Aconcagua Expedition

We’ll be received at Mendoza Airport and transferred to the hotel accommodation in the city center. Early arrivals will be able to explore the city or relax at the hotel pool. Our first major event will be a gear check followed by a dinner reception and team briefing in the evening after everyone has arrived.

Our second day together will largely be characterized by park paperwork and gear rentals (if needed). After breakfast, we’ll pack our luggage and head to the Aconcagua Park Office to sign in and collect the team’s paperwork. From there, we’ll be met by our local team of porters and guides for introductions, load up and head on to our 3 hour journey along the picturesque road towards the mountains and lunch will be on the way. We expect to arrive to our lodge accommodation at Villa Los Penitentes in the late afternoon. We will then prepare our duffel bags (30 Kilos Total) to be moved to the next camp by our Muleteers. Dinner will be at the accommodation.

After breakfast, we’ll head to Horocones by car. This is the official entrance to the trail. After a brief permit check at the Rangers office, we’ll begin the first leg of our trek up to Confluencia. Lunch boxes will be provided and dinner will be served at our camp upon arrival.

This day is dedicated to acclimatization. After breakfast, we’ll head out to an incredible viewpoint at Plaza Francia with unobstructed panoramas of the south wall of Aconcagua. We’ll return to Confluencia for dinner.

We’ll depart Confluencia for the last time as we make our way up the trail on approach to the higher altitude environment portion of our expedition. The route takes us through the Playa Ancha, a wide valley known for its high winds. From there, we’ll cross the Horcones Superior Valley before taking the steep Cuesta Brava trail to Plaza de Mulas, our home for the next two nights. Our night will be spent in either double tents or a private dormitory dome tent.

This will be a day of total rest. We won’t be walking at all and we’ll encourage the team to take it easy. There are opportunities to shower at this camp. We’ll conduct a briefing for the higher altitude portion of our expedition to follow.

After breakfast, we’ll depart Plaza de Mulas with the intention of reaching the summit of Mt. Bonete at 5,000 meters. This is a day to enable better acclimatization. The summit of the mountain has an incredible panoramic view of the high Andes and the west face of Aconcagua. We’ll be returning to Plaza de Mulas for the evening.

This will be a second strategic rest day designed to give us the best possible chance to ready ourselves for the summit push.

Trekking to Plaza Canada, or Camp 1, will be the last opportunity for acclimatization with a return to sleep in lower altitude before making our way to the summit. We’ll be returning to Plaza de Mulas in the evening. Our purpose for making the ascent is purely to acclimatize and we’ll also be using this trek as an opportunity to deliver supplies to Camp 1 for our summit push. Lunch boxes will be provided for the trail and dinner will be served at the camp upon arrival.

This will be a second strategic rest day designed to give us the best possible chance to ready ourselves for the summit push and we’ll have a Christmas eve dinner on the route to the roof of the Americas.

We’ll be leaving Plaza de Mulas for the last time as we make our way to the high camps where our porters will be supporting us with 10 KG on every move to each camp on the route to the summit. Lunch boxes will be provided. On arrival, we’ll prepare the camp, secure the supplies for the higher camps, have dinner and try to get an early night’s rest.

After breakfast, we’ll move closer to our summit goal by moving through some of the most spectacular sections of the trail on our way to Camp 2 also known as Nido de Condores. Our pace will be slow with a keen awareness of our acclimatization. Depending on our pace, lunch may either be a prepackaged lunch box or a hot lunch at the camp.

We’ll be spending a full rest day at Camp 2. Gaining as much energy back as possible because this will be the last rest day before our summit push.

After breakfast, we’ll pack up our camp and begin the ascent to Camp 3, the final camp before the summit. The camp sits in a strategic location shielded from the high winds and with stunning views of the highest summits in the Andes.

We’ll be making an early start, aiming to move from Camp 3 at 5:00 am. Our first check point along the trail is the Independence Refuge at 6,380 meters. Usually, this is where the first rays of sunlight reach the mountain. From here we traverse the Portezuelo del Viento, famous for its cross winds before approaching the La Canaleta, a 300 meter channel that leads us right to the edge of the summit. The ridge that we’ll find ourselves on is directly above the Southern Wall of the mountain, one of the largest mountain faces in the world. From there, it’s a very short trek to the summit of Aconcagua at 6,962 meters. A 360 degree panorama awaits and with it, plenty of opportunities for picture taking and celebrating. But, the summit is only half of the expedition. After departing the summit, we’ll head back to Camp 3 for the evening.

This additional day is included to maximize our chances of reaching the summit in the event that the weather window does not enable it on our intended day. If we are able to summit, we’ll spend these additional days at base camp to rest and enjoy the mountain for the last 2 days of the year.

To maximize our chances of reaching the summit in the event that the weather window does not enable it on our intended day. If we are able to summit, we’ll spend these additional days at base camp to rest and enjoy the mountain for the last 2 days of the year.