Aconcagua Group > Aconcagua > Climber's LogAconcagua Climber's Log
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| patascent | Polish Traverse Date Climbed: Jan 29, 2007 | |
| Three days hiking through the Vacas valley. Spent 3 days at Plaza de Argentia and did a carry to Camp 1. On day 7 of our trip, we moved to camp one...the wind was raging. A few days later we carried and then moved to camp two. Next day moved to camp 3 (White Rocks) at about 20,000 feet where we watched and waited for the weather to give us a break. It was relentless, lots of snow, and strong winds. After 3 days of misery at high camp we had to go down...no summit window ever opened. We dropped down the other side of the mountain to Plaza de Mulas and walked out to the trailhead via Confluencia the next day. Probably have to do this one again but I think I'll spend a week acclimating in Boliva before going to Argentina. | |
| Posted Feb 11, 2007 5:00 am | ||
| lefty | Two down, five to go!  Date Climbed: Jan 12, 2007 | |
| Polish Traverse Route | |
| Posted Feb 5, 2007 7:23 am | ||
| Rick Kent | Normal Route Date Climbed: Jan 13, 2007 | |
| Climbed with dayhiker. His description below gives the details. Two other climbers (Scooter and Jyh) also climbed with us summitting shortly after we started down. Great trip and I like the fact that we didn't mess with Berlin and just went for the summit from Nido. After the summit I used the "escape route" for a quick scree descent back down to Nido. 9 hrs 15 mins to the summit from Nido, 1 hr 45 mins down. No view on top due to clouds but otherwise an excellent summit day. | |
| Posted Jan 25, 2007 5:11 pm | ||
| YetiBauer | Plaza Argentina - Guanacos- Traverse and Exit the Normal Route Date Climbed: Jan 14, 2007 | |
| To all you Euro climbers, please pack out your turds! | |
| Posted Jan 24, 2007 8:26 pm | ||
| Muddeer | Polish traverse Date Climbed: Jan 6, 2007 | |
| Started from Camp 2 at around 630am. Reached the summit almost 9 hrs later. Didn't stay more than 2 minutes on it, as bad weather was moving in. I climbed solo and was the last person on summit that day. In fact, I didn't see a soul, not even from distance, as descended back to camp in snow. Great trip. Was a part of Brad Marshall's 2006/2007 expedition. Special thanks to Brad and Sue for organizing the trip. | |
| Posted Jan 18, 2007 9:45 pm | ||
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| MoapaPk | Re: Ruta Normal | |
| Congrats! Man, you did a quick trip. | |
| Posted Jan 18, 2007 12:26 am | ||
| Day Hiker | Ruta Normal Date Climbed: Jan 13, 2007 | |
| Climbed with Rick Kent and summitted about an hour later than that speedy guy. Our summit day was from Nido de Condores, which made for a very strenuous day. Here was my complete itinerary: (02 January through 15 January, 2007) Day 0: Mendoza, Argentina (2500 ft). Day 1: Hike to Confluencia (11240 ft). Day 2: Hike to Plaza de Mulas (14380 ft). Day 3: Rest at Plaza de Mulas (14380 ft). Day 4: Summit Cerro Bonete (16605 ft); sleep at Plaza de Mulas *(14380 ft). Day 5: Rest at Plaza de Mulas (14380 ft). Day 6: Carry gear to Nido de Condores (18300 ft), sleep at Plaza de Mulas (14380 ft). Day 7: Rest at Plaza de Mulas (14380 ft). Day 8: Move to Nido de Condores (18300 ft). Day 9: Acclimatization hike to 20050 feet (first time above 20kft -- great views). Sleep at Nido de Condores (18300 ft). Day 10: Rest at Nido de Condores (18300 ft). Day 11: Summit (22841 ft). Leave for summit at 05:00. Ascent from Nido took me almost 10 hours. Canaleta scree scramble at 22000 feet is very strenuous for a big guy. Sleep at Nido de Condores (18300 ft). Day 12: Descend to Plaza de Mulas (14380 ft). future: Day 13: Hike out to trailhead and take Grajales shuttle bus to Mendoza (2500 ft). We chose to have an itinerary that was different from the typical Normal-Route itinerary that usually includes a lower intermediate camp, such as Canada, and summitting from a higher camp, such as Berlin. We did this to avoid the huge pain in the ass of heavy carries and moving camps. The major downside of our itinerary was the long summit day, with 4500 feet of gain. Spend some time around 20000 feet, and you'll see how what would take 3 hours at a lower elevation takes 10 hours here. The advantage of our itinerary was that we spent six nights (prior to ascent) at base camp (Plaza de Mulas -- 14380 feet), where the elevation and temperatures allowed for good sleep. We were able to access high places to climb from Mulas during the day. Likewise, from Nido, we were able to acclimatize during the day on higher parts of the mountain, while avoiding sleeping at the camps above 19000 feet. We were also able to sleep at Nido for four consecutive nights, without the hassle of moving camp. Cerro Aconcagua is the one mountain in the area whose surveyed elevation of 22841 feet seems correct. After seeing deviations between surveyed and GPS elevations for Cerro Bonete and Cerro Manso, I thought about the possibility of an error in the GPS's ellipsoid Earth model for that part of the world. But, on Cerro Aconcagua, my two GPSs read 22855 feet and 22850 feet, so their elevation readings agreed with that surveyed, as 22841 feet is within the precision of the devices. | |
| Posted Jan 16, 2007 5:13 pm | ||
| Brad Marshall | False Polish Traverse Date Climbed: Jan 8, 2007 | |
| Sue and I both summitted via the False Polish Traverse in perfect weather, no wind and bright sunshine. Spent 1/2 hour at the top enjoying the view and our accomplishment. | |
| Posted Jan 14, 2007 9:50 pm | ||
| weeds19 | Snowy Canaleta = Good Canaleta Date Climbed: Feb 4, 2004 | |
| After a week of acclimating, 3 sick partners, and 1 sick porter I was all alone at Berlin Camp when I made a push for the summit. The weather was perfect and the conditions were great when I finally arrived at the highest point in the Americas | ||
| Posted Jan 13, 2007 8:41 am | ||
| timfoltz | Great Climb Date Climbed: Jan 5, 2007 | |
| No snow, never touched our crampons or ice axes. Amazing weather, cold but no wind, we were very fortunate. 9 hours up from Nido, but 6 coming down. | |
| Posted Jan 9, 2007 3:33 pm | ||
| thenewpassion | Normal Route Date Climbed: Dec 20, 2004 | |
| Aconcagua was my first multi-day expedition style climb. The weather played havoc on the nerves, but otherwise a most enjoyable and straight-forward climb. The trip took 12 days in total and was completed a few days before Christmas 2004. | |
| Posted Dec 10, 2006 6:42 am | ||
| phydeux | Polish x-over to Normal Route | |
| Approched via the Polish Glacier route, then crossed over to the normal route on summit day (one of the few mild weather days). Amazing how many persons on the normal route as we approached it from the east. Met "Aconcagua Al" at the 19,000 ft campsite; he was still rresting comfortably. | |
| Posted Oct 7, 2006 4:38 pm | ||
| osatrik | OSAT 1997 Expedition Date Climbed: Feb 3, 1997 | |
| See the report on our multi-page expedition web site This expedition traversed the mountain (up the Polish side, down Ruta Normal), spent 40 hours 5 folks in a 3-man tent at 20,300 ft getting blown to bits by the Vente Blanca, but did not summit. | |
| Posted Aug 15, 2006 6:44 am | ||
| downbooties | False Polish Route Date Climbed: Feb 14, 2003 | |
| So proud to summit with my 60 year old dad. Only felt sick one morning; maybe it was the altitude, but probably was the gas expelled from my 2 tentmates. Otherwise, I gained weight on the trip and my dad came back looking like he had been nailed to a tree. Great learning experience and pretty views on summit day. | |
| Posted Jun 2, 2006 6:22 pm | ||
| nesnegroj | Normal route Date Climbed: Feb 17, 2005 | |
| We had excellent weather on the hole trip, including the summit day. A bit cold in the morning -21 C on my back pack. Otherwise perfect conditions. | |
| Posted May 16, 2006 6:29 pm | ||
| ElCapitanKoolAid | A long way from home Date Climbed: Jan 1, 1998 | |
| My trip started in Peru in july 1997. I did not know that I was going to be two years and a half in South America. With $40 from La Paz I went to Santiago and some people loaned a tent a jacket and food to go to Aconcagua. This has been the climb that I cherish the most because it taught me that everything is possible. | |
| Posted May 7, 2006 5:51 pm | ||
| tetontom | Summit #17 | |
| Just finished my 7th guiding season on Aconslogua and racked up summits 15, 16, and 17. I think another year of this and I'll need a break... | |
| Posted Apr 19, 2006 2:38 am | ||
| Moogie737 | Guanacos Valley/travers Date Climbed: Feb 15, 2006 | |
| This less-traveled route is spectacular. We began on Feb.3rd, and on Feb. 6th the afternoon weather became ever more suspect with each passing day. The day we reached our high camp it snowed 6" and turned nasty. Our group of five climbers had to abandon summit plans because of continued poor weather, but the exprience was terrific. | |
| Posted Apr 18, 2006 3:30 am | ||
| Eelconl | www.aconcagua2005.info | |
| We were there in december 2005. And the weather was colder as it was ever before. Many climbers left without summitting el Cumbre. I tried twice on my own and it was both times extremely cold and a very strong wind. Like 100 km an hour and a temperature of -30 degrees Celsius. With frozen feet I head back to basecamp. | |
| Posted Mar 28, 2006 1:15 pm | ||
| tkikuchibr | Polish Glacier Traverse Date Climbed: Feb 24, 2006 | |
| Summit on Feb 24, 2006, seizing an excellent weather window opportunity. 4 days in Plaza Argentina, 2 in Camp1 and 1 in Camp2. Return through Vacas valley was very windy (>50kph)with sandstorms, even lenticular clouds forming over the mountain range. Thanks a lot to guide Matoco (Grajales), and Dagmar, Gabriel for the delicious meals at Basecamp. Also spent great time with friends from Inka (Jairo, Eduardo, Luli, Mari). Hope to see you guys in coming expeditions elsewhere in the world! | |
| Posted Mar 24, 2006 2:11 am | ||
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