You can find a report of climbing Aconcagua solo at www.climbaconcaguasolo.com .

I do not want to discourage anyone from climbing Aconcagua, its a respectable feat to climb it. But, A friend of mine went last year with a guide and she said basically that Aconcagua is a bit of rip-off, commercialized mountain. She said the route is a slog but easy and not really photogenic except for the south face view and some penitentes. She mentioned there was a LOT of trash on the route and that some of the Argentinians are stuck-up and not nice. Regarding the weather she said that cold was not that big of an issue but the wind was. She had a few "interesting" nights inside a tent, fierce winds. She mentioned that getting a good tent spot at the higher camps was almost impossible. Her take was basically that she would MUCH rather climb in Nepal again (even 6K M or less peaks) than go to Aconcagua due to the incredible landscapes and views and the quality of the climbing.

Would I go solo, probably not because going solo to an unfamiliar big mountain, unless you have a lot of experience and top notch, proven, gear, increases the stress factor and risk significantly. But, its totally doable obviously, and like a few mentioned, with good weather and good response to altitude, it might even be pretty easy going albeit long.

sneakyracer wrote:... A friend of mine went last year with a guide and she said basically that Aconcagua is a bit of rip-off, commercialized mountain. She said the route is a slog but easy and not really photogenic except for the south face view and some penitentes. She mentioned there was a LOT of trash on the route and that some of the Argentinians are stuck-up and not nice. Regarding the weather she said that cold was not that big of an issue but the wind was. She had a few "interesting" nights inside a tent, fierce winds. She mentioned that getting a good tent spot at the higher camps was almost impossible. Her take was basically that she would MUCH rather climb in Nepal again (even 6K M or less peaks) than go to Aconcagua due to the incredible landscapes and views and the quality of the climbing.

Please let us know what mountain your friend is going to next - so we can all go somewhere else. Your friend sounds like an idiot, and a whining pain in the ass. Has she read your post?

There's more than enough information out there about Aconcagua - anyone who goes there, needing a guide, then complaining how easy it is, about crowds and rubbish, is a hypocrite and a tool.

I climbed it last year, for the second time, unguided, just to take my girlfriend up it. It's a big, accessible mountain in a really beautiful area. We were the only people at high camp, and we were alone almost all the time on summit day, including 30 min on the summit, until the descent. I saw no rubbish on the route, and the shit that was there years ago has been cleaned up. We spoke to almost no one else on the mountain and camped away from whomever else was there. There was no 'crowd' anywhere on the mountain, and that was in February.

As for the Argentines, whom I've always found quite friendly? Going on what you've posted about your friend, I wouldn't be nice to her either.

sneakyracer wrote:some of the Argentinians are stuck-up and not nice.

I know some Americans who are stuck-up and not nice.

Damien Gildea wrote:a really beautiful area

+1

I was quite impressed. It was an amazing place. The entire trip was nothing less than spectacular, including the mountain, the surrounding scenery, the time in Mendoza, and the plane flights to and from.

Damien, maybe the guide service she used wasnt nice. Who knows. I do take her comments with a grain of salt. I guess, like everything YMMV. And yes, people with attitudes are everywhere obviously so it's not exclusive of Argentina and definately not the norm. But she saw what she saw. She had been to Nepal twice before so she was comparing it to that.