Trip Reports

Aconcagua - 3 to 25 Jan '15

Written by Leader, January 2015

Success on Aconcagua: Five members of the team, along with three guides made it to the summit of Aconcagua at 15:15 on Sunday 18th January 2014, one day ahead of schedule, in very good weather conditions.

The team, minus three members who had made their own arrangements, met at LGW South Terminal for a late afternoon departure with Air Europa to Madrid, followed by an early morning (00:30) flight to BA. All went according to plan. With a late afternoon onward flight to Mendoza, there was plenty of time to make our way to Recoleta for some great food at La Biela & a wander around the area; taking in the church, cemetery & Sunday market as well as watching some street Argentine Tango dancers. Once in Mendoza, the team was united over the sampling of some local food & of course some 'malbec'! After a little shopping in Mendoza (the girls just love shopping!) it was off to Los Penitentes for the night, stopping only to top up on our food intake in Uspallatta, which was very important.

Our first day of trekking had arrived & we were not disappointed, despite only getting glimpses of Aconcagua between the clouds. The trek led us to Confluencia where we would spend the next three days & nights acclimatising. Time to explore the surrounding area - a trek up to Plaza Francia view point at c.4,000m, which provided us with great views of Aconcagua's South Face & a trek across to the old Confluencia Camp on the far side of the river where we spent some time soaking our feet beneath a waterfall, eating fresh pineapple!

Having been given the all clear by the doctor, it was time for us to make our way up to Plaza de Mulas, our Base Camp for the next six nights. The trek took us 8.5 hours in glorious sunshine, coupled with a moderate wind to provide a really nice temperature to trek in. All did very well today, coping with the 1,000m of ascent & the varied terrain. Our arrival at Base Camp was boosted by drinks, fresh fruit & snacks, as well as a great view of the mountains that surrounded us - amazing! The next day was spent actively resting - faffing, showering, washing clothes & taking in the views, which changed throughout the day. There was also sometime to focus on the next few days, one of which includes the second hardest day of the expedition.

Our first objective was Bonete Peak, which stood just over 5,000m. The weather was great & the climb to the top was wonderful with excellent views into Chile & back into Argentina. Afternoon tea & snacks awaited our return, along with some discussion about load carrying. Day ten was our first load carrying day to Camp 1 (Camp Canada) where we deposited 65kg of food & 80 litres of water to await our return & consumption in three days time on our summit bid. After a restful afternoon, it was time to prepare the loads for the next stage - personal high altitude gear. After a good breakfast, it was up to Canada Camp to collect some of the food deposited yesterday, add it to our rucksacks & continue to Camp 2 (Nido de Condores) to deposit all our gear & food before returning to Base Camp - a tough 9 hour day for us all. Time for a rest day, during which we showered & prepared our summit bid gear.

With our bags packed & our minds focused on the next phase of our expedition, we departed Base Camp & made our 3.5 hour ascent to Camp One, in good weather. We were blessed with a great sunset as we sat on the 'Beach', whilst having our evening meal. Temperatures dropped so we headed for our tents. We awoke to another great day, took our breakfast, packed our bags & ascended to Camp Two. To our surprise, our tents were up on our arrival, after 3.5 hours of walking & 550m of vertical ascent. Having been checking the weather forecast for our planned summit bid, it looked like the weather was due to change, so we made a decision to move up to Camp Three the next day & bring our summit bid forward by a day. Our ascent to Camp Three took us around 3 hours, again in good weather. We settled & prepared for our early start the next day.

04:00hours was here before we knew it. Time to get kitted up & have breakfast, before our 05:30 departure, in darkness. All that could be seen were the head torches of all the others who were attempting the summit today. By the time we reached 'White Rocks', we had seen the mountain's shadow behind us as the sun rose. After a brief stop, it was onto Independencia where the heat of the sun was just starting to warm us up. This was however short lived as we took a look over the windy ridge at the long traverse to feel the very chilling wind that we were about to experience for the next 2 hours. We were certainly relieved to reach the cave at the base of the Canaleta, to take a break from the wind - what a relief! Conditions were such that it was time to put on our crampons to ascend the last 200+ metres to gain the summit traverse. Within no time, we arrived at the summit, signified by a small cross - 'five members of the team, along with three guides made it to the summit of Aconcagua at 15:15 on Sunday 18th January 2014, one day ahead of schedule, in very good weather conditions'.

After taking the customary summit photographs, it was time descend, descend, descend, back to Camp Three. It had taken us 9.75 hours to ascend & we still had 4 hours before we would be back in Colera Camp. After such a long day, we still had to be focused in our descent. Slowly, but surely we passed all the landmarks safely - the cave at the base of the Canaleta, the windy ridge at the end of the long traverse, Independencia Camp, White Rocks & finally at 19:30, some 14 hours after setting out, we arrived back at Colera - Camp Three - totally exhausted! Just enough time for some food & fluids before crashing out for the night - what a great day! Our descent to Base Camp was short, but tiresome, taking in Camp Two to pick up some kit we had left in our ascent before continuing on, motivated by a beer & pizza at Plaza de Mulas. A fitting end to a great success!

The team decided to head out the next day, to experience the delights of Mendoza - cycle/horseback, wine tours, thermal pools, steak & red wine - Malbec of course. This however is where the story ends.

Many thanks to Fernando & his team for all the logistics to enable the expedition to run so smoothly.

Many thanks also to Matoko & his guide team, Manuel & his cook team at Plaza de Mulas, Victoria & her cook team at Confluencia, without whom, this expedition would not have happened.

Congratulations to the Aconcagua Climbing Team - Adell, Garry, Gillian, Jamie, Jenny C, Jenny H, Jo, Kirsty, Magda, Paul & Penny. Many goals were certainly achieved along the way & it is these that we all need to take away.

Finally, a big thank you to my Assistant Leader - Rob Wymer, who played a very important part in the success of the expedition & certainly made my job a lot easier!

Llongyfarchiadau Pawb (Congratulations All)

Paul Donovan
Aconcagua Expedition 2014
Expedition Leader « Previous report | Next report »

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