Mercedes Unimog Sets Record For Highest Altitude Motorized Vehicles Operation (21,961 Feet)

“No other vehicle in the world has driven higher than the Unimog U 5023 did on the Ojos del Salado, on December 13, 2019!”

If you’re in the market for a ridiculously badass truck for the mountains, here’s a pretty convincing new record that might have you looking at Mercedes. An expedition team in Chile set out to install an emergency call facility at Ojos del Salar. Once the team had accomplished their objective and were back home looking at GPS data, they discovered they had set a new world record for absolute high altitude for all motorized vehicles at 21,961 feet.

HERE’S THE OFFICIAL STATEMENT ABOUT THE RECORD:

ALTITUDE WORLD RECORD FOR VEHICLES – Unimog U 5023 climb in Chile at 6,694 m

After the expedition’s goal of setting up an emergency call facility at the Ojos del Salar in Chile was reached, the team of eight, which also included Daniel Müller, workshop manager of the Unimog Museum, turned to another milestone – the height record for wheeled vehicles.

After checking and transferring the GPS data, photos, videos and the navigation script and entering this data in elevation maps of the Ojos del Salado, there is no doubt that the team succeeded on December 13, 2019 with a Unimog U 5023 at the Ojos del Salado to reach a confirmed height of 6,694 m. That corresponds to the new, absolute height record for vehicles! Never before has a vehicle been at higher altitudes worldwide.

Immediately before, both Unimog 5023s had already improved the existing truck height record to 6,685 m. Since two trucks have never been at such a height at the same time before, this is a double world record.

According to expedition leader Jeschke, both vehicles “managed the extremely steep and rocky passage thanks to the best technology, balanced center of gravity and ingenious tire technology and transported the material and equipment to the enormous height. At no time in any motorized altitude expedition worldwide did two trucks reach such a height at the same time.