Aconcagua Climbing – Useful data for the Aconcagua

State of Route 40

Check the status of Route 40 on our website: Status of Route 40.

Important Tips

Bring water and food. A map in paper format.

If you are going to visit the mountain range, have warm clothes, a jacket and a warm hat on hand, even in summer. The climate in the high mountains can be variable and the wind chills.

Bring blankets and a heater for any problem that may occur and require you to spend the night on the route.

It can rain torrentially in summer, and summer melting can cause seemingly dry streams to swell. Be careful on speed bumps and water steps.

In winter it can freeze and temperatures in Andean areas drop to -25°C, it can snow and cut off traffic on Route 7.

We suggest reading our tips for driving in snow if you are going to drive in winter as ice in shady areas and snow can be problematic.

Also read our tips for driving safely in the mountains and on gravel roads.

Aconcagua Mountain Guides

Access to Aconcagua from Route 40

This is the access map to Aconcagua from Mendoza.

From the city of Mendoza, take National Route 7, which connects it with Santiago de Chile and drive west towards Puente del Inca. Go past the Argentine Customs (unless you are going to Chile, in which case you must complete the corresponding controls).

Route 40 reaches the city of Mendoza from the South, coming from El Sosneado and Malargüe, and from the North, from San Juan.

We describe the section of the Route in the Uco Valley in our Section from Pareditas to Mendoza (Section 10).

The previous section, towards the South, is the section from Barrancas to Pareditas and the one that follows is the section from Mendoza to Guandacol, passing through the city of San Juan. 

Aconcagua Ascents

Fuel in the Zone

There is fuel in:

Pareditas, San Rafael, San Carlos, Tunuyán, Tupungato, Maipú, Luján de Cuyo, Uspallata, and throughout Greater Mendoza

Location of Service Stations on Route 40

This is the Sigma Project, which seeks to measure the advance of tectonic plates in that massif using GPS. The data you collect is vast. It is in charge of the Ianigla (of the Cricyt), the UNCuyo, the Directorate of Renewable Natural Resources and the University of Hawaii. Through the so-called Acon GPS Permanent Station and the meteorological station, which are already operational, GPS reference patterns will be established in Argentina, and the variations in height and displacement of that hill and other chains will be specified for seismological purposes; It will also provide information on glaciers using a method similar to tomography Aconcagua Treks