Tag: How to Climb Aconcagua

Starting from camp 2, climb obliquely to the left (direction East), until you reach the glacier. It is climbed directly to the right of it (orography left), slopes of 30 to 35 degrees. Then the glacier begins to gradually rise until it reaches a maximum inclination of 45 to 48 degrees, around 6,450 – 6,550 meters. Here you cross the “bottleneck” and continue straight up, while the Aconcagua 360 Route slope decreases slightly. Finally, the edge that limits the south wall is reached. Here the inclination decreases very noticeably and it is possible to walk in the snow. The descent can be done by the same route or by the normal route, the latter being the most advisable and fastest option.

The descent along the normal route is developed first by the “canaleta”, then to the north in a traverse crossing next to the “Peñon Martinez”, arriving at the “Portezuelo de los vientos” and, finally, the “Independencia” refuge at 6,250 meters . From this shelter directly down to the North-East. Camp 2 is perfectly located.

How to Climb Aconcagua

The “Stone Sentinel” rises to the sky, to the south, (an immense wall almost 3,000 meters high and 7 kilometers wide). The legendary French mountaineer Lionel Terray visited the great wall during the southern summer of 52/53, after climbing the once mythical Fitz Roy. He considered then that the impressive wall of ice and rock constituted a colossal alpinistic problem. And he was not wrong…

The aspect of the South wall as a whole is one of difficulty, danger and, at that moment, almost impregnable. But it is very clear that mountaineers of all times hate the word impossible. During the southern summer of 53/54, a strong French expedition led by Rene Ferlet reached the bottom of the “Horcones inferior” ravine, on the margin of the glacier of the same name. There they installed their comfortable base camp, in what is now known as “Plaza Francia” (4,100 m), ready to besiege the wall of the great mountain.

After acclimatizing and carefully studying the slope, they chose the large spur that limits the gigantic central avalanche channel of the wall to the right. This spur is relatively protected from any falling ice or rocks. Towards the end of the second third it is interrupted to give rise to a large balcony of ice called “Upper Glacier”. This is a hanging glacier that pours its ice cascades into a void of almost 2,000 meters and constitutes one of the main dangers of climbing on the south face.

Aconcagua Guided Climb

They used more than a month of acclimatization and preparations, during which they equipped the first difficult sections of the spur with fixed ropes. Towards the end of February, 6 climbers launched themselves to the top. The group was made up of G.Poulet, R. Paragot, P. Lesseur, L. Berardini, A. Dagory, E. Denis, at that time the best French mountaineers, which was equivalent to saying in the world.

For seven days they struggled between the unstable rocks and the ice, severely affected by the cold, they finally managed to reach the top. There was then talk of “heroic bravado.” Undoubtedly the French created one of the hardest routes in the world, being at the time, the most difficult wall, with the greatest slope and the highest above sea level, that avant-garde mountaineering managed to climb.

The glacial action was much more significant in the past, and the geomorphology that can be seen today is modified by the action of subsequent processes such as mass removal and fluvial action. The current glaciers of the mountain range in general, which therefore affect the Aconcagua Guided Climb, are classified as valley glaciers, mountain glaciers, and snow patches; These, in turn, can be presented as uncovered, covered by debris and rock glaciers. Almost the entire fluvial network of Mendoza corresponds to the Desaguadero basin formed by the Mendoza, Tunuyán, Diamante and Atuel rivers. The Barrancas and Grande rivers that form Colorado do not integrate the mentioned basin in the southern part.

All these watercourses are born in the mountainous area and descend to the plains, where they interrupt their basins due to their intense use for irrigation. They are antecedent rivers (which conserved their courses since before the orographic formations) that cross the mountains through enormous gorges eroded during the tertiary movements, and practice many of them lack water for much of the year and with the spring thaw their channels are They make it very torrential.

The Mendoza River is formed from the union of the Tupungato and Las Cuevas rivers. It receives the waters of the Horcones, Santa María, and Vaca’s rivers that descend from Aconcagua. Note the difference in the flow of a river that feeds on thaws such as the Mendoza, comparing its average flow, calculated at approximately 55 m3 / sec., With 750 m3 / sec. that reaches in the summer.

Aconcagua 360 Route is surrounded to the west and southwest by the Río de Los Horcones that runs through the valley of the same name and part of the northern and eastern sectors by the Río de las Vacas. The Los Relinchos stream is born on the eastern slopes, which feeds the Vacas river after a short journey.

There are no glacial lakes, and we only see some remains of them in the form of small buckets in the high mountains.

The Laguna de Los Horcones is the most critical water mirror in the preserved area. Glaciers, those enormous masses of ice that occupy the highest parts of the massifs, have their maximum expression in conservation unity.

Two are found on the southern slope (Horcones inferior and Horcones superior glaciers) and the resulting glaciers on the North and Northeast slopes, the main one being Las Vacas, located at the head of the homonymous river.

How to climb Aconcagua

On the south and east walls, the aforementioned Polish glacier stands out, with an area that reaches 700 hectares, and the Güssfeld glacier with a site that exceeds 1,000 hectares.

For anyone interested in mountaineering, Aconcagua 360 Route is a great name. Every year, the highest mountain outside the Himalayas attracts people from all over the world during its climbing season, which runs from November to March. Anyone looking for a mountain challenge sooner or later faces Aconcagua.

That is what happened to Miroslav, a Russian living in Scotland. The sporty, running guy is always looking for a challenge, call it a marathon or an Aconcagua guided climb. Since his childhood, the mountains were part of his life when he spent several vacations in ​​Mount Elbrus and the summit at the age of 14. For this reason, since the idea of ​​Aconcagua first crossed his mind, he put all his efforts into reaching the top.

In preparation, he climbed Kilimanjaro, in Tanzania, three months before going to Argentina. He did well with the physical challenge, and the high altitude was not a problem for him. The next step was the final stretch to make the Aconcagua dream come true. And for that, he needed to find the perfect mountain guide to take him to the top.

Here the mountain guide Juan Gomez enters the scene. He found his profile while browsing Explore-Share and wrote to him. It was the end of November 2015, and 2 months later, they were already at the Mendoza airport to go to the ‘Stone Sentinel,’ the Rock Sentinel, as Aconcagua is often called. How to climb Aconcagua?

But Juan is not just another guide. He is one of the central historical figures of Chilean mountaineering. He was part of the first Chilean expedition to the Himalayas in 1979, and when he went with Oleksii, it was his 36th time on the “roof of America.” The kind of guy that kids who are getting into the world of guides look up to, and not just in Chile. This year, he plans to ascend Mount Cho Oyu, one of the 8000-meter peaks in Nepal.

So it’s not a bad start if you want your Aconcagua experience to be a good one. Gastón picked up Oleksii at the airport and, after processing the permits, they headed directly to Penitentes. In this small ski resort, most people spend the night before starting the expedition. They were lucky enough to avoid a landslide that blocked the road a few hours after their passage, so good luck was on their side. The group was of 3: Oleksii, Juan, and Francisca, a student of Juan who was there as an assistant and to learn in the field, and according to Oleksii, he was a great help and a critical factor in the success of the expedition.