Monday, March 8, 2010

Aconcagua 2010

The Southern Terrain recently returned from a world class expedition to Cerro Aconcagua. The climb started in Mendoza, Argentina a fabulous city renowned for its malbec wines and cuts of beef it offers a perfect launching pad for climbing the highest peak in North and South America. Our climb took us from Mendoza to Penitentes to stage our equipment and begin acclimatizing. The team ascended to Confluencia Camp where our mountain experience started with first class service and spectacular views. We were welcomed with a full moon on our second night and perfect weather for viewing the awe inspiring south Face.
We made the long trek to base camp, Plaza de Mulas, and spent the next four days continueing to acclimatize by hiking the 16,000 ft. Cerro Bonete.
We made our first camp at Canada and used one of our weather days there due to extremely high winds and snow. The following day we hiked too Nido de Condores and spent the next day resting there. With a limited weather window we decided to make our summit bid from Nido de Condores and left at 4:00am. The day gave us perfect weather and we made our summit at 3:00pm. We slowly descended back to base camp where we enjoyed dinner and a well deserved rest.

This was a great expedition with amazing people!!!!


Check out the trip here: