Trip Reports

Aconcagua - 6 to 28 January '18

A snowy Colera camp on Aconcagua, January 2018

Written by Leader Rob Wymer, February 2018

Step by step. You don’t climb a mountain of the magnitude of Aconcagua by biting off the whole mountain at once. Some 16 or 17 days on foot covers a lot of ground, and there is much acclimatisation to be done, and load carries to be achieved up to the higher camps above Base Camp. All this seems way too daunting at first, and so as a team we’d agreed to set some objectives and milestones along the way. First, and not least, was steak acclimatisation! We duly trotted out on the balmy evening of our first day in Mendoza and had the first of many amazing meals; even the veggies were well cared for.

Next on our list was travelling to the Aconcagua National Park and heading up to camp at Confluencia at 3395m, a sort of pre-base camp. Here we spent a few nights carrying out acclimatisation walks, eating well, and getting our first views of the impressive south face of Aconcagua - 2000m from bottom to top from that side! Having successfully achieved that objective, it was on to Base Camp at 4365m via long and potentially hot walk up the Horcones valley. Fortunately for us, the weather kind with a nice cooling breeze and some cloud cover at times, and we made impressive progress.

At Base Camp we spent a total of 7 nights on acclimatisation and load carrying. It’s a comfortable place to stay, with power, big domes to eat and socialise in, showers, and wifi of sorts….. After a rest day we commenced our acclimatisation programme with a summit of the nearby Bonete Peak at 5004m, before load carrying up to Camp 1 at a similar elevation, and then to Camp 2 at 5559m. The latter being a tiring day due to both the loads carried to stock the higher camps, and the new altitude reached. Amongst those days was an extra rest day hiding from what was often snowy and stormy weather too. I’d been badgering the team to drink plenty and eat lots in order to cope with the altitude and the load carrying, and it was pleasing to note that both ‘Katja 5 Steaks’ and ‘Lisa 3 puddings’ fully adhered to this maxim during this time! Perhaps not too difficult with the restaurant-standard meals that just kept on appearing courtesy of the amazing chef. However, at the completion of this phase, we were well rested and acclimatised ready for our summit bid.

I’d looked at the forecast for our potential summit days. along with local guide Javi, and we’d tentatively formed a plan. Off we set, big boots on our feet and big rucksacks on our backs containing all our personal items such as sleeping bags and mats, crampons and axes for the next few days. Upon arrival at Camp 1 for what was now the third and final time, we were greeted with bare ground to camp on; this was not to last……. Overnight some 17cm of snow fell and drifted too, making taking the tents down in the morning a little challenging, and it was not to be the last snowfall of our summit bid either. Progress upwards the next day to Camp 2 was hard going in the fresh snow, and more fell that night along with a brisk wind too. Nevertheless, we were becoming used to looking after ourselves at higher altitudes despite the weather, and the local guides worked tirelessly producing good and varied food for us. The weather pattern seemed fixed with clear bight skies in the morning, and snow and winds in the afternoon and at night. Progress was made up to Camp 3 at 5993m with some stunning vistas along the way, taking our minds briefly off the challenging conditions. I was extremely pleased to see all 10 team members that had set off from Base Camp settle into Camp 3 in pretty good shape; well done them for taking the advice and putting it into practice in order to cope with the not unsubstantial feat of just existing at this elevation. We had reached this final camp in plenty of time to rest, recover, eat, drink and acclimatise, before nervously trying to sleep for the last time before the summit.

However, successive afternoons of snow made had for heavy going indeed, and windy nights flapping the tents had prevented much restful sleep at all. Thus, on the best of the choice of summit days, when the team set out at 0430 it wasn’t long before the very arduous going underfoot in the deep snow took its toll. Nevertheless, eventually John J and John S, led by Argentinian guide Javi, reached the summit at 6962m! Incredibly well done to them in such challenging conditions.

After a second night at Camp 3, we made our way all the way down to Base Camp in one day and feasted on unlimited freshly-made pizza to recover! Out to the road head the following day and back to the warmth of Mendoza, and we were practically done. So, 2 on the summit in really quite testing conditions, and whole lot of learning and experiences imbibed by everyone. I’d call that an overall success, and we toasted ourselves accordingly with much Malbec in the restaurants of sunny Mendoza to celebrate! My congratulations to Alex, Takis, Jonas, John J, Ben, James, Richard, Chris, Lisa, Rupinder, Paramjit, Paul, Katja and John S for all their many achievements, and of course for their excellent company too!

Rob Wymer

Jagged Globe Expedition Leader

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