Tag: Aconcagua Ascents

Aconcagua Climbing – Information Necessary for Your Expedition

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The climate that affects the protected area that we analyze can be classified as a Temperate semi-arid mountain. It is characterized by the irregularity of the rainfall regime that the variations that, in this aspect, suffer from the area due to the climatic influence of the Atlantic domain, with summer rains, and the Pacific domain with its predominantly winter rainfall. Important in the Aconcagua treks.

Despite the great distance that separates it from the Atlantic, this mountainous part receives from that sector the low humidity that generally precipitates in the form of significant snowfalls in the highest positions, during May to August mostly. Its frequency and magnitude decrease towards the east.

From the Pacific, the climate is most influenced by the action of the Pacific anticyclone that generates westerly winds. These winds rise, and when they collide with the hills of the mountain range. The Chilean coast is affected by two well-differentiated currents, the Humbold one, the southern sector. Depending on the origin of the wind, both influence the area, although, to a much greater extent, the winds of the southwestern sector are necessary for the Aconcagua Mountain guides.

In the mountain range, the ascent of the air is made markedly through the hills’ valleys and slopes, and due to the low pressure that exists in the summits, this air generally rises during the afternoons and forms accumulations but is not produced. At night the opposite phenomenon occurs, and the wind blows from the top towards the valleys.

Like all regions with marked altitudinal variations, the temperature is a climatic factor dependent on them.

In the entire Cuyana mountain range, strong cold winds from the west and south-west sector occur in winter, which when they blow together with snowfalls, the dreaded white wind is formed. Under particular atmospheric conditions, these same winds cross the Before undergoing abrupt changes that make them hot and dry when they reach the lowlands, as occurs with the folkloric Zonda wind.

As for the summer temperatures, it must be taken into account that during the nights, over 5,000 m.a.s.l. -20 ° C is a non-exceptional value, and at the top, it reaches -30 ° C. In Plaza de Mulas, in times of bad weather conditions are usually –18 C °. During winter, the area is heavily covered with snow, and the temperature rarely exceeds 0 ° C. the location area of ​​the Aconcagua Ascents Provincial Park allows it to be classified phytogeographically according to Cabrera (1976) .in what he calls the High Andean Province, which encompasses all the high mountains that are located west of Argentina from the Bolivian territory to Tierra del Fuego. According to the latitude, this biome is divided into districts, denominating the High Andean Cuyano District that occupies the Andes of San Juan and Mendoza provinces. The classification made by PRODIA (1999) does not differ too much from the one mentioned above, only that the latter starts at approximately 38º Lat.S. towards the south, it ceases to be called the Eco-region of the High Andes to be called the Patagonian Forests, due to the presence of the Valdivian jungle in this sector.

Aconcagua Climbing – What if I fail in my summit attempt?

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By the route, you will arrive at the Berlin camp (a shelter with a capacity for six people), Piedras Blancas, Piedras Negras, Independencia, Portezuelo de Los Vientos. In the latter, the strong currents of the Pacific begin winds that go from 60 to 100 kilometers per hour, which makes it difficult to walk and be able to stay upright. Then it is followed by the Great Crossing and the last one before the summit: La Canaleta at 6700 meters. These previous 300 meters have a significant slope of loose rocks that make the Aconcagua Ascents very difficult.

This last section of the Aconcagua climb is necessary with crampons; it is the most demanding and extremely careful point. The Canaleta must be approached from its left side, climbing through small glaciers like this until the Cuesta del Guanaco, the ridge that separates the two summits (the South 6,950 meters and the North 6,962 meters). In this area, an estimated oxygen deficiency is 30% to 40% of normal. But all the effort will have its great reward when reaching “the roof of the Andes.”

Climbing Aconcagua through the “Normal Route” or North Face of Aconcagua, it must be taken into account that it is a 40-kilometer gravel path (from the Horcones lagoon) takes at least 15 days to climb to the top, including the acclimatization time to the altitude.

Experienced climbers only visit the other route of ascent called “Glaciar de Los Polacos.” The trek this is done is by taking the Valley of the Cows. It crosses to the base of the Polacos Glacier, and from there, it crosses the normal route, but a final climb begins to the summit. This highly technical trail is 76 kilometers long.

The “southern wall” is the most challenging access road to the summit on Aconcagua. They are 78 kilometers, and their maximum difficulty materializes when it ends in one of the most extensive walls in the world (3000 meters of a wall). Getting up this route is something for a select few; it is a very committed and technical climb through rocks, ice, and glaciers.

The first ascent of the South Wall was made on February 25, 1954, by the French Pierre Lesueur, Adrien Dagory, Edmond Denis, Robert Paragot, Lucien Berardini, and Guy Poulet. The head of the expedition was René Ferlet.

For the descent, half the time that has been used in the ascent is usually calculated. However, exhaustion often causes that time to lengthen, so you should anticipate the duration of this while ascending.

The Most Important Thing Will Always be Your Health

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A subject that is always complicated is clothing and equipment, which I am not used to; much more when we sit down to do numbers and we realize that there is an increase in the budget of the expedition. The gear used to go to the mountain is not the same as that we employ in the city or our daily life, and this has to do mainly with the environment (environment-place) and the activity to be carried out.

To do any  Aconcagua Mountain guides , we must have all the equipment we can take to a mountain that can have all climates together. Usually, the expedition is divided into two parts: the first is the trekking to the Plaza de Mulas base camp and the days of stay and acclimatization in it, and the second is the attack to the summit and the passage through the different camps of height , no longer the comfort that we can have in base camp.

Whether we hire company guides or go without assistance, the general equipment can vary between adding to the team: high mountain tents, kitchen equipment with special heaters, pots, food, and the hiring of mules and porters for our  Aconcagua Ascents .

We will base ourselves in principle on three types of footwear: trekking, rest, and high mountain. The trekking is the one that we will use in almost all the walks in the first stage. That of rest is that when we are in the tents, in the base camps. The high mountain is used in almost all the marches over the base camp.

For clothing / apparel, we are going to use the onion system, the layer system.

The backpacks of our  Aconcagua Treks  must be no less than 60 liters for trekking or expedition trekking. Although there are porters with mules and porters (humans who transport equipment), each one must be as autonomous as possible and carry his equipment; It is also essential to have space to store clothes as we unwind.

High mountain sleeping bag, mat, headlamp, helmet, crampons, category four glasses, goggles, and poles are other essential elements when embarking on the expedition. It is known that if you do not drink a good amount of liquid at altitude, you are “baked.” But it must always be emphasized again. In the city or in our daily life outside of the mountain environment where we can carry out some sporting activity, we do not usually ingest a lot of fluids. However, it is recommended not less than 2 to 3 liters depending on the body mass index (the ratio of the height Weight). Above 3000 masl, the number increases, and dehydration becomes more noticeable because fluid is lost through respiration twice as fast as at sea level.