– 6,962m (22,841ft)
– Lat,Lon 32°40’N, 70°00’W
– Summit Date: December 20, 2004
Aconcagua was my first multi-day expedition style climb. The weather played havoc on the nerves, but otherwise a most enjoyable and straight-forward climb. The trip took 12 days in total and was completed a few days before Christmas 2004.
Day 1: Landed at Mendoza International Airport where it took an age to clear immigration. However, our trusty guide – Matias – was waiting patiently for us. First stop was the Park Permit office – a very painless exercise, except for the $200 dollars. Second stop was at the house of the guy who provided our local services (transport, mules, food, guides, tent etc). Daniel seemed very switched on and said all the correct reassuring words. So with business complete, we headed off to Los Penitentes (2,580mts, 8,460ft; 32° 50′ 23″S, 69° 50′ 06″w) a ski area that is 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) east of Puenta del Inca, the town at the base of Aconcagua. Here we stayed in hostel or dormitory style accommodation for about US$30 per person per night. A quick gear check with Matias and prepared the duffel bags for the mules. We hike with day packs tomorrow. The US$8 dinner was excellent and so was the US$5 half bottle of wine.
Day 2: The expedition begins. The weather was wonderful. After breakfast headed to the Horcones Ranger Station (2,850mts, 9,350ft; 32° 48′ 36″S, 69° 56′ 30″w) a riving around 11:00am. Having the permit processed was a breeze, everything seemed very well organized. The helicopter was on display showing us what our US$200 permit fee paid. The hike up the river valley was very nice, with the river running the colour of the red dust. We made the hike to Confluencia Camp (3,320mts, 10,892ft; 32° 45′ 36″S, 69° 58′ 18″w) in 2hrs 20mins for an overall gain of 470mts. Facilities at camp were great. We were greeted with fruit drinks, tea, crisps, nuts, breadsticks, salami, and cheese cubes in a large dining tent. Not bad. Not much to do in camp, so chatted to David and Joseph (from another group) for three hours. Dinner was excellent. A gentle start to the trip with all the luxury we needed ; in fact it might have been a little over the top!
Day 3: Alarm went off at 6:45am. Again the weather was wonderful, with not a cloud in the sky. At 3:00am my watch showed +9°C at the tent wall, so not so cold. It was basically a long slow hike up the valley. The first 10kms (7 miles) went quite quickly, gaining 640mts (2,100ft) in 4hrs. We had lunch at Ib?_ez (3,960mts, 12,992ft; 32° 41′ 30″S, 70° 03′ 06″w). The sign declared another 4hrs to base camp. After lunch (12:30pm) we set off. The slope angle increased somewhat, and we started to go both up and down. Another 2hrs brought us to the destroyed refugio of Lower Plaza de Mulas. The final kilometer to Base Camp (4,270mts, 14,009ft; 32° 38′ 54″S, 70° 03′ 24″w) was up the Subida Brava (or in English, the hardy climb). Arrived in base camp at 3:05pm, some 6hrs53mins after leaving. Total ascent 1070mts, total descent 170mts. Nice thing about the hike, I never broke a sweat, never had to breathe hard and no muscles hurt. It truly was a stroll. As expected, base camp was bigger than Camp Confluencia, with the outfitters still digging in. I suspected this place would be chaos a few weeks later. Dinner was amazing. Some sort of cream soup to start, followed by steak and potatoes filled with cheese and apple crumble for dessert – yummy. Setup tent and in bed by 8:30pm. Matias declared tomorrow a rest day. Some clouds are heading in from the Pacific, so we would see what tomorrow would bring.
Day 4: It howled during the night. And the morning was cold, mainly because the sun did not appear until around 9:15am, as it was obscured by the mountain. There was a bitter chill in the air as well. This rest day could be long! When I do this again, I am definitively investing in an MD player. We were all obliged to visit the doctor before heading further up the mountain. He checked lungs, blood pressure, heart rate, legs for water retention, mouth and throat and finally oxygen saturation. My O2 sat was a respectable 86 and Richard scored an impressive 92. Regardless, we were both in great shape and were cleared to go higher. Matias spent the morning preparing food bags for the higher camps. The afternoon was decidedly boring.
Day 5: Slept soundly. Cloud from the Pacific West obscured the sky – hmmm. We readied for the carry day to Camp 1 (Canada) and Camp 2 (Nido de Condores). My pack weighed in at 15kgs (33lbs). We departed at 10:30am at a slow and steady pace of about 225mts/hr. Very manageable. It took just under 3hrs to reach Camp Canada. Here we dropped food, fuel, ice axes and crampons. Continued up in the direction of Camp Nido de Condores. Richard and I were feeling ‘absolutely bloody marvelous’, but the decision was made to drop food and fuel prior to Camp Nido de Condores at a place called Cambio de Pendiente (in English it is ‘change of slope’ or sometimes called Camp Alaska). If everything went to plan, we would be back in three days. It took us 4hrs55mins to ascend 985mts (3,230ft) and 50mins to make the descent back to base camp. Of course we were greeted with tea, juice, fruit and cookies. The late afternoon was spent relaxing in the sun. Dinner at 7:00pm and in bed by 9:15pm. There really is nothing to do in base camp. Made a hot water bottle for the sleeping bag.
Day 6: Another rest day! Spent the morning watching base camp activities. Around 3:30pm there was some limited excitement as a group of 10 Frenchmen arrived from the lower valley. Then 10 minutes later it started to snow, albeit very lightly. It did however get progressively worse during the afternoon, so spent most of the time in the relative comfort of the tent. The snow did not let up until 8:30pm.
Day 7: Yet another rest day (or actually weather day). It stormed overnight. I really thought our tent would blow-out. But it survived. Did however have to get out of the tent around midnight to do some restorative work on the guy lines. We were greeted with a light covering of snow in the morning. After breakfast the weather continued to be quite terrible. We also witnessed many people retreating from the higher camps on the mountain. Apparently conditions at Berlin camp were shocking. Around lunchtime the wind started to subside, with a glimmer of a blue sky. And after lunch (1:00pm) there was blue sky and gusting winds. Today was the scheduled move day to Camp 1, but Matias clearly did not want to proceed up the mountain, the reason of which was not clear. Richard and I were not nearly as convinced, and felt a push to Camp 1 was possible. At 3:00pm the sky was blue and the weather fine, but the decision had been made to stay. It was time to re-guy and shore up the tent for another night in base camp. At 6:00pm the snow flurries started again and it looked like another stormy night. And then – wham – at 7:00pm it was like someone turned on a light. The sun appeared in a bright blue sky. This weather was crazy. The decision was made over dinner to proceed to Camp 1 tomorrow. The gossip in base camp had the temperature in base camp as low as -17°C and -37°C in Camp 2. Not sure if it got quite this cold (but maybe)!
Day 8: Another windy night. The sky remained completely clear overnight, with the Southern Cross very visible. Dragged myself out of bed, had breakfast and prepared for the move to Camp 1. It took about an hour to break camp and ready the backpacks. We set off at 11:00am. The 650m ascent took just under 3hrs. Although the hike was no problem, I was not feeling as strong as I thought I might. So we arrived at Camp Canada (4,910mts, 16,108ft; 32° 38′ 42″S, 70° 02′ 36″w) at 2:00pm. There were a total of 11 tents pitched at Canada. In the late evening, the Pacific clouds started to roll in, so could be another stormy night?
Day 9: Clear and cold morning. Very poor sleeping conditions, what with three of us in a tent pitched on a noticeable slope. Richard and I fought for floor space through the night. We waited for the sun to rise over the mountain before emerging from the sleeping bags. By 11:00am, we had had breakfast and were all ready to climb to Camp 2. The packs were now around 20kgs (44lbs). We set off at the usual pace. Stopping at the food/fuel cache 280mts above Camp Canada. Here we added another 5kgs (11lbs) to each backpack. This was the heaviest pack I have had on my back for a while. But we were only 220mts from Camp Nido de Condores. These 220mts were done in a single push. Felt my legs a bit, but lungs and heart were ok. We arrived at Camp 2 (5,350mts, 17,552ft; 32° 38′ 06″S, 70° 01′ 48″w) at 2:00pm. The 515m (1,690ft) ascent completed in 2hrs 34mins, not bad. First priority was to get the tent established and water boiling. It is amazing how long everything takes up here. Weather is looking a bit ominous and apparently no one summitted today.
Day 10: Stormed overnight again. Basically got a pretty bad night’s sleep. From what I could tell, the sky stayed clear overnight, with the sky being wonderfully clear in the morning. Now just needed the wind to disappear. There was some discussion about the plan for the day. Richard and I voted for a move to Ca p 3, positioning us for the summit if the following day was good. Matias was more cautious and wanted to limit the day to a food and fuel carry to Camp 3. It was agreed to ‘move’ to Camp 3. We loaded up and shouldered our extraordinarily heavy packs and set off around 12:15pm. The climbing was tough. I was clearly struggling the most, but kept up with the pace. We arrived at Camp Berlin (5,780mts, 18,963ft; 32° 38′ 18″S, 70° 01′ 18″w) after 2hrs 8mins, an ascent of 415mts (1,360ft). During the climb, the sky was clear, but the occasional gust of wind blew me off my feet. Camp Berlin is the highest I have camped. Everything is ready for the summit attempt which we hoped to make tomorrow. Just before going to sleep the temperature was -10°C (10°F) inside the tent.
Day 11: It blew quite hard during the night, but certainly not a storm. Just a little disconcerting. Matias woke us up at 4:30am to advise that we were going for the summit. Hot water was ready 30 mins later. Breakfast was the usual porridge and tea. At 6:00am we were ready, and at 6:20am we set off. I was wearing everything that I had hauled up the mountain. Both Richard and I were feeling strong. Although Richard only managed to get 30 mins sleep the night before. I think I got 4-5 hours. Also setting off was a group of eight Spanish folks and a lone walker. behind us was a group of three and another lone walker.
I thought we made excellent time to Independencia hut at 6,400mts (20,997ft) arriving at 9:30am. An ascent of 500mts (1,640ft). We rested here and took food and water. Matias was very concerned about the wind, which was driving in from the North up the valley. He decided to proceed and check conditions on the ridge (Cresta del Viento or Windy Crest), where maximum exposure was expected. First I donned the heavy-weight balaclava and ski goggles. Turned out the ascent up to and over Windy Crest was straight-forward, and once we made the other side conditions improved dramatically. None of the other climbers attempted the crest, except one of the lone walkers who returned 30 mins or so later. We were going strong until the difficult bit of the traverse and the start of the Canaleta. This is where the pace slowed to a crawl, mainly due to some very disagreeable rock (or scree). The line was also deceiving, making progress seem slower than it probably was. However, we made the base of the Canaleta at 12:30pm, where we took more food and water and added crampons to our feet. We had seen two climbers several hours earlier, a long way ahead of us. We now met them on their descent. An English lady and her Adventure Consultants sherpa. He had successfully summitted Everest 10 times and she (Annabelle Bond) had summitted 6 out of the 7 seven summits with Mt McKinley outstanding. Richard and I could smell the top, but it took another 2hrs 30mins of slogging to reach the summit. About half way up our guide ‘crashed’ and employed an exhausting walking style which involves stopping after 30 seconds of activity and resting. Regardless, we made the summit at 3:30pm taking some 9hrs and 5mins for the 1,030m (3,380ft) ascent. Took some happy snaps and after 15 mins started the descent. Although I was wasted, it only took 2hrs 48mins to make it back to Camp Berlin. At 4:30pm we saw five Frenchmen still ascending. We later found out that 4 of them summitted at 7:30pm. So a total of 9 people on the summit that day. It was a big day, we had dinner at 8:00pm and were asleep by 9:00pm.
Day 12: Slept in, waiting for the sun to hit the tent at around 9:00am. It was cold overnight. It took us an agonizing 3hrs to have breakfast, breakdown camp and ready for the descent. Everything took a long time. The descent was completely straight-forward. Berlin to Nido de Condores in 27mins. Nido de Condores to Canada in 38mins. Canada to Base camp in 49 mins. The weather on the descent was fabulous. Finally found something to complain about, as I developed a blister on each o my big toes. We arrived in base camp at 2:15pm. It was time to chill. The weather was starting to turn again, with it snowing lightly. Spent the afternoon drinking water. Dinner was served late, but what a dinner. Beef, sausages, potatoes, salad, red wine and a summit cake for dessert. Got some sparkling cider. It was not champagne, but the closest they had. We were still tired and mainly cold, so off to the warmth of the tent and sleeping bags. I got a great night’s sleep. The blisters were also already healing. We had arranged for an early extraction to Mendoza.
Day 13: Awoke at 9:00am with a huge appetite. Everything tasted wonderful. We made the 24km (14mile) hike to the park entrance in a little under 7 hrs. Here we were met by transport back to Mendoza. It took a little over 4hrs, but around 10:00pm we arrived at our hotel. Just in time for pizza and coke before hitting the sack. I fell asleep knowing the adventure was complete.
