A Husaberg sets the world altitude record

A team made up of Walter Colebatch from Great Britain, Lukas Matzinger from Austria and Barton Churchill from the United States has achieved the goal of setting a new world altitude record on a motorcycle, reaching 6,361 m on a Husaberg FE570.

To do so, they travelled to Chile in March, to climb the highest volcano in the world, the Ojos del Salado. They began the ascent in Copiapó, at 375 m above sea level, making a stop to acclimatise to the lack of oxygen and altitude sickness at the Atacama base camp at 5,256 m.

During the exploration rides, American rider Sherri-Jo Wilkins, who was a member of the expedition’s support team, managed to set a new women’s motorcycle world altitude record on another of the team’s Husabergs, raising the record to 5,903 m, beating the previous mark by 517 m.

During the on-foot exploration, they went up the route that Matthias Jeschke had used to set the previous record, to an altitude of 6,245 m. The spot was marked by a small rock shelter with a bamboo floor, making that point the target to beat.

They knew it would take nearly three days to reach that point by motorcycle, and that the great physical effort required meant they could not take all three bikes, so they decided to use just one motorcycle and take turns until they reached that point.

After a day’s rest at base camp, they prepared to make history. After a hard route crossing glaciers and trying to find passable trails, they managed to reach Jeschke’s previous record. Although only one of them could set the record, they decided to go up together to reach the summit. Once there, the GPS readings gave an average of 6,361 m, which beats the previous record by 116 m.

Source | Husaberg
Photos | Andes Moto Extreme