Trip Reports

Aconcagua - January 2026

Aconcagua January 2026 team about to set off on their summit push
Trip Report

Written by Leader Andy Chapman, February 2026

We ascended to Camp 1 after our acclimatisation ascent of Bonete Peak and then monitored the weather forecast for the following week. Predicted wind speeds on Tuesday and Wednesday, and possibly Monday, would have made a summit attempt very difficult, so we began our ascent of the mountain on Wednesday. This also allowed for a day of rest and recovery after climbing Bonete Peak.

We did not commit to a Sunday summit attempt until we had sufficient time to study the weather forecast at Camp 2, where we spent two nights with a full acclimatisation day.

On Saturday 31 January we climbed to Camp 3, at almost 6,000m, in approximately three hours. Most people slept reasonably well. We knew there would be some snowfall, but the wind was expected to be light and the forecast looked better than for Monday.

Leaving at 4:00 a.m., we made steady progress at around 5 metres per minute vertically to the first rest point at White Rocks. At around 6:30 a.m., Andy decided to turn back and descend, accompanied by me, as I was clearly the least acclimatised guide. Normally I would not necessarily have chosen to do this, but I had experienced a particularly bad night.

The rest of the team made steady progress to Independencia Hut, where another member, Peter, decided to turn back and descend. The remaining members continued to the traverse, where it became clear that the weather was deteriorating. Many teams had already turned around at this point and sensibly the team elected to descend back to Camp 3 and call off the ascent.

Although this was obviously disappointing, the team felt satisfied with their efforts on the mountain and looked forward to a good rest at base camp, followed by some relaxing time in Mendoza before flying home.

As it turned out, the wind on Monday 2 February was far stronger than predicted and for the rest of the week the winds were extremely strong. Based on the forecast, conditions looked difficult to impossible for any summit attempt. So they you have it. We gave the mountain a good attempt, but unfortunately the conditions up high were just too severe to reach the summit this time. Thanks to a great team and to our local guides, who all worked together brilliantly during the expedition.

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