January 2014 - Aconcagua with AP – Never again

AP stands for Aventuras Patagonicas, a mountain guiding company with offices in the US and Chile. It was recommended to me by someone I trusted. Oh, what a mistake.

On the AP web site they claim the following: “we have the highest success rate, we challenge you to find a guiding company more prepared, we use the latest gear, new or almost new equipment on every trip, we use best possible food and carefully planned diet of complex carbohydrates, we have state of the art portable satellite phones with us at all times, available for you to call anywhere”, etc. This is just the advertising used to attract clients. Read on to see what the reality really is …

I arrived a day late in Mendoza after having difficulties with the airline I chose. I was afraid the team would leave without me and I would have to catch up with them along the way. When I got in front of the hotel in Mendoza the guide Augusto came to me, introduced himself and told me: no need for apologies, it was not your fault. He was modest, polite and mannered, spoke a very good English and seemed to care for every single team member. He made an impression on me, a very good one. With this guide we had a very good chance to get to the top, I said to myself.

For the first 3 days of the approach hike everything went perfectly and then all went south. Augusto and another guide got kicked out of the park for giving one of the team mates a second chance at climbing the mountain. Thus we lost 2 guides and hiked into the base camp (BC) lead by a junior guide. Three days had passed until a replacement guide showed up, and man what a guide he was. In his first appearance in front of the group he spoke about himself, his accomplishments, his guiding techniques and his perfect judgment for about two hours. It was all about how good he was, what a team player he was and how the previous guide did everything wrong, including the amount of food he brought on the mountain. He said he would correct it all and lead us to success. Also he bragged about how well he knew the director of AP and what good friends they are. Wesley, the new guide, despite his efforts to make himself look good, was exactly the opposite of Augusto, whom I characterized earlier.

One night at the BC I was woken up by loud music, people laughing, singing and applauding. I was wondering why no guide got out of the tent to stop those hooligans from disturbing an entire camp? After a while I hear a female voice addressing the hooligans and trying to quiet them down. What a shame, none of the guides came out to do this, what a brave woman. In the morning I found out that the brave woman was from our group and the hooligans were the rangers who kicked out our guide and ruined the expedition for all of us.

The food was excellent and there was plenty of it up to and including BC. Once the new guide started his optimization program, the food became insufficient. Some mornings we just got hot water, meals had been skipped (breakfasts and lunches). When two other team members and I had to turn back and leave the mountain from Camp 2 (C2), we were given one dinner, one breakfast and 2 sandwiches over a 3 day period until we arrived in Penitentes. However, this food optimization program proved very beneficial for the porters. We had to pay them to bring it up the mountain and after the food optimization act, we paid them again to get it down.

The snack food we had been given was of the worst possible quality. Cookies, crackers and potato chips, of poor nutritional value and made with questionable ingredients. Most of us refused to take them, or if we took some of them, after a quick taste we disposed of them.

In the first night of the approach I noticed that the zippers on my tent didn’t close and at the second approach camp I asked for a replacement tent. The tent I got was all patched up but at least its zippers worked. At the BC I told the new guide that the rain fly shows cracks and rips. He came and fixed it with duct tape. I asked how old the tent was and he said “from this season”. If that would have been true then how come the rain fly of the guides’ tent was showing bright colors and had no patches and the rain fly of the client tents were faded out, patched all over, including patches with duct tape, and dripping inside when it was raining? Of course he was not telling the truth.

Once we moved to C2 the weather deteriorated and hurricane strength winds started to blow (in excess of 100 KM/h). Our tent was set up almost on a ridge, completely unsheltered. The rain fly was almost entirely ripped but the tent was still standing. After 3 nights and 3 days in such conditions, I feared that our tent would blow to pieces at any moment and I completely lost trust in this expedition and the abilities of our new guide to lead us safely up the mountain. The tent of our team mates was set next to us. In the middle of the 3rd night at C2 their tent was completely ripped by the wind, thus proving my fears true. One of the occupants lost her passport, some clothes and an important amount of cash, which were taken by the wind. I feared for my life and decided to go down with the two team mates who had lost their shelter.

After our departure, the new guide and the last client from our team, together with the second AP team, had moved to Camp 3 despite the strong wind. They left late from C2 and arrived late (past 17:00) at C3. At C3 our guide walked around the tents and tried to discourage clients from both teams to continue the climb to the top. Three of the clients abandoned and never attempted the summit. The following morning on the way to the summit our guide turned back the last client from our team and 4 more from the other team. Clients turned back were lead to C3 by our guide. Only one client of the other AP team, lead by one of their guides, reached the top. This is the 100% success rate that AP claims.
As soon as our guide got back to C3 he packed his backpack in a hurry and started running towards BC (Plaza de Argentina), abandoning the last client from our team who had to join the second AP team to descend the mountain. In Plaza Argentina our guide had a rendezvous with Rodrigo Mujica (director of AP). They had previously committed to a private expedition to lead a millionaire Chinese woman on Aconcagua. It did not matter to them that the dates of our expedition and of the private expedition overlapped. This now explains the behavior of our guide. He had to employ all his energy to get his clients off the mountain as soon as possible so he could become available for the private and more profitable expedition.

I definitely DO NOT recommend AP to anyone. Here are the facts, you make your own decision. Don’t get fooled by the discounts they offer. They are not inexpensive, they are cheap.

I went with AP back in 2008, and also arrived a day late due to an emergency stop in Colombia, and had high winds up high on Aconcagua. After that the similarities stop there. Our group was well-prepared with excellent guides and great service. All of us summitted except for an older client who made it roughtly halfway up on summitday despite high winds, lots of snow and very cold conditions. One of our two guides descended to high camp with him.

I would be interested to hear what AP's management said to you after you took the above issues to them. Did you do this?

I think in fairness to AP, if you are going to create a profile on Summitpost to post your complaints without first having posted something prior to this incident or not, then you should have included AP's response to you in your post above.

Respectfully,

Woodie

BTW: who leaves their $hit out in their tent to blow away in the wind, especially their passport and money? Not much use for it above basecamp...

well, the money and the passport were mine. you need money on Aconcagua because nowadays everything on this mountain is about money. you can be dead and they will search your pockets first to check what you possess- and dollars are a must as I found out too late. the passport and the money were secured and kept next to me, in a pocket. I will get back with more inside into company's current performance within few days, but the company is not safe. what is written above it's true. I don't intend to damage AP's reputation, my intention is for people to know what is really happening on the mountain, and what to potentially expect from it. we would like to have AP's opinion on this as well. my tent started to collapse, I left my buddy in the tent and went to the guides for help. I'm a healthcare professional, I deal with emergencies all the time, I can objectively say that Wesley was slow to get out of his tent and go to help. he ordered me to stay in their tent. when he returned to his tent- I was with my buddy who came and joined me in the meantime- he told us that he cut the tent because according to him he couldn't get access to my buddy. later on, after discussing with my buddy, apparently he could get access to him. we are not people who didn't use a tent before or at our first trek, my tent buddy is a quite experienced person. as I was not there I can only think, in a nice way, that he panicked. I don't want to accuse him on something else. he and the junior guide came back to their tent with our sleeping bags and double boots. few clothes, including my summit trousers were in the sleeping bag. they came back without. I said it then, and I will say the same now- I don't accuse them of my stuff being lost, but I definitely consider AP unsafe as they sent us with old tents. we had problems from the beginning. and definitely Wesley didn't help at all after everything happened. will write more into this later on.
as a matter of fact- for a company that is doing this since 20 years, and had another client loosing his passport only a week ago- they could advice on certain things on the mountain. they could have said not to take our passports up. I'm paying a company for these reasons, because I don't know the mountain, otherwise I would have gone on my own. customer care, logistics, and safety are poor, but will get back later on with details.

100kmph winds and you're upset that you didn't make it to the top? Sorry, but your post sounds like the rant of the inexperienced.

I have no experience with AP, but I had to comment on the loud party that was going on at Base Camp that night. I also just got back from Aconcagua (unguided) and the amount of noise those people generated was amazing. They were singing, chanting, banging drums, playing some kind of flute instrument, and just generally making all kinds of racket. This went on until 5:30 in the morning. I kind of assumed that the rangers were somehow involved since no one told them to keep it down.

On another topic, I'm not sure why you would NEED cash on the mountain. It certainly is not required anywhere, especially with a guided trip where everything has already been paid for. Sure, you can buy stuff at BC if you want, but if you are prepared, it shouldn't be necessary. Carrying significant amounts of cash with you is rarely a good idea.

I climbed Aconcagua last year with Adventuras Patagonicas (AP) and have to say it was the best climbing experience I have ever had.I have been a climber for for 45 years.I rock climb mainly trad but occasionally when I think my tendons can take a bit more abuse sport climb, I also big wall climb(my partner and I did the first hammer-less accent of Mescalito) I know, big deal.I ice climb and I love mountaineering. I have always climbed with a partner and have never used a guide(except when I did the Matterhorn and the Eiger).So when I got the bug to climb Aconcagua I had heard great things about AP from several of my friends. I signed up with them and climbed Aconcagua last year.They consistently exceeded my expectations in everything. The first thing was the US office manager Bonnie Schwahn. Bonnie is just great,she would answer my unending phone calls and emails and always without delay.She would take you by the hand to have you completely ready before you left for your trip.This is a first class operation ,they have someone to meet you at the airport to take you to the first class accommodations in Mendoza. APs "ground man" Eliel Jatib takes care of everything you need to do once you arrive in Mendoza.He does I'm sure more than what is in his job description.From restaurant suggestions to getting your money exchanged for the best rates to getting your Aconcagua Park Licence/permit,to winery suggestions and things to see and do(when you come down from the mountain), he is just the best .Rodrigo Mujicas the AP Director in my opinion thinks of everything and gives his clients the best of everything for the best chance at a successful ascent of Aconcagua.The meals are always waaay beyond anything I would have guessed possible in the mountains.We had outstanding guides who had the patients of the saints and had everyone of their clients summit (2013 group).We experienced great weather for our entire climb.
This year my wife wanted to do Aconcagua with me.I wanted to do the Polish Direct and she wanted to do the normal finish from the Ameghino approach.I guess from my glowing report on my experience from 2013 she also wanted to see a bit of Argentina and the climbing expedition experience.This year however turned out a bit different from last year.We still had great guides.But the weather was 180 degrees from last year. Sadly we lost our main guide and his assistant early on our expedition. Two clients also left due to illness.So four of our team were gone before we reached Base Camp.
At the time of their leaving the expidition we had one guide.AP also had a second team going up at he same time.We could have easily joined up with this team and probably done fine. Rodrigo however felt strongly that we needed a strong team guide for our own expedition team.So at his great expense he flew in a very seasoned guide who took over the reigns of our expedition.Personally I liked him immediately.immediately. Wes was someone that had an immense amount of mountaineering knowledge and experience. All guides have different personalities and most of them are very opinionated as to the best way to successfully climb a mountain.Most of that comes from their years of experience and learning by their mistakes. They know what works and what doesn't .So as a client you get the benefit of their experience in an abbreviated form. Every day I learn something from him. I continued to learn more about the major differences in Alpine vs Expedition climbing. Wes always gave me straight forward answers to my questions.He would tell us everything he did was for a reason so even though we may not have always quite understood his decisions I always felt very confident that I was in good knowledgeable and experienced hands.
My wife and I made a carry to camp two. The wind was horrible( sorry that's the best word I can use describe it)100 + km. Wes and our assistant guide Felipe brought dinner to all of us in our individual tents (as opposed to the normal, go to the guide tent and get your food) they also did that for breakfast. Unfortunately my wife began to develop HAPE shortly thereafter. By the next morning when Wes came to check on her, she and I had already decided to go down to at least base camp.He had a pulse oximeter with him her oximetry was 70%.At that point he said we needed to go down immediately and he said Felipe will take you down and he will stay with you for as long as it takes to make sure you are well taken care of.He also had scrounged around the camp to find some diamox for my wife to take.As we were getting ready to go he made a special point to come by and tell us how much he hated to see us have to end our expedition.As for my wife and myself our experience with Wes was nothing but a great experience.We were not part of anything that happen to the rest of our group higher up on the mountain.
From the time we arrived in base camp we were in contact with Eliel and Rodrigo for plans to helicopter my wife out. The Base Camp Doc felt her condition was worsening rapidly.Felipe stayed with her and escorted her to the helicopter.After she safely left he found a guide for me to return to Penitents with.It is a park rule that if you come with an expedition you must be escorted by a guide to leave the park.I found out later when I met up with my wife in Penitentes that Eliel had arranged for my wife to stay at the hotel in Penitentes until I arrived.They gave her a room and a meal even though she had no money(our last minute over site). The next day Eliel had arranged for transportation to take us back to Mendoza. Eliel met us at the hotel arranged for a Doctor to see my wife.Rodrigo saw us the next morning. My wife was doing amazingly well compared to how she was 24 hours earlier.He spoke with us for quite a while but left us saying if there was anything we needed to please let him or Eliel know and they would take care of us.
I am not trying to sound snooty when I say that there was quite a disparity in mountaineering experience on our team.We had several very seasoned/experienced climbers and some had little to no real mountaineering experience.
So even though this years experience was completely different from the previous year the Aventuras Patagonicas team was not. They continued to come through for us at every turn,we were never disappointed. We are already making plans for another attempt next year. Adventuras Patagonicas has my complete confidence and I will continue to use them and I fully recommend them above any other guiding service.

We apologize for the experience Mihai and Claudia had on Aconcagua. They went through a epic windstorm and certainly endures difficult condition on the mountain! It is good to remind people that Aconcagua is a high altitude mountain (6962 m or 22,834 ft) where conditions can change in a matter of seconds and in which the lives of people, who wish to climb it, are under certain risk.

As Mihai mentioned in his letter, on the approach hike to Base Camp, the Lead Guide of his expedition, Augusto and an assistant guide were kicked out of the Aconcagua Park. It was a misunderstanding on the part of the park ranger who required our lead guide to leave the park and a very confusing situation for all. Augusto has guided for over 30 years! This situation left six clients with one guide. At the same time we had another expedition following the same itinerary, with eight clients and three guides, instead of joining the two expeditions together and leaving fourteen clients with four guides, compress the team and decreasing the ration, Aventuras Patagonicas decided to send in one of our guides, Wesley, by helicopter. Flying this guide in to replace Augusto cost AP $2100 USD which AP paid complete. Wesley is one of the most experienced of Aconcagua guides. It took 2 days to get Wesley in to Base Camp because the chopper could not fly sooner than this due to weather. To fly into Base Camp weather needs to be excellent.

Augusto has been guiding for more than 30 years. He and his guides picked out the tents. if he considers the tents to be good it was because the tents were 100% functional.

When the expedition got to Camp 2 they faced three days of 120 km/h winds with gusts of more than 150 km/h. In that storm the wind destroyed numerous tents of several expedition companies. New tents, old tents, Mountain Hardwear, North Face or Black Diamond, all brands of tents can collapse under those kinds of winds. Unfortunately on high mountain expeditions this type of situation is a matter of luck if your tent will resist or not and it’s common to have tents destroyed. But what is not based on luck is that the members of that expedition are safe at home with all of their fingers. It is because of Wesley who kept these people safe in Aconcagua’s worst conditions, conditions that can harm or kill person in minutes.

Claudia’s decision to leave her passport and money, wrap in a piece of clothing, in a tent pocket, was just a poor and unfortunate decision.

It is simply not true that the team was without food at any time during the expedition. As a matter of facts they actually gave food to the porters to take down. There were times when the wind created difficulties for the guides to light the stoves, and perform ordinary cooking duties, during this times the clients agreed to eat out of theirs snacks bags. Difficult cooking conditions existed and the guides did the best they could.

When they came down to Base Camp they had to pay porters to bring down all the equipment , Aventuras Patagonicas paid half of these porters costs, this was USD $500, expenses that we decided to cover to help the group. This is something that Mihai forgot to mention. It is obvious that the equipment had to be carry down the mountain, by the members of the group or by paying porters
Once at Base Camp (Plaza Argentina) they had a nice 3-course dinner, as usual, and the next day egg and hot cakes for breakfast, then they started a one and a half day return trek down the Vacas Valley to Penitentes. Kitchen stuff at Base Camp gave them sandwiches, tuna pie with egg, snacks, fruit and cereal for breakfast. It is not true to say that you spent 3 days with no food until Penitentes!

Summit day on Aconcagua is a difficult and a possibly dangerous day. Cold injuries, altitude sickness, mental and physical fatigue and other hazards amount, to sizable risks. If an experience guide tells that you have to go back to High Camp, it is because he believes that you are no able to rich the summit and descend safely. This are difficult decision for a guide to make, if that decision is made, the guide is looking for you safety.
Mihic you did not go above Chopper Camp (Camp 2), so it seems inappropriate for you to comment erroneously in regart to what occurred after Camp 2, where you left.

When you sign up for an Aconcagua Expedition with Aventuras Patagonicas you haven’t purchase a summit. You have purchased an adventure, which by definitions means the outcome is unknown. Our guides attempted to guide you safely through this experience and this is exactly what Aventuras Patagonicas did.

Aventuras Patagonicas

I’m glad that Patagonicas replied to these comments, everyone have the right to reply and express their opinions.

I will start with Rodrigo's emails just to clarify what actually happened. Nobody contested Augusto's experience as a guide, weeks before the trek I read one of his interviews about Argentina's mountaineering situation, I was glad to have an experienced guide. Face to face he came across as a quite serious guide and attentive to his clients' needs. However, although it was noble of him to give a chance to a client to continue her trek, I could not understand his decision to take her on a mule to a higher camp and risk his license. and the fate of our group as well, although it seems that he hasn't been warned before about the outcomes of his actions. we were waiting for more than 1 hour for his decision, various options were mentioned, and one of them was to let her at that camp to rest for the day.If she will improve she would reach us at the base camp on our rest day, if not she could easily leave- situation solved. The rangers decided that Augusto's decision was unsafe, and kicked him out the trek next day from the higher camp. as it turned out later on one of the girls had H1N1. Augusto took his wife with him, she was the second guide, so we were left with a junior guide- Felipe. My understanding is that when we work we are not husband and wife anymore, so really the second guide should have not left with Augusto. their family relationship is not a client's problem. this is why we were left with one guide. The rangers did their job, it is not their responsibility to ensure that we have a lead guide on the trek, it's company's responsibility. we were at low altitude, we were safe at the time. Felipe did a wonderful job leading us to the Base camp. actually, my personal opinion is that Felipe is the only one who did a very good job on the mountain.

Rodrigo flu in Wesley, if I remember well it took 3 days for him to reach the base camp, possibly because of the weather. Wesley told us that he came down the mountain 1 day before, without doubt I was thinking that he must be tired. he pushed for the communal gear to be separate from our individual gear, reassuring us that he will carry loads on his own to the higher camps so " he will save us money". he said this on repetitive times. now, we are talking about a person with more than 20 years experience. I'm doing my job since more than 20 years as well, I have enough experience to know what to expect in the future. he never carried anything up to any camp, but he knew he is not going to do it also. They knew the weather reports at all times. we paid more than if we would have chosen to have our individual load, but he didn't want to carry anything, so here you go.

As I mentioned before, the tents are not safe, and I'm saying this on evidence. At the base camp even Wesley said that he doesn't know how we ended up with these tents. When I asked who chose them he said that is Augusto who did it. we were 8 in our group- the two girls who were sick and left the trek after 2 days, deflyboy with his wife- they had their own tent, myself and another guy, and mnovac and another guy- we were using company's tents. Augusto took a back up tent as well. mnovac tent's didn't work from the second day- they had problems with the zippers- blue skies and good weather, under 3000 m. they used the backup tent instead. on the second day of the trek I saw my lower part of my tent punctured, I found 3 small holes in it. the holes were there before our trek. I was thinking that we need a bit of luck in this trek, but it was nothing else that I could do about it. at the base camp I found our tent's vestibular upper part teared apart- about 15 cm. the weather was not bad, very mild wind and a bit of snow. Wesley repaired it with duct tape...we had also problems with the zippers from camp 1. at the base camp he also repaired mnovac's tent. I phoned few shops in England and asked for technical advice. All of them told me that the tents are too old if the zippers didn't work and I found the tent teared apart. HOW CAN I CONCLUDE THAT THE TENTS ARE SAFE AND GOOD ENOUGH FOR ACONCAGUA's 100 KM+ WINDS, WHEN THEY DIDN'T LAST IN GOOD WEATHER UNDER 4000 M ALTITUDE? It's very simple to comment that this is happening on a mountain in bad weather, however the tents were malfunctioning at low altitude and in good weather. none of the clients saw another tent destroyed at camp 1 or 2, we talked about it. Wesley reassured us that is fine, so we went to camp 1, and later to camp 2. mnovac tent was even more malfunctioning from camp 1. at camp 1 we had around 60 km/h wind.

regarding my decision to keep my passport and money in a pocket tent next to me- it proved that it was an unfortunate decision indeed. it was next to me in case I need to get out, and in dry environment. but nobody expected Wesley to cut the tent. we intended to save the tent, it was still up when I felt for help. my buddy told us that although the tent collapsed in the meantime, Wesley could get access to him. as I said I don't blame Wesley for what happened, but I definitely blame AP for old tents. it's not a matter of luck in poor weather when the tents don't perform in good weather. and something else- we have been told that Augusto picks up the best tents- if these were the best tents, what can I think about the rest of the other tents? that are even worse? I can definitely say that the guides tents were new in both groups, but clients' tents were overused and underperforming. something else that didn't help- although we paid porters tips on top of the usual payment ( Wesley told us that we must give tips if we want the best spots for the tents, and ahead of other clients) we ended up having our tents placed at the most exposed site at camp 2. Wesley didn’t say a word about it. His tent was very well protected though. We talked between us but it was too late, we couldn’t find another spot to move the tents. There were 2 more tents, independent of AP, at the same height, both tents were fine when both AP tents were destroyed. But they were in very good condition.


If I was Rodrigo I wouldn't defend Wesley, we know they are family friends- it took him minutes to get out of this tent, I had to prompt him on several occasions to hurry up. life does matter on the mountain, but he was slow. Felipe went even at least 1 minute after him. my buddy told me that it took at least 10 minutes for Wesley to reach him. our tent was may be 7 m far away, if not less, it might have taken me around 1 minute the most to get in their tent because they wouldn't open the zippers on my side, I had to move around.

because my summit trousers were lost as well ( Felipe came back with my sleeping bag without the few items that were inside) I was forced to get down the mountain from camp 2, although I didn't have a problem either mentally, physically or altitude sickness. it was very disappointing, but I couldn't not notice that Wesley didn't care at all about it. in fact he asked for our poo bags to add them for payment down the mountain instead of ensuring that we have water and food until the base camp. we left without water and food from camp 2 to the base camp. we had few clients from other groups offering some tea before we left, and help to find my passport, but not Wesley. there are clients from other groups who even emailed me and advised me to ask for a refund because of AP's malfunctioning equipment. also, they were quite surprised that no effort was made my Wesley to try and help, and show at least some compassion. from a guide with so many years of experience it was a very poor performance on this occasion.

to reply to Rodrigo's comment about his 500$ payment- Wesley instructed Felipe to make us pay for the communal gear that came down from camp 2 to the base camp- 3 bags if I remember well. At the base camp, to my surprise - we found guides ‘equipment! double boots and some other stuff! we were paying for a guide's equipment! I was shocked, and I told mmnovac and to the other guy who came down as well. I have the pictures. mmnovac phoned Rodrigo, I didn't listen to their discussion. Rodrigo decided to pay for half of it. If mnovac wouldn't phone Rodrigo, Elial would have not give us any money down in Mendoza. I can say this 100%.

food wise- I'm not a big eater in general although I was quite hungry on this mountain for some reason. Felipe came with food to our tent, it's true. it's not scientific calorie counting food as they advertised, but for me it was not a problem. I ate whatever they gave us, Felipe was a good cook considering what he had as ingredients. and I'm not vegetarian either. it's true that we came down from the Base Camp for 2 days only with 2 small sandwiches, and a very small piece of pie. some sweets and chocolates, an apple, but that's all. the food quantity was not appropriate for 2 big men, I managed somehow and ate the sweets when I was hungry. we paid at Penitences for our lunch, we were very hungry.

deflyboy- as you also told us, you did have a good experience with the company the year before, but in good weather, straightforward conditions. you left from camp 1 because your wife was sick. in my opinion, you left late, second day, but it's not for me to judge this. you are a physician and your wife is a health care professional as well, you don't mention that your wife had congestive heart failure and her hand was swollen up as she was sitting in a hotel room in Penitentes whilst she was waiting for you. practice is different in every country I presume, but for me it would have been concerning to wait in a hotel room with congestive heart failure. we were loaded with Diamox, Wesley didn't come to ask for it, we had enough for 10 more people. none of you asked for Nifedipine instead. Wesley was wrong, and for this matter also unsafe, when he was looking to give Diamox in HAPE. I had a discussion with him, unrelated to your case, he told me that he never use Nipedinine even if the person has HAPE. it's very wrong. there are studies who shows that Diamox is beneficial as prophylactic in patients who previously developed HAPE, but it's not the treatment of choice in HAPE.

Elial definitely helped me down in Mendoza. Although when we phoned from the base camp asking for a solution to get out from there by helicopter instead of trekking down for 2 more days, he bluntly told us to sell our equipment. the helicopter evacuation cost $1800, we didn't have enough money, but we would have paid by card or pay cash down in Mendoza. in the situation that we were we didn't need to hear that, however he apologized later on. he helped me with getting a paper from the Argentinian authorities attesting what happened with my passport. that paper was vital to me because I'm working in the most conservative country in the world, it's impossible to get a visa transferred on a new passport without official documents. I was extremely concerned about not getting that paper whilst I was still in Argentina as Elial was making lots of phone calls but not getting anywhere really. after what happened in the mountain, I didn't trust the company at all, I was asking him a lot about what is going on. he was telling me that everything is fine, but it didn't seem to be to me. he told me that Rodrigo told him not to help me anymore if I'm too much of a headache, or something similar. what happened in the mountain would have not happen if we would have had good tents, it was unprofessional of Rodrigo to make those comments. I eventually got the paper, after Felipe and one of Elial's cousin came as witnesses. I don't own any thanks to Rodrigo for this matter.

organization - as a company that is doing this since more than 20 years does it hurt to advice clients not to take important documents on the mountain, considering that only a week before one of their clients also lost his passport? I climbed lots of mountains in my life but I never been in these winds before. cutting my tent was not a situation that I predicted or expected being honest, it's simple- advice on a copy if people are concerned about identity. I was not the only one with my passport with me, it could have happened to anyone. money- Argentina is a particular country with regards to dollars. it's hard to write a small notice in your papers that dollars are a MUST on Aconcagua and make sure to get them before we enter Argentina, because it's actually IMPOSSIBLE to buy them over there? I don’t think so. I was already in Buenos Aires without dollars. Although I researched about the country I didn’t come across to their financial situation. Pesos to dollar exchange rate is nearly double, it is just terrible. AP sent an email 4 days before the trek to ensure that we bring dollars in. people were in airports already, it was very late to make such announcements. Rodrigo brought me $1000 after I made an online transfer.

Oxygen cylinder- in reply to a last year AP's Tripadvisor review - on the summit day one of their client was left nearly unconscious by his guide so he could take another client up to the summit ( rescued by other trekkers)- I enquired if they carry a small oxygen cylinder with them or not. Alexandra Chung sent me an email saying that “yes, don’t you worry, we have oxygen cylinder as well as oxygen saturation monitors”. They have the monitors but not an oxygen cylinder. We have been told that oxygen cylinder is only at the base camp. If the weather is so bad and people are stuck on the mountain, oxygen can save someone’s life. They don’t have one. They already had an incident with that client already.

To reply to the other comments- people need money for porters and to pay their poo down the mountain, $9 /kg and up. Porters are costing up to 380 $ if I remember well, from camp 2 to 3, I don’t remember all the cost, but in total it’s about $1000 /20 kg for all the camps and down.

Nobody can do anything without guide’s decision, bob burd you should know this as an experienced climber.

The party at the base camp- no men, either guide or climber went out to stop the party. The rangers were partying as well. It was very late in the morning when that guy stopped throwing rocks in the toilets. Wesley was not happy when I asked him where he was all night during the “show”. It was not my responsibility to stop a party. from the base camp to camp 1 it's not exactly the easiest part of the trek, it's actually the most difficult day apart of the summit, so I was not looking forward to go up half asleep because I couldn't sleep the night before. attention is also needed, because of rocks falling, it's unsafe to have people tired on the way up. No guide from any group went to tell them at least to party a bit far away. I was there to climb a mountain not to party and drink alcohol until late hours in the morning.

As I heard from others ( people are still emailing each other ) nobody above camp 1 was happy with Wesley. I already left Mendoza but the groups complained that he demoralized people, took them down the mountain too early, didn’t give break time to drink water. 1 person made it to the summit with the other lead guide from the other group.

No, I didn’t buy a summit, but at least I could have had a chance to try. Thanks to AP I couldn’t even try, although I was perfectly fit for it. Regardless of Rodrigo’s comments, their tents are not safe for Aconcagua’s weather. Because of this, the company put my life at risk as well.

P.S. Apologies for making this a bit harder to read, I'm writing in a hurry, I really don't have time to be online nowadays. Yes, I'm not a native English speaker, I edited the text as far as I could spot a mistake.

There are always 2 sides to a story!

Thank you for your comments and for recognizing that Augusto was trying to help a sick client to give that person a chance at continuing the expedition. This does show dedication, client concern and is certainly worth commending. Although there are always 2 sides to a story.

Unfortunately Augusto did not follow a Park Service communication protocol with one of the Rangers on the approach, which the Ranger felt was reason enough to require him to leave the Park. This left your team without a lead guide, certainly a serious dilemma without precedent. Augusto has guided for over 30 years!
Later the Ranger apologized to Augusto, which did not help your team. AP had to find a qualified and experienced lead guide, with no advance warning, to replace Augusto. Lead Guides do not grow on trees, nor do they hang around Mendoza waiting for a guide to be pulled off of an expedition. Lead Guides are committed to expeditions sometimes months ahead of time. Our AP guide Wesley Bunch (a.k.a. “Wes”), who has years of experience guiding on Aconcagua for Aventuras Patagonicas, was in Mendoza preparing for a private AP expedition he had been assigned to guide and resting between guiding expeditions, when he got the news from Rodrigo that he was to be flown in to replace Augusto!

Wes stopped preparing for his private AP expedition and plugged into your expedition as best he could. Your team was already in Base Camp. For 2 days Wes could not fly into Base Camp because of weather, which has to be quite good in order to safely fly in by helicopter.

Rodrigo, the owner of AP, could have merged your expedition with Mili’s expedition, another AP Aconcagua team, which was also on the mountain at the same time, but instead, he reassigned one of his most experienced guides, Wes Bunch, to guide your expedition, who was at the time in the midst of preparing to guide another expedition. AP absorbed the expense and flew Wes in, as soon as was possible under the circumstances, to meet up with and take over your expedition. Fortunately your team was safely situated in Base Camp. It was an unfortunate situation but Rodrigo did the best he could to replace your guide with no advance notice!!

We appreciate your feedback about tents and lunches. Rodrigo will make sure to remind guides they need to thoroughly inspect each tent before their expedition and to pack meals according to AP standards. We appreciate your bringing this to our attention. Rodrigo expects AP guides to be packing food and equipment to certain standards and we appreciate hearing about it, if that’s not the case. Our South American guides tend to pack lighter breakfasts and lunches and we remind them every season that our North American clients like big breakfasts and substantial lunches. Our guides are in charge of their own packing and have a great deal of experience doing so. This is a good reminder that we need to perform spot checks on our guides to make sure their packing is up to AP standards. Thank you for your comments!

Aconcagua is hard on gear. Wind, sun, precipitation, and clients are very hard on our tents (and other equipment)! We replace tents as often as possible. I personally sent down several new tents this November with our guides.

Rodrigo is “militant” about how to properly zip a tent, and I know how easily tent zippers can go awry with clients who are not careful when closing their tent. It’s a delicate and vital process, especially when the tents are loaded with gear and people, fingers are cold, people are in a hurry to get in and out of a tent, or the weather is bad… The art of tent zipping is often not carefully practiced by people who do not OWN their tent. Often clients have no idea how to carefully zip a tent and often force the zippers. Perhaps I need to send a reminder to clients to be careful when zipping their tents!

Windstorms can easily destroy tents and this seems to happen every season, not because of a tent's construction, but because of the intensity of the wind and wind pelted stones. The tents get weather beaten quickly up there, and often look quite rugged by the end of a season. Imagine bringing your own tent up Aconcagua 4-5x in a row within one season. It would get a lot of wear and tear and might even be trashed by that time.

Apparently from your own comments, nothing Wes could have done would have satisfied you. You made up your mind from the start that you did not like him. Wes and Augusto are quite different yes, but they are both experienced Aconcagua guides. I was quite disappointed to hear from our guides and other members of your team that you chose to be disrespectful of Wes’ leadership and condescending to him. This was already a difficult situation. It is too bad you felt it necessary to make the situation worse with a negative attitude. Wes was in the middle of packing for a private AP expedition when he was asked by Rodrigo to take over your team, which he did not pack food or equipment for, and did not know what Augusto had already covered with your team. Atleast give him some credit for that. I am sure this was a difficult situation for everyone and not an easy one for Wes to drop into. I am sorry you felt you needed to dump your frustration of the situation on Wes, who certainly did not deserve your show of disrespect! I apologize that we did not have a clone of Augusto to send in for you, and it was at the same time quite fortunate Rodrigo was able to find a highly qualified and experienced guide to guide your expedition on such short notice when your expedition was already underway!!

I can understand why you related to Augusto better, having met you in person, since he was closer to your age, and perhaps more “your style”. But was it necessary to give your guide Wes such a hard time?! Wes did not create this situation, he was there to make the best out of a difficult situation. You could have atleast shown him that respect. He has a great deal of experience on the mountain. I had my own firsthand experience of your condescending manner directed at me, before your expedition and understand how this could have been a problem for Wes, if you were unwilling to respect his authority as lead guide from the get go.

Wes is an experienced Aconcagua guide, and has been through many serious windstorms on the mountain with clients. Wes reported to us that the windstorm on your expedition was the most dangerous storm he had encountered on Aconcagua.

That being said it must have been very difficult and possibly dangerous to attempt to light a stove in that extreme weather. Surely you must have realized this?! It sounded like a terrifying storm! I am sorry that you and your team had to go through this storm. I am sure the storm was hard on all of you and exhausting to go through. Thank God that everyone on your team got through this storm safely. Hopefully everyone on the mountain got through this storm safely.

As far as honest, you are not in a position to judge. You asked me to withhold extremely important medical information from your guides. I was shocked. If you did not want your guides to know this information, then why did you tell me?! Do you think we ask this information for entertainment value? I could not, with a clean conscience keep this information from your guides. They need to be aware of your medical background in case of a medical emergency!! I asked you more than once to provide us with an OK from your specialist, information you never provided. When I informed Rodrigo of your medical history, you and I had a couple of email/phone interactions which made me very uncomfortable. I almost had you pulled from the expedition, when you did this. Previous to this, when I had met you in person, checked your gear, met your family at Neptune’s and saw first hand that you had plenty of experience for the climb, I thought you would be an asset to a team and perfectly capable of the climb. After this encounter with you about your medical information I was quite concerned. This information is for your guides who need to be aware of your medical history in case of a medical emergency on the mountain. Why would you withhold such vital medical information? Your attempt to hide this information was a serious red flag to me.

The fact that you had a health history does not preclude you from climbing the mountain, but on a guided expedition,the fact that you did not provide further medical documentation should have been enough for us to remove you from the team.

With this in mind, I was quite glad to hear that you were able to get as high as you did on the mountain, despite the windstorm (and your health history), and quite relieved when you were safely off the mountain. Every season we have clients who do not recognize their limits. It is quite dangerous and the main reason a guide will take the decision to have a client descend. Our guides have the experience to recognize whether a person appears to have the stamina to ascend and descend on summit day. Sometimes clients do not show symptoms of weakness until higher on the mountain, which can be life threatening and a serious challenge to descend a client when they are no longer under their own physical power. Summit day is an extremely strenuous day and a great deal of stamina is needed for this day for both the ascent and the descent. I can only imagine how 2-3 days sitting out an extremely serious windstorm, serious enough not to be able to use a stove, may have weakened members of your team. If your guide asked anyone to go down, he had a very good reason for doing so. It sounded like you chose to descend of your own accord, which sounded like a wise choice to me, and nothing to do with your guide.

As far as summit success. I doubt Rodrigo is claiming 100% summit success this season. That would be a little ridiculous. We have had some sick clients and the weather has not been too great on the mountain this season. Although a few years ago we had an excellent season where most of our clients summited and this is what he is referring to. Conditions permitting we do have an excellent rate of success and a good safety record as well. We are a small company, with a long guiding history on Aconcagua and that is something to be proud of! If you spoke with Rodrigo, previous to your expedition, he could have discussed this in more detail with you. I do not adhere to graphs and statistics. I just want our clients to have a safe expedition and to climb Aconcagua provided heir health and conditions allow! No one can guarantee you the summit, and the weather on your expedition certainly did not strengthen your team.

As far as one of your teammates joining Mili’s team, under the circumstances, this was a necessary logistical decision, which worked quite well, since Mili’s team was following a similar itinerary. Wes was an integral guide on the private AP expedition and had to return to join this team as they began their climb. There was no one to replace him. Mili is a great guide, so transferring the remaining teammember, was what needed to be done here, logistically. If Augusto had been able to stay with your team, none of this would have been necessary.

I doubt Wes was discouraging people to go for the summit, and if he was, he had good reason and he knew who appeared to have the strength for both a serious summit attempt AND THE RETURN DESCENT. There are always 2 sides to a story!

Speaking of billionaire climbers, this woman had an excellent attitude and we can all learn from her. Sure, being a billionaire might be ok, but not being one does not mean we can’t have a positive attitude.

As far as noise disturbance in Base Camp, it sounded like they were actually the park rangers! Argentinians are notorious for partying late into the night, although this does not excuse them from being extremely rude in BC when others are trying to sleep. Your guide may have been sleeping through this. What is wrong with Claudia asking them to be quiet? Why did someone wait until 5 am to tell them to “BE QUIET”??? is my question and why was that up to your guide, who was probably asleep? Anyone could have gone over and asked them to be quiet - in Spanish or English. Sounded like inconsiderate park rangers. Your team certainly did not have a good experience of the Park Rangers on this expedition!!

As far as losing weight on Aconcagua, I have referred to Aconcagua as “South American diet camp”. It is true, you did not need to lose weight, although it would be unusual to gain or maintain weight on a climbing expedition. That is what Base Camp and Mendoza are for!

As far as SAT phones. we have one on each expedition. The guides protect the SAT phones from weather, impact etc in order to make sure they are operating for an emergency and the check-in to Mendoza Base. I am not familiar with the specifics on your team’s SAT phone, but you did have extreme weather on this trip so they may have been restricting use of the phone due to this.

I am sorry to hear that you came away with a negative impression of your trip, although we do appreciate constructive criticism. I was hoping you would have had a much better experience on Aconcagua with AP. We have no control over your choice to exercise a negative attitude on your climb. A positive attitude on an expedition is extremely important, especially in a stressful situation, as is demonstration of respect for your leadership, all part of the expedition experience.

BTW, I had almost no contact with Claudia C, unfortunately, she cancelled and rejoined her expedition a couple of times before the climb started, so I was not sure if she was committed to her climb and finally lost track of her when things got busy. She never contacted me with questions about her expedition, which makes it hard to get the info out to clients when they don’t ask questions. In contrast, I had much more contact with MNovac, and actually enjoyed meeting him and his sons, so I feel qualified to answer his post, and I wish him well in his endeavors.

they could have said not to take our passports up. I'm paying a company for these reasons, because I don't know the mountain, otherwise I would have gone on my own.

A guide needs to tell you where to keep your passport?

I doubt any "good" tents were destroyed unless they were improperly set up.

I was not there (obviously) , but if the post is accurate about the wind speed, I disagree. I've seen good tents damaged by high winds and plenty of experienced mountaineers have had damaged tents in similar winds. I would suspect that many good tents used for an entire season on a mountain such as Aconcagua will eventually sustain some sort of damage.

As to the rest of the various posts, I cannot comment.