Tom Jagger Trip Report (Posted at http://www.rogerwendell.com with permission from Tom, himself, on 02-01-2004). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Climbing Aconcagua with the Colorado Mountain Club. Aconcagua sits just east of the Ande's crest within the province of Mendoza, Argentina. It is 22,864' or 6962 m high, being the tallest mountain outside the Himalaya uplift in the central region of central Asia. It boasts a walkup route that attracts several thousand experienced climbers a year. The route takes 2 weeks total time to do from the entrance to the Aconcogua Provincial park in Argentina. The peak is about 32 degrees south of the equator, so the best climbing season is in January-February. The peak boasts its own weather with lightning extreme winds and extreme cold even in summer. Our trip started on January 5th from Denver, landing in Mendoza Argentina after 24 hrs. We used Lan Chile. You can get quicker flights going Denver-Miami-Santiago-Mendoza but we went Denver-LA-Santiago-Mendoza. We spent the first few days getting permits at Mendoza and traveling to Puenta Del Inca (Bridge of the Inca's) where the road ends at 9,000' and the trail begins (up the road 2.5km at the entrance station). Here we stayed in a nice tourist hotel. We used the services of Aymara out of Mendoza. They provided meals, transportation, mules up to base camp. Anyway on Friday January 9th we started up the mountain. The whole region is arid, with few trees, just towering mountains. It is the bleakest country side I have every seen. We hiked 3.7mi to Confluencia, for a night of acclimatization. The weather was warm 72 F or so, with a nice sunset. We started for Plaza de Mulas the next day with sunny skies and light winds. The hike to PDM was long and gradual following and crossing the Horcones river three or more times. Here tennis shoes came in handy! We made it to PDM at 14,400' Saturday Afternoon. We pitched tents and rested. On Sunday we visted the refugio across the river to make phone calls and buy cokes, except those of us on Diamox. It was especially nice to be at altitude, the night skies were terrific the porta poty needed some major interior decorating! So no what, we are at base camp getting two (one?) full meal in the evening. We had soup, mystery meat and dessert. For breakfast its hot water, cereal and toast with butter. The view of the west side of Aconcagua is magnificent, especially at sunset, where I took a few pictures. The sun went down at 9pm but we lost it about 8pm. It was 20F at night and 50F during the day. The fist hump day was Monday January 12th, with a climb from PDM to Nido Coridillares (Nest of Condors), at 18,265' (as my GPS and other sources put it, we have it that the guide book is 600' off!). This was an 3850' climb with 60 lbs of cached food and fuel, since Nido is our upper camp. It was steep, but switched back. We crossed a field of Penitentes initially on the way up. Now we rested on Tuesday, that evening our last at PDM we had a snow storm with about 2 inches of snow. This was the first sign that the weather was changing. A wet system was moving in from the NE and covering the area with warm, but wet weather. We got water from the pools next to the glacier stream. It was cold, clear and clean. Now, on Wednesday, we moved camp to Canada. We were able to get water from the runoff of the Penitentes (extreme snow cups). We set up camp. No sooner had we set up camp that a thunderstorm with winds and snow came in. During a lull, I went over to take some pictures and my hand held of rock, sedimentary, gave way and I fell cutting my hand badly. I have recovered, but the cuts on my fingers made it difficult to put on, zip up or take off things. The storm pinned us at Canada. There was no humor here, we had thought to bring one day supply of food, but we needed two days! So on Friday we moved up to Nido, and set up camp just before a storm came in. I had not slept well, and had an anxiety attack brought on by lack of sleep, lack of oxygen and lack of water. We could not get water on the way out since the stream froze, so we had to melt snow, even at Nido, though there were some ponds nearby. Nido is a large flat plain, actually a pass, with the mountain to the South East. As in PDM the sun did not cross over the mountain to warm us up until 9:15am. In the morning the temperature would drop to 0 and warm up to about 30F during the day. It felt very hot during the day, as the sun was almost overhead, and it was cold as soon as the clouds came in and the wind started to blow. Again it snowed all night Friday and all day Saturday, the blizzard, they called it came in. In fact, in our initial carry to Nido, the ground was bare, now it was covered with a foot of snow in places. We talked to the rangers who had a base nearby on when to climb, and they suggested Monday. So we waited out Sunday, which turned out to be a rather nice sunny day with only a few clouds in the afternoon, for Monday, which started out clear and very cold. Summit day started cold with temperatures at -10F, we surmised. We had on almost all our clothes, three layers on the ottom four on top with hat and headlamps at 5am. We started with 10 people, of 11, and by Berlin two were turned back, since the required pace to summit was too fast for them. We now had 8 people, a large group. It was now clear and ight, but no sun. We climbed passed Berlin 19,600' and white rocks 20,600' to Independencia at 21,000'. Here the sun came in and shined on us. We had a nice climb to 21,150' the start of the traverse at 10:00am, and reached the bottom of the Canaleta at 11:30 am. It was very warm here, and many people left cache at the base here. We then slowly trudged up to the summit reaching it about 2:30-3:15pm slowed by the massive number of other hikers, who waited for this day to climb. The summit was warm and the winds were light (N-10, 15F). We started down at 3:20 pm. I glissaded and plunged stepped back to the rock at 4pm, where I noticed that I had lost my camera in the Canaleta. I decided not to go look for it since it would take an hour to find it if at all. The return back was enshrouded in snow and fog, as a storm came up the valley. It materialized in only 1:30 hrs. We got safely back taking lefts to get us to Berlin and avoid the false polish traverse. There are two possible turn offs to the camps here. We then got to Nido at about 6pm. A quick descent. I was so tired I could not get my boots off. I drank a quart of water and went to bed. The return to PDM was without water as my stove failed to light an MSR XKG, it was very windy. We used porters to carry tent and sleeping bags for 70 dollars. This saved us from a much longer descent. I still carried 80 lbs back. The hike out from PDM to the ranger station, though 15 miles, was not difficult, and we made it to PDI in time for a shower and dinner. The final days in Mendoza were for shopping and a Bodega (Winery) tour. However, on the last day, several of us got very sick, and thanks to the pink tablets of pepto bismal, we were able to make our flights. We returned safely with our luggage on Sunday, Januray 25th, 20004. Would I do this again? I do not know, It was the hardest journey I have done, and I was not prepared for what one must endure to enjoy such a trip. The scenery was magnificent and the Argentinean people were warm and helpful. However, I am not made up of such ruggedness to endure these types of trips, to endure pain, cold, hunger, dehydration, disease and loneliness. I enjoyed the effort required to climb, but not the tedium required to melt snow for water. If I did it again what would I do differently? Bring water bags Make sure stove worked well Use an easy to put up tent Take smaller camera, and take less stuff. For example underwear is optional :=) Make camp only at PDM and Nido, skip Canada. Do more acclimatization hikes above say Nido and above PDM, besides the first one. I think the alpine style worked well for me since I acclimatized well (except for the anxiety). Sleep meds (ambient) work well, and did not seem to cause any acclimatization problems. Alpha-blockers (Flomax) inhibits acclimatization and are to be left at home. Tom - http://www.rogerwendell.com