OVERVIEW

With a height of 6,962 meter above sea level, Aconcagua is the highest mountain on South America and the second highest in Seven Summits list. The mountain located in the Andes Range and inside the Argentina region. Aconcagua are bound by Vacas Valley in the east and north, and Horcones Valley in the west and south. This mountain have an amount of glaciers. The biggest one is ‘Ventisquero Horcones Inferior’ that is 10 km long, flowing to the south side at the height of 3,600m, near Confluencia Camp. Two other big glacier are ‘Ventisquero de las Vacas Sur’ and ‘Ventisquero Relinchos System’, each are 5 km long. Even so, the most popular glacier is The Polish Glacier that has been one of the climbing route to Aconcagua peak.

Technically, Aconcagua is an easy mountain to climb through north side or normal route. Aconcagua is the highest non technical mountain in the world if going through normal route. It means that we don’t need any specialty skill in climbing. The normal route from base camp Plaza de Mulas, didn’t need any rope or ice axe to get to the top. But the high altitude becomes the main problem here. With an elevation above 6,000m, the level of oxygen is only 40% than on the sea level. But the use of supplemental oxygen is not necessary.

The Altitude Mountain Sickness will effect in most of the climbers, depend on the ability and time of acclimatization. Even that climbing through normal route considered technically easy, still Aconcagua claims several casualty every year. Usually because climbers underestimate the objective risk of high altitude and the weather that changes easily. Storm and cold is the real challenge on this mountain. Mount Aconcagua is not for novice climber. One should have enough experience on high mountain before attempting this and should have great physical fitness.

ITINERARY

DAY 1

Mendoza
Arrive in Mendoza. Transfer to hotel.

DAY 2

Mendoza
Gear check in the morning and if necessary, you can rent or buy some gear in Mendoza to complete your gear list. After that, we will get our permits at the Provincial Park Office in Mendoza.

DAY 3

Mendoza-Penitentes (2,700m)
We will get the permits today if yesterday we didn’t make it. Then, we travel to Villa de Penitentes, where we stay at a Hotel in the mountain. There we get the equipment ready for transportation to the base camp, by mule.

DAY 4

Penitentes-Confluencia (3,368m)
Go to Horcones Park by vehicle, where we get our first view of the mountain. We will get our permits checked at the Ranger station. Then, we head off to Confluencia by walking 4 or 5 hours.

DAY 5

Acclimatization trekking to Plaza Francia (4,200m)
This day was included in order to acclimatize better, and give more chances to summit. We’ll trek for about 5 hours until we arrive to Plaza Francia, base camp of the impressive Aconcagua South Wall. This is one of the nicest points of the expedition.

DAY 6

Confluencia-Plaza de Mulas (4,250m)
After 8-9 hours hiking across “Playa Ancha” and climbing up through a very steep path, we reach Plaza de Mulas, the biggest base camp in Aconcagua Park. By the end of the day, most of us will feel the altitude.

DAY 7

Rest day at Plaza de Mulas
The first day in Base Camp is always a rest day and a good occasion to explore the local terrain. Staying here also help our body more acclimatize.

DAY 8

Plaza de Mulas-Camp 1 (4,900m)–Plaza de Mulas
Today we carry some of our stuff to Camp 1. This is a challenging day where we gain another 700 m with a heavy load on easy terrain. Then we’ll return to Base Camp. It’s important to take advantage of the comfort and lower altitude at Base Camp.

DAY 9

Rest day at Plaza de Mulas
This is a day we mainly use to recover energy, to rest, to hydrate ourselves.

DAY 10

Plaza de Mulas-Camp 1
The following morning we definite start the ascent to Aconcagua. We move to Camp 1, called “Plaza Canada”. Until now, we were working on get an optimal acclimatization. We want everyone to have the best possible chance to do summit.

DAY 11

Camp 1-Camp 2 (5,400m)
Camp 2, called “Nido de Condores” (meaning Condor Nest), is located in a high pass at 5,400 m. and provides a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains.

DAY 12

Camp 2-Camp 3 (6,000m)
Another carry day. We carry equipment to Camp 3 called “Camp Colera”. After carrying the equipment up, we return to Camp 2 to sleep, to give our bodies more chances to acclimatize.

DAY 13

Camp 2 to Camp 3
We start a 4 hour walk to Camp 3, located on the North Ridge. We will prepare our tents and eat and rest, to be ready to get the summit.

DAY 14

Summit day (6,962m)
It is the most demanding day of the expedition. We climb the North Ridge to Independencia Refuge at approximately 6,500 m. We ascend through the “Portezuelo del Viento” , climb “La Canaleta”, and the “Filo del Guanaco”, that leads us to the summit. The prize is waiting for us, a 360° view and the experience of overcoming, that you only finally understand once you reach it. At the end of this experience, we descend to Camp 3.

DAY 15 - 16

Spare days in case of bad weather conditions
We have two extra days set aside on our itinerary to attempt summit. These extra days are built in to provide the best possible conditions for each participant to summit.

DAY 17

Return to Base Camp
Return from Camp 3 to Base Camp. We’ll enjoy a great dinner to celebrate the experience.

DAY 18

Return from base camp to Penitentes and back to Mendoza
We have breakfast and then start the descent from Plaza de Mulas to Penitentes. There is a private transport waiting for us to take us to the hotel in Mendoza City.

DAY 19

Mendoza
End of Expeditions. You can go back straight or extend to look around Mendoza or Buenos Aires.

PREPARATION

Aconcagua is a very serious mountain. Though it’s not technical, you still need a great physical fitness. Weather exposure will be a big problem here. Weather can change suddenly and can be very bad, so you need to be able to face this situation very well. The height is almost 7,000m. We recommend highly you have an experience on high altitude, at least above 5,000m.

Training should focus on cardiovascular capability. you can do running two to three times a week for 1-1.5 hour per session. Running on a route that have elevation gain will be a lot better, or use treadmill if there’s no such terrain in your hometown. You can change one of your running sessions in a week with cycling or swimming and especially you need to do also stair climbing with at least 10kg pack and up to 20kg. It will be a good cross training. Besides that, muscle training is advisable. Strengthen your upper and lower body muscle, as well core muscle. You can do it at the gym or do your own set of push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, plank, etc.

In addition, go weekend hiking regularly. It’s highly advisable for you to be able to walk with 20kg pack in a long time. It can be started with 8 km round trip hike with roughly 10kg pack, ascending and descending 600m, in less than 2.5 hours. The aim is to ascend 900m carrying an average pack of 20 kg in 3 hours. To reach it, try to increase the difficulty of your training in some way, either by adding weight to your pack (no more than 10 percent per week) or by completing the hike in a shorter amount of time.

The capability to acclimatized are different for each person. So, building up your fitness even more will not be a waste. Just make sure you don’t injure yourself by overtraining and always have enough rest. You need to train 6 months before, not less. Besides these conditioning, we require you to have experience on high mountains.

GEAR LIST