The arrival & approach to Confluencia & Plaza de Mulas
Aconcagua is the highest peak in the western hemisphere and the highest peak outside of Asia, at 6962 meters(22831 feet). It is more or less a trekking peak, but crampon skills are a must. Having done many peaks guided, I decided to challenge myself by trying this high peak solo and unguided.
I started my descent in Aconcagua from the Argentine side. In fact, the most convenient and best place to start the Aconcagua climb was from Mendoza in Argentina. Instead of Santiago in Chile. This was due to frequent police checks and possible visa issues when crossing the land border to Argentina.
Mendoza is not a bad place to rest before heading up the mountain. There are a few shops in town, especially if you need to buy fuel for upper camps, like me. I recommend Piré Aconcagua, as you can also rent gear. However, due to Argentinian import policies, many brands or products(like a knit hat that fits under the helmet) won’t be available. It’s always best to prepare all the gear before flying to Mendoza.
As for hotels, I don’t have particular recommendations as the hotel and hostel I stayed at were quite standard, exactly what you would expect from a hotel or a hostel. However, one thing to be aware of is Airbnbs. Most Airbnb properties seem to have physical keys, meaning you have to check in and check out at very specific times. They will make exceptions, but it doesn’t always work out very well. The setup of the Airbnb can be a little rough depending on which one you have booked, so do be aware. If you are booking from websites such as booking.com, I would recommend booking the one with a lot of foreigners, as the owner probably has gotten used to a more flexible checkout time with rooms equipped with proper products.
There are several ways of getting to the start of the hike toward Aconcagua’s base camps. You can hire private cars, take a bus, or even take an Uber, which costs around 80USD at the time of this blog. Climbers who signed up for guided climbs or paid for a more-than-basic logistics package had their climbing companies pick them up. The journey takes around 3 hours, depending on the traffic. I chose to take a bus as the package that included pickup was much more expensive for me climbing solo.
There are many departures in a day from the center of Mendoza. The bus company, Andesmar, starts from the Mendoza central bus station. Once you get on, you need to let the bus driver know precisely which stop you’d like to be dropped off at. There are a few stops in Penitentes for different climbing companies. Regardless of which transportation you choose, if you have bought some form of service with the climbing company, you will have free transport from their base in Penitentes to the start of the track about 15 minutes down the road.
Once you have checked in and have been chauffeured to the start of the trek, you will go to the police station first, which is also their Ranger station, to pick up trash bags and poop bags and get your climbing permit signed for the first time. It’s important to keep all three with you at least till the base camps because, in the end, you need to turn in all three so as not to get fined. As for your permit, they need to be signed around 4 times. If you’re going on the normal route at the end of the trek, you must turn your permit back in with all four signatures.
The first day of tracking to Confluencia took me around 2 1/2 hours. It was scenic but extremely windy. I recommend bringing your hard shell for this portion of the track. I started in Horcones, the beginning point of the track, around 2pm and arrived at Confluencia around 4:30pm. The Grajales base camp at Confluencia is extremely comfortable. They already knew ahead of time that I would be arriving that afternoon between meals, so they prepared delicious local snacks for me when I arrived.
The base camp manager at Confluencia saw that I was by myself, so she recommended that I just sleep in the dining tent, as I would be heading to Plaza de miles the next day. The dinner was nothing short of amazing, and if I wanted, I could have some amazing Argentinian wine as well. The next day would have been a long day of 12 miles from 3400 meters to 4320 meters, so I snuggled into my sleeping bag right after dinner.
As I was acclimatized to at least 5000 meters from climbing in Bolivia, I felt more confident about my speed of 10,000 feet. So the next day, I decided to start just a bit later after the sun had sufficiently covered my tracks all the way to Plaza de Mulas. Starting at 9:30am, I slowly but surely made my way across the valleys and washes of the Argentinian Andes. The wind didn’t seem to let up today, and it was whipping across my insignificant body at 30 mph. It was a windy day, but I made decent progress at a decent speed. It took me 6 1/2 hours to reach Plaza de Mulas after crossing many small streams and rivers flowing down from the melting snow and glacier above Plaza de Mulas.
I caught my first glimpse of Plaza de Mulas, about two hours away from the camp. It felt like I could reach it in 10 minutes, though nothing was easy around 13,000 feet. It took yet another completely uphill two hours up and down the Moraine to reach Plaza de Mulas. Once again, the Grajales base camp staff exceeded my expectations and knew that I was arriving. They prepared snacks ahead of my arrival. They also specially prepared fruits and juices, knowing that I would have battled winds and flying dirt all day. Really can’t appreciate them enough.
The amazing Dawa Sherpa lent me her spacious Nothrface VE25 tent for base camp use. VE25 is certainly the right choice for base camps as you can stake it down quite well, and it has plenty of space, enough to comfortably house two people. We have even had 6-7 people in such a tent at Camp 4 on Everest, so it’s got enough room, I assure you.
When it came to dinner, Grajales wasn’t slacking. The food was almost gourmet. From steak to pasta to dessert, we had all of it. Every Sunday, we were even treated to the signature Argentinian BBQ with wood-coal fires. Again, if we wanted, we could have the classic Argentinian Malbec wine every meal. If you are hungry between meals, they have prepared snacks, cookies, and cereals. We were truly eating like Queens and kings in the base camp. I relished the gourmet meal we were provided, as the food quality surely dwindled with my freeze-dried food in the upper camps.
The Grajales staff were amazing, kind, and supportive. Laura went out of her way to help me feel comfortable. Malene and Iara treated us with kindness, warmth, and great conversation. Although I didn’t speak much Spanish, they tried to speak English with us and tried to practice as much as they could. Coming from an English as a second language learner myself, I know this is a painful process, so I truly appreciate that they made this extra effort to learn and practice another language. Another aspect that I appreciated about Grajales was that many of the staff were mountain lovers themselves: they were climbers, guides, and physical therapists who would not be on Aqua. As you may find out, with many mountain expeditions worldwide, many of the staff embarked on this journey not because they genuinely like the profession but because of the financial upside it brings. It is an unfortunate story, and I was happy it was not repeated on Aconcagua.
Now, it’s time to gear up for my first attempt. My initial plan was to go up to camp 2, Nido, and then directly attempt the summit from Nido so that I could reduce the number of carry days. Now, it’s time to sleep and try for the first time on this mountain.
First Attempt
As you can tell, I made more than one attempt on Aconcagua before being successful. Before you jump to my next attempt, let me tell you about the specifics of this first attempt that made my second attempt successful. This is especially important if you are looking to climb Aconcagua. Below, I will tell you all the things I have observed and experienced so that you can learn from my attempt.
Waking up in the morning, I packed up and was ready to walk. The weather forecast said that on the summit day, there’s supposed to be a small amount of precipitation, though nothing serious. I brought my crampons just in case, but I was also prepared to just climb without them. The walk up to camp 1 was a straightforward and well-trodden path. It took me 2 1/2 hours to walk up to around the camp 1, named Camp Canada. Resting for 20 minutes. I continued marching up to camp 2 called Nido. Marching up to camp 2 from camp 1 definitely got harder as I ascended further. The trail was easy to see. However, the weather has turned chilly. The afternoon clouds rolled around, and it seemed like all the warmth of the morning had gone away with the altitude, the cloud, and the wind. I put on one more layer of jacket and gloves and slowly walked up to camp 2. The Grajales camp 2 was located above the main camp 2. This perched-up-high camp enjoyed a unique advantage as it was the only camp right on the shortcut between Camp 1 and Camp 3, and it was close to water sources. However, it did mean I needed to scramble upward for 15 more minutes after arriving at the main camp 2. Now, 15 minutes doesn’t seem so long on sea level, and scrambling certainly isn’t too hard for those of you who are sitting at home. However, 15 15-minute walk after a day of hiking in the higher altitudes was simply not a walk in the park. There are even climbers who stopped at the lower main camp 2 to rest for hours before doing this last 15 minutes of scrambling.
Arriving at camp 2, I realized I would be the only one staying at it. Head Porter Nehun allowed me to stay inside the main Dome to keep warm for the two days I will be staying there. Now, if you’re keen-eyed, you might realize I have changed my plan from staying one night to staying two nights. This was because, upon realizing how much energy I used for the last little section of the approach, I decided to be conservative and save the rest for one more night with an acclimatization hike up to camp 3. Even though the hike from camp one to camp two only took me 3 hours, it was three hours of battling the wind. In such situations, I have historically used up a little bit more energy than I wanted to go to play on the safe side, and I had decided to stay for one more night. I won’t be too lonely, though, as I have a lot of work to do between pitching out everything, getting ready for the next two days, and the endless task of boiling water.
The next day came, and the wind continued. I went up to almost camp 3, Colera, with a light backpack and came down and rested for the day. I realized that my acclimatization wasn’t as good as I had hoped. So i decided not to push up to the summit from camp 2 instead of carrying all my load one more time to camp 3 then summit from there. The carry from camp 2 to camp 3 was hard. It took me around 4 hours to get up with a full load. Now, it doesn’t seem like such a long period; however, I was quite tired upon reaching camp 3. Though I was happy to see some companies at camp 3. Four hours was also the same amount of time that it took the head Porter Nehum to get up from base camp to camp three, what a beast! Mehum was kind enough to lend me some white gas as I accidentally spilled some at camp 2. Really appreciated Laura, the base camp manager, and the head porter, Nehum, for helping me on this.
Planning the summit push is always a tricky business. This time was no different. There happened to be a guide from Grajales who just submitted that morning. I inquired about their summit time, whether they brought crampons and ice axes, and the route conditions. I also double-checked with them on the weather forecast, and it seems that the next day will be a very nice day. I also double-checked with the headquarters regarding the time estimate and the weather forecast; it was going to be a very nice day. The guide advised me to start late, somewhere around 5:00 to 5:30 in the morning, so that I won’t be cold throughout my climb. In addition, crampons may not be needed. These two decisions turned out to be the most important decisions of that day, which contributed to my failed attempt.
The way from camp 3 to the summit is roughly developed into 3 sections from camp 3 to independencia which is a broken heart, from independencia 2 la cueva which also is a cave with two blue barrows that police often will stash gear or other things, And the last section is from The Cave to the summit. It’s advised to spend roughly 3 hours for each section, totaling 9 hours for the summit night, starting from camp 3. I was making good time from Camp 3 to Independencia. After Independence, there was a section of nice long traverse before the steepest part of the climb again, which you will ascend 1500 feet and just .6 miles. The weather on the traverse was incredibly nice. I started thinking about all the efforts and all the help that I have received throughout my journey to this mountain. The steeper part was indeed incredibly steep. The route was completely dry; therefore, the loose scree made the steep ascent difficult. As I saw The Cave in the distance, I noticed heavy clouds rapidly moving up and covering the top portion of the mountain entirely. The temperature rapidly dropped, and snow started falling little by little. No worries I told myself it was just the little bit of precipitation expected of the day no need to worry. As I marched on for another half an hour, the cloud coverage got denser and denser. And then the hail. For about 20 minutes, the hail seemed not to let up at all. But the clouds were moving fast so i was confident that the hail would stop. Soon enough, the hail stopped, and I was climbing on the dry screen again. Step by step, I made my way upward towards that elusive summit that just seemed so close yet so far.
Then the clouds closed in again for the second time that day, but it stayed for good. Snow started falling more densely and more rapidly. Quickly, most of the trail was getting covered up by the snow. The rocks on the upper portion between The Cave and the summit start getting covered by the snow as well. Having carried no crampons, I started to worry that I might slip on this steep section of chunky screen and rocks. I continued climbing, hoping that the clouds would go away and the snow would stop, but it didn’t this time. From an inch to two inches to a foot, I started from the dry screen but ended up treading in the deep snow. It was at this time I noticed climbers with red jackets that were ascending very fast up towards the summit. I saw them lower down, but I paid no attention, thinking to myself that they were just very strong climbers. Turned out they were the famed climbing police of Aconcagua.
150 meters from the summit, the red jackets approached me. They wanted to verify that I had crampons, but i had none. Descend, said both of the red jackets. I wanted to say something, but I knew better. I had a whole hour to realize that not having crampons meant a very dangerous descent, even if I summited. Reluctantly turn around, starting to descend. And the snow continued to fall. The foot and a half of snow made descending the upper portion very difficult. It made the lower portion equally dangerous due to the fact that I didn’t bring my crampons and ice axe, a slide could mean sliding hundreds of feet downward without a proper tool to arrest myself. For the first time in order to reduce weight, I didn’t bring the most important emergency tools on the mountain. I relied too much on an old forecast, relied too much on other people’s information, and didn’t rely enough on my traditional knowledge. I slowly trudged my way down, realizing that i hadn’t drank much water for the last two hours. I was starting to get tired, and my neck started to hurt, presumably because of the poor posture and the lack of hydration. Another solo climber who also turned around because of the police decided to hike down with me, making sure that both of us made it out in the bad weather. It was a complete whiteout with 10 inches of precipitation.
Of course, I couldn’t have predicted the sudden turn of the weather. However, I could have brought some safety equipment, such as my crampons, and I could have left camp early to avoid being hit by this storm, which happens a lot more in the mountains towards midday and the afternoons.
Coming down to camp 3 I decided not to head down to base camp as I already spent a lot of energy battling the bad weather. The other solo climber made it all the way down to the base camp, having turned around at Independencia. Though not all was lost. I am now very acclimatized, all the way close to the summit. Thanks to Grajales’ basecamp package, I was able to make multiple attempts. So I decided to head down to the base camp refuel, rest, and head up again for a brand new attempt.
Second Attempt
The silver lining of needing to make a second attempt was that I got to chat with some of the folks whom I had only briefly met a few days before. A couple that I have met also came back to the base camp. I was delighted to see them, and they were kind enough to allow me to 3rd wheel most of their downtime. The husband happened to get injured during their previous rotation, so I offered the wife a place to stay with me in my small tent so she didn’t have to carry their big tent.
Camp, as always, was buzzing with activities and people. Many were aspiring to achieve greater things. Some of them have biked from the top of North America all the way down to Aconcagua. Some of them are trying to summit the world’s highest volcanoes. Others were simply trying to break their own highest altitude record. During our downtime, we often gathered to discuss, plan, and learn from each other.
We decided that my new tent mate would go up and make one more stash at camp 2, as well as carry some of their weight down first. By the time she got back down, it was already time for dinner. On the mountain, there was absolutely no missing out on the best cuisine Argentina was famous for. Every big company on Aconcagua tried to have BBQ nights. Grajales’ Argentine and BBQ every Sunday. It was simply outstanding. They brought in all the wood needed to have enough coal for the BBQ. Starting a few hours before, they burned all the wood in order to make coal to cook the beef. The meat emitted wonderful smells that you could smell in the entire base camp, a truly drooling experience. Along with the delicious meats were vegetables and red wine; no one went hungry that night.
After another restful day and some last-minute washing and drying, it was time for us to push on ahead. Learning from the experience last time, my tent mate and I used InReach to get the latest forecast in order to ensure that we push on a day when the weather will be suitable. Additionally, due to the southern snowstorm, I have now committed to carrying crampons to ensure that I would not be caught out without proper equipment again. Now onwards we go.
This time with a lighter backpack and even better acclimatization, I cruised all the way up, passing by camp one, seeing the camp 2 wind flag, then swiftly moved on to the shortcut to approach camp two. Close to camp 2, I met up with another group that was in the same dining tent as me. It is always so delightful to see people you know on the mountain. One of the most endearing things on the mountain is camaraderie between the climbers. It’s nice to see that after spending a night at camp, one of the guided groups was still in great spirits and making good time. I moved on ahead, arriving at camp 2 after five hours of ascending. There I found my stash of tent and other equipment, which I left on the upper caps to reduce the weight load. It was a windy day. So I started to pitch my tent immediately so it would get a chance to at least dry out from all the precipitation from the day prior. I also quickly started collecting snow so I could begin the water melting operations, hoping that by the time my tent mate arrived, I would have extra water for her to drink and eat from.
After some waiting, drinking, and eating. My tentmate arrived about five hours after me in good spirits, free from any high-altitude symptoms. After some New Year’s Eve chat with everyone at the camp, we settled in for the night, ready to push up on the first day of the new year.
Waking up to the first day of 2025, time to push higher. Climbing up to camp 3 was short and easy, especially without the weight. It took only two hours to get there. So again, I started getting ready to prepare for the night and the next day’s climb by collecting snow and starting to melt some water. After some much-needed fueling and drinking, we started preparing for the night. Again, learning from the experience last time, we have decided to leave camp at around 3 AM(knowing that we would leave a bit later than that) to ensure that we have an ample amount of time before the official 3:00 PM cutoff.
Tent mate and I left camp a bit before 3:45 AM to start the summit push. It was cold, like many other high-altitude summits, however it was nothing that I had never seen before. Despite many guides on the mountain describing the very early alpine starts as extremely cold, this would not be anything different than other high altitude peaks of similar calibre. So if you are used to alpine starting somewhere very early in the morning, this should not be a deterrent to you starting early and making sure that you have enough time.
Passing through the initial deeper section out of the Grajales camp, we quickly joined a row of headlamps that were also making their way towards the summit. We slowly laboured our steps, one foot in front of the other rhythmically. Unlike my first attempt, there was no sign of rising dawn. Cold, but my heart was warm knowing that I had enough time to finish summiting. Still, I knew that I needed to hurry in order to ensure that I could summit with stable weather. There was ice and snow on the trail left from the last storm, so I followed the footsteps, carefully picking the most optimal line to ascend. Sometimes, around two and a half hours later, I arrived at the first “checkpoint,” Independencia.
The sun seemed to have a lazy morning. BY the time I reached Independencia, the sun was dragging its feet, reluctant to show its face over the horizon. I started to put my crampons and slowly resigned to myself that I might not see the sun at all till the very upper shoulder of the mountain; I was about to start climbing on the section that was on the shade side of Aconcagua. This section, from Independencia to the Cave, starts you off on a nice traverse, then proceeds to rise straight up towards the cave. Below the traverse, you could see all the way down to the base camp. I wonder if they were having any nice meats and Argentinian wine for the day…
The recent precipitation made this section towards the cave a much easier walk. In fact, I half-sleepwalked this section as my alpine start sleepiness caught up to me. Luckily, I settled into a rhythm and made short work of this section. Though the sun was still yet to reach me.
Two hours later, I reached the place, so-called The Cave. The sun was still dragging its step, slowly climbing over the mountains. I sat down for a much-needed snack and water break. The temperature was still cold, especially my toes. Looking around, I could see the sun radiating from everything around the mountain. It won’t be long now, I just have to keep going, I told myself. 20 minutes later, I stood up and continued marching up. This last section was the slowest. You could see where the top was, but it simply felt like forever. I put 1 foot in front of another like I had done before, deeply into my nose, trying to absorb every bit of oxygen that I could get. It won’t be long now, I told myself. I just had to keep going, and the sun would reach me, I told myself again.
Around 9:30 AM, suddenly a bright bow fire appeared in front of my eyes as I was looking up at the trail. It was the sun, the much-needed warmth. I suddenly feel myself heating up immediately. I felt comfortable, warm, and my toes were no longer cold. Finally, the sun. I quickly started changing layers and taking another snack break. Snacking under the sun is a luxury in mountaineering. I was enjoying every bit of it. However, this was not the time to slow down. As most on the mountain have noticed, the top started getting cloudy at around noon, then the visibility went down dramatically after that. It may not mean precipitation always. However, the visibility gets a lot worse after noon. I pulled up my trail map again, checked the trail, and then continued my final sprint onto the summit.
Well, Sprint was certainly in mountain terms. It took another two hours before I reached the very top. After I finished the main trail, I needed to scramble up a little bit before seeing the top plateau and the official cross marking the top of Aconcagua. And there it was, the cross with the Aconcagua, clocking in at the now official altitude at 6962 meters(6960.8m on the cross).
Thrill and jubilation overwhelmed me. On this second attempt, I reached the top at 11:45 AM with a beautiful view of the sun shining. I took a moment to look around the summit. With basecamp on one side and fumaroles on the other side, I got great views summiting before noon. I dropped my stuff down, took pictures and videos, had another snack break, water break, then it’s time to go down. At the end of the day, the summit is only half of the journey. Ideally, I would like to head down before the visibility gets too low.
On my way down, it was nice to see other climbers I have met throughout this journey making their way up, closing in on the summit. This was a victorious day for them as well. My tentmate’s cough got worse, unfortunately. She sent me some messages, but started heading down after reaching The Cave. Due to her sickness, that was the best decision to avoid any permanent damage to her body, especially her respiratory system. It didn’t take us too long to descend back to camp 3, right around 3 hours of descent. At the camp, we were greeted by others whom we met. It was nice to share the victorious moment with them before departing.
The day after, five hours later, I had successfully descended back to the base camp for a warm shower and friends. This had been an absolutely incredible journey. I highly recommend Grajales for base camp service. They took care of me every step of the way. The food was incredible. The people were even better. It’s a shame that they only operate in Argentina with this crew. I hope I get to see them again sometime in the not-so-distant future. I made new friends, learned lots from others, and enjoyed every bit of this mountain. Perhaps it’s time to seriously consider climbing all seven of the highest peaks in the world. After all it’s 4 down 3 to go for me. For now, so long, Aconcagua! Ciao Argentina!
