of all, it gave me the passion back, but also we have a lot of animals over there that are not going extinct, but only by the hard work. Unfortunately, there's a lot of funding needed to pay for these rangers and to make it safe over there.
Excellent. Thank you very much. That is very, very worthy and very befitting of this show. So thank you. And second, a call to adventure. So what would you recommend to people as a call to adventure?
Yeah, well, we have to stay in the volcanoes somehow. There are two. Can I do two?
Yeah, go for it. Yeah, yeah.
There's one that I really want to go to also. Somebody send me a message if you want to go. Let's go. First one is the obvious one. So I just came back from Peru. And if you want to experience a little bit what I did, but not in the Nyiragongo way, and you want to climb a very active volcano and you want to go tremendously close to the crater, not only the crater rim but into the crater, you have a volcano over there, it's called Ubinas. And it's in the middle of this, yeah, almost like the Altiplano. It has been erupting for the last 20 years, many times. And so if you go always, well, first check what the state of the volcano is. But if you go to Arequipa you can easily book a tour over there. Unfortunately a lot of people they only go to the big volcanoes that are close to that city. But Ubinas is something very special and yes, maybe then you will also get inspired to do more of these kinds of volcanic adventures. And then the second one is one that I have on my list.
Excellent.
And I know some climbers, they went. It's a volcanic island. It used to be a whaling harbour. It's in the north and it's called Jan Mayen. And that is the most northern active volcano in the world. And it's a very small island and I think the volcano is somewhere around 2,500 metres, but it just comes out of the sea, totally glaciated. You have to go with a sailing boat from Svalbard. Yeah, you cannot fly there, whatever. You have to take a boat, or they go from Iceland. There are only a couple of expeditions I think each year. Not many people have been there. You need a lot of mountaineering skills to do it. And yeah, that is my own personal call for adventure. Jan Mayen. J-A-N M-A-Y-E-N. Jan Mayen.
Yeah, okay. We'll get that, yeah, we'll get that listed in the show notes and make sure it's linked out and spelled correctly. Excellent. That sounds remote and not quite Antarctica, but I think getting to Svalbard and then out on a boat sounds quite captivating. That sounds exciting. Excellent.
Right. That's been brilliant. And people listening and watching this will be absolutely inspired, and I hope it does ignite things in other people to go and give some of this a crack. It's been great. Thank you Ricardo. It's been a mission for us to get together here today. I've thoroughly enjoyed this. I'm sure people are going to absolutely love this. It's so different. It's so unique. You've done a phenomenal thing. I think you're just a good, regular guy that's given it a go. And I think that's a great message to the world and people that are watching and listening. Just put your heart towards something, and you know, quite open and honest about learning it as you go as well. I think people can take a lot from that.
Yeah. Learn from your mistakes, understand when you did too much and come back the next time, come stronger and you can do a lot of things.
Excellent. So where can people follow along, Ricardo, and all your adventures?
Yeah, so well, I do have a website which I run and what I do over there is I well, give some advice to people about starting into mountaineering, companies that I work with that I feel comfortable with. So for me, that is volcanicseventssummit.com. And Instagram and everything is very popular of course at the moment and where you can find me is Volcanic 7 Summit.
Excellent, we'll get that listed. You're gonna have to change that to the Grand Slam, are you not?
Yeah, I know, I know, but I'm not saying that you have like a premiere or something. I mean, I have to give it out to the world still. My main focus at the moment is the book, of course, the release. I have a book presentation next week that I'm well, very excited to do. And after that, another expedition has come up and I should present my idea towards the world then.
Fantastic, excellent. Thoroughly enjoyed this Ricardo, I've thoroughly enjoyed it. It's been so good, so much fun. Thank you for coming on.
Thank you for your time Chris.
That will bring it to a close.
Thanks for tuning in to today's episode. For the show notes and further information, please visit adventurediaries.com/podcast. And finally, we hope to have inspired you to take action and plan your next adventure, big or small, because sometimes we all need a little adventure to cleanse that bitter taste of life from the soul. Until next time, have fun and keep paying it forward.