A team from CU Boulder, CIRES and LASP sets off on an expedition to summit the tallest active volcano on earth, Ojos del Salado (22,615’)—to be the first science team to search for microbial life there. The environment possesses many challenges to life that are also present on past or present Mars and Jupiter’s moon Europa. These include extreme radiation, large diurnal temperature swings, and very low water and carbon contents in the soil. Our approach will be to characterize any microbial communities in a variety of ecosystems to help inform our search for life beyond Earth.