After meeting in Mendoza, Argentina, our first Aconcagua team is on their way up the trail to base camp! This family of three will be accompanied by our longtime Aconcagua guide, Fermin Avilà. Fermin has summited Aconcagua more than 30 times, and has been leading trips for Mountain Trip for the last decade.
Aconcagua is the tallest peak in South America and also holds the distinction of being the tallest peak outside the Himalaya. At 22,841 feet, it’s only a few meters shy of being a 7,000-meter peak. Located just east of the border between Chile and Argentina, the glaciated mountain rises above a very arid environment. Approaching the mountain feels very similar to hiking in the Grand Canyon, replete with whiptail lizards and Chuckwallas.
The climbers met in the small city of Mendoza, the center of Argentina’s world-renowned wine country. Fermin looked over everyone’s climbing gear yesterday, and then the team had a welcome dinner to enjoy some of Mendoza’s famous steaks.
The team includes:
- Henry Kremer
- John Kremer
- Milo Kremer
After a couple of Covid seasons, we’re back to normal operations on Aconcagua for the 2022-23 season! This means we’ll be headed up the Ameghino Valley traverse route again. This route is really the best way to see the whole mountain and avoid the crowds.
After a short drive to the trailhead, the team set out from the mouth of the Vacas Valley. About six hours of hiking through a desert valley (reminiscent of parts of the Grand Canyon) they arrive at “Pampas de Lenas,” the first camp on the approach, located at about 9,000 feet (2,750 meters). The team will dine in true gaucho style with food prepared over an open fire by our arrieros.
The approach is a good warm up for climbers, with none of the days being too tough, but a good opportunity to stretch their legs and build some acclimatization to the thinner air of the higher elevations.
As the team progresses, we have invited the climbers to call in dispatches from the field, so they can share their experience in their own words. These dispatches will initially post as “New Audio File,” until our team in Colorado can edit the post and append it to the team’s dispatch feed. We encourage friends and family to subscribe to the team’s dispatches using the drop down tool to the right of this page.
On occasion, the team will be too busy or the weather could conspire to prevent a dispatch from being called in via satellite phone. In such circumstances, we urge you to hold onto the old adage: “no news is good news!” However, if you should have any questions about how they are doing, please don’t hesitate to call the Mountain Trip office or drop us an email.
Cheers!
The Mountain Trip Team
