It is officially 52 days until I fly out for Aconcagua. I’m pushing harder with my training and assembling my gear for the trip. I’ll be writing more about the training and gear prep but a lot of people have been asking how long it will take to get to the top and what it will take to get there. Below I’ve outlined the expedition itinerary and review some of the interesting things that you wouldn’t realize off hand. For anyone looking into climbing Aconcagua someday or anyone genuinely just curious about it I hope this will help shed some light on the process.
In all the expedition will be just shy of 3 weeks total and we will be laying siege to the mountain in bursts following the mountaineering adage to “carry high and sleep low”. This means that we will make multiple carries of all our gear “leap frogging” ourselves up the mountain. There are two major reason for this type of approach. First, carrying high and exposing our bodies to the extreme altitude then sleeping at a lower elevation gives us a chance to acclimatize better mitigating the potential for altitude sickness or worse things like HAPE and HACE. Second, we will have way more gear then we can reasonably carry at one time. Breaking our gear into multiple 50-60lb loads will allow us to move up the mountain steadily without destroying our legs, preserving them for summit day.
Day 1- The team will fly into Mendoza, Argentina and meet up to begin assembling gear.
Day 2- More packing and getting ready. The team will go to secure our climbing permit from the authorities and dial in our equipment.
Day 3- Leave Mendoza and drive 3-hours to Los Penitentes, Argentina where we will continue refining gear and resting up before we head out the next morning.
Day 4- Drive 10km to the trailhead at Punto de Vacas to begin our march to the top.
Day 5- Continue hiking up to where we will establish Base Camp.
Day 6- Continue hiking and reach Base Camp at Plaza Argentina in the Guanacos Valley at approx. 13,000ft.
Day 7- Rest day at Base Camp.
Day 8- Begin carrying loads up to Camp 1 at 14,500ft and stash our equipment and food before heading back down to Base Camp to sleep.
Day 9- Move to Camp 1 with the balance of our gear and food.
Day 10- Carry loads to Camp 2 at 17,800ft then head back to Camp 1 to sleep.
Day 11- Move to Camp 2 with the rest of our gear.
Day 12- Carry to High Camp (Rocas Blancas) at 19,500ft stashing our loads and heading back to Camp 2 for the evening.
Day 13- Rest/ acclimatization day at Camp 2.
Day 14- Move to High Camp (Rocas Blancas) with our gear and rest up for our summit attempt.
Day 15- First potential summit day.
Day 16- Contingency summit day.
Day 17- Contingency summit day. Whichever day we summit we will head back to High Camp to sleep for the evening.
Day 18- Descend to Plaza de Mulas which is another established camp on a different side of the mountain.
Day 19- Hike out from Plaza de Mulas to Los Penitentes and stay for the evening.
Day 20- Drive to Mendoza to celebrate our accomplishment over an Argentinian dinner.
Of course I can’t just go to South America to climb a mountain. Before I get to Mendoza I’ll spend 2-3 days in Santiago, Chile exploring and resting up before catching a flight to Mendoza. After the climb I’m going to fly into Buenos Aires and relax there for 4-5 days while taking in the sights before heading back home to San Francisco, CA. One of the major themes in my life and in this blog is to “Go big and push the limits” and I have a feeling that this trip is going to do both in a way I have never done before.
Climbing the 7 