22 Days Aconcagua Climbing Expedition

Our program reaches two Andes icons, Aconcagua the highest mountain in South America and the Southernmost 6000 m summit in the world, mt Marmolejo (6108m). We climb Marmolejo to have the best possible acclimatization process before try Aconcagua. Aconcagua is the highest Mountain along the Andes Range and also the highest outside Himalaya. Named by the Quechua culture as the White Sentinel, similar to what was called by the Aymara culture who named it The Stone Sentine.

Day 1: Airport / Hostel transfer

This day we meet at the hostel or in our agency to review the itinerary, guides
presentation and check the personal equipment.

Day 2: Santiago / Baños Morales / Trekking San Francisco Glacier

This will be the first trekking day and you will also have the first snow and ice encounter.

Day 3: Baños Morales / El Cabrerio / Base camp

We head from Baños Morales to Cabrerio area at the San José de Maipo Valley endings. Once there, we load up the horses and then we head to our base camp (3.600masl).

Day 4: BC / Camp 1

We move to camp 1 (Plateau), place where we’ll be able to see for the first time
Marmolejo’s summit.

Day 5: Camp 1 / Camp 2

Slow ascent to camp 2

Day 6: Camp 2 / Camp high

We’ll set up a third camp at 5100m at the very glacier itself (Marmolejo glacier).

Day 7: Camp high / climb Marmolejo / Camp 2

In this day, we’ll reach for Marmolejo summit peak, which is at 6.108m, and then
head back to base camp.

Day 8: Camp 2 / Base camp

We move to base camp with all gear.

Day 9: Base Camp / Santiago

From base camp, we'll head right back to Santiago.

Day 10: Resting in Santiago

On this day the climber is free to visit Santiago and rest.

Day 11: Santiago / Mendoza

We will meet at the office 18:00 to prepare luggages and equipment in our 4wd truck
and drive by nigth to Mendoza.

Day 12: Mendoza / Penitentes

The day before we was driving from Santiago to Mendoza, so this morning we will
buy the climbing permit. At noon we'll be ready with this paperwork, then we head
to Penitentes village to spend the night at 3200m.

Day 13: Penitentes / Confluencia

We’ll head towards Confluencia Camp where we’ll acclimatize in order to not force
the body into critical conditions and thus have optimal chances of success.

Day 14: Confluencia / Plaza de Mulas

We’ll start the approach towards Plaza de Mulas where we’ll set up the base camp.
We’ll stay there for a couple of days.

Day 15: Plaza de Mulas / Nido de Cóndores / Plaza de Mulas

We’ll trek to the next camp “Nido de Cóndores”. Then we’ll head back to base
camp to spend the night. This is a key process to our expedition because we’ll get to a
5,300 m and then we’ll head back to sleep at 4.260mts, which is optimal for
acclimatisation work.

Day 16: Plaza de Mulas / Nido de Cóndores

This day we trek to Nido de Condores camp, and stay there.

Day 17: Nido de Cóndores / Colera Camp

From this point we’ll be at just one camp to the final camp, Colera Camp. This camp
is placed over the 5.900mts. We’ll leave early morning in order to set up this camp
and then spend the night at that altitude. This camping is due to modifications
according to the lead guide criteria which will take the possibility of reach summit or
not from the Nido de Cóndores camp.

Day 18: Colera Camp / Aconcagua Summit / Colera Camp

This should be the most important day of our expedition, since we’ll take it to the
Aconcagua’s summit on this day. From Berlin camp to the summit is about a
1.000mts upwards which can be overpass after 10 to 12 hours hike.

Day 19: Extra Summit day

This give us a extra possibility for the summit

Day 20 Colera camp / Plaza de Mulas

We’ll take down the high camp and head back to base camp (Plaza de Mulas).

Day 21: Plaza de Mulas / Santiago Hostel

This will be our last day in the Park, in which we will take all our equipment in a 7
hours walk to the park entrance, where will be waiting our transport.

Day 22: Hotel / santiago airport / End of our services (OUT)

The whole group will be driven to the airport.

The itinerary described above is a guideline.

Be aware that some changes might be done during the expedition due to weather issues. If the expedition is compromised due to a weather condition like snow storms with intense cold, or to an acclimatization difficulty from one of the members of the expedition, the chief-guide has the obligation to modify or even abort the whole expedition program if needed.

The above is for you to be aware that if something goes wrong you need to understand and
(fully) cooperate with the guide, since any wrong or “too-late” decision might be fatal.

Open Expedition: This expedition is shared with other climbers. The group consists
with a minimum of 2 and maximum of 09 climbers + guides.

Fixed departure dates: February 04th, 2019

Highlights and Facts 

• Acclimatization in the last huge 6000 of the south of the world “Mt Marmolejo”
• Itinerary perfectly designed to conquer the summit of Aconcagua
• View of the most important peaks of the Central Andes, as Tupungato, Mercedario
• and Junkal
• Porters are included in Marmolejo to carry the common gear to high camps,
• without extra cost
• 2 days off to replenish energy and wash clothes before climbing Aconcagua
• Visit the most famous valley near Santiago “Cajon del Maipo”, where we make a
• trekking
• We will travel by night from Santiago to Mendoza to optimize rest and transfer time
• Santiago airport has the best connectivity to airlines of Europe and North America
• Expedition’s schema
• Program length: 22 days
• Altitude: 6962 m / 22615 ft
• Location: Santiago, Chile y Mendoza, Argentina
• Slope: 4500 m / 14764 ft from Punta de Vacas
• Season: November to March
• Difficulty: This is not a technical track, but it is physically challenging. It
• requires crampons and ice-axe (piolet)
• First ascent: 1897 by Mathias Zubriggen and Edward Fitzgerald (sz)
• Expedition Team size: max 9 climbers + the mountain guides
• Itinerary and services (per day)