Climbing Mount Aconcagua, 18 days
Join one of the Andes mountains' top guides on an 18-day mountain climbing trip to the summit of Mount Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America!
Group
Andes
1 Day
Jan, Feb, Dec
Very high
Intermediate
Highlights
* Join one of the most experienced guides of the Andes to the top of Aconcagua.
* Live a truly unforgettable experience in the Andes mountains.
* Climb one of the world's Seven Summits!
Description
Climbing Aconcagua is a mountaineering feat you will never forget! Join me on this 18-day program and discover the most iconic mountain of the Andes!
Mount Aconcagua (6961 m) is the highest summit in Argentina and also in the Americas. It’s located in the Andes Mountains, 112 kilometres away from the city of Mendoza.
This is an 18-day expedition via the Normal Route. During the first days, we’ll do acclimatization trekkings to Plaza Francia. Then, we’ll trek 40 kilometers in three days and reach Plaza de Mulas while enjoying the beautiful Andean landscapes. After that, we’ll be ready to start climbing Aconcagua. For further details about this trip, you can find the itinerary and the next departure dates below.
Keep in mind that one of the advantages of this route is that it offers a medical service in Confluencia, which provides wider medical support. Also, the approaching camp is set permanently and the distance between high camps is very regular and short in comparison with other routes. Therefore, acclimatization will be easier. Furthermore, white wind is one of the most common obstacles during the climb. We have taken this into account and scheduled in extra days to increase the chances of reaching the summit.
So, are you ready for the rush of climbing to the top of the highest mountain in all of the Americas? Then contact me now and let’s start planning an adventure of a lifetime! I will be happy to be your guide to the top of this iconic peak!
Price includes
- Accommodation included
- Guiding fee
- Breakfast
- Lunch
- Dinner
- Transport during the trip
- Transportation start and back
- Porters
- Personal porters
- Mules and horses
- Tents
Price details
These items are not included in the price:
- Aconcagua Park climbing fee (tax charged by Mendoza government, according to dates. Last season, the permit fee costed USD800 on high season per person).
- Personal equipment.
- Rescue or all other costs due to the abandoning of the expedition.
- Extra nights in the hotel in Mendoza.
- Meals in Mendoza.
- Any other item not listed as included.
- Out of the total amount, USD400 are a non-refundable deposit.
Porters can carry up to 30kg per person from Penitentes to Plaza de Mulas and back.
Itinerary
Day 1: Mendoza
Our expedition starts in Mendoza, Argentina.
A representative of INKA Expediciones will be waiting for you at the airport.
We will stay at the hotel in the city. A group meeting will follow and you will meet the team members.
Accommodation: Hotel double or triple room.
Day 2: Penitentes
We will obtain individual entrance and ascent permits.
You will be personally assisted in this procedure.
After this we’ll travel to Villa de Penitentes, where we’ll stay at a Hotel in the mountain.
There we’ll get the equipment ready for transportation to the base camp, by mule.
Accommodation: Hotel
Meals: Breakfast & Dinner.
Day 3: Penitentes / Confluencia (3368 m)
We’ll drive you to Horcones Park, where we’ll get our first view of the mountain.
We will get our permits checked at the Ranger station.
Then, we’ll head off to Confluencia by walking 4 or 5 hours.
Accommodation: Tents
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.
Day 4: Trek to Plaza Francia (4200 m)
We’ve included this day in order to acclimatize better, and give you more chances to summit. We’ll trek for about 5 hours until we arrive to Plaza Francia, base camp of the impressive Aconcagua South Wall. This is one of the nicest points of the expedition.
Accommodation: Tents.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.
Day 5: Confluencia / Plaza de Mulas (4250 m)
After 8-9 hours hiking across Playa Ancha and climbing up through a very steep path, we’ll reach Plaza de Mulas, the biggest base camp in Aconcagua Park.
By the end of the day, most of us will feel the altitude.
Accommodation: Tents.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.
Day 6: Rest day at Plaza de Mulas
The first day in Base Camp is always a rest day and a good occasion to take a bath and explore the local terrain.
Accommodation: Tents.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.
Day 7: Carry equipment to camp 1
This is a challenging day where we’ll gain 1.000 m. with a heavy load on easy terrain.
Then we’ll return to Base Camp. It’s important to take advantage of the comfort and lower altitude at Base Camp.
Accommodation: Tents.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.
Day 8: Rest day at Plaza de Mulas
This is a day we mainly use to recover energy, to rest, to hydrate ourselves and for abundant meals.
Accommodation: Tents.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.
Day 9: Ascent to Camp 1 (4900 m)
The following morning we’ll start the ascent to Aconcagua.
We’ll move to Camp 1, called Plaza Canada. Until now, we were working on get an optimal acclimatization. We want everyone to have the best possible chance to do summit.
Accommodation: Tents.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.
Day 10: Move to Camp 2 (5400 m)
Camp 2, called Nido de Condores (meaning Condor Nest), is located in a high pass at 5.400 m. and provides a spectacular view of the surrounding mountains.
Accommodation: Tents.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.
Day 11: Carry equipment to Camp 3
This day, we’ll carry equipment to Camp 3 called Camp Colera. After carrying the equipment up, we’ll return to Camp 2 to sleep, to give our bodies more chances to acclimatize.
Accommodation: Tents.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.
Day 12: Ascent to Camp 3 (6000 m)
We’ll start a 4 hours walk to Camp 3, located on the North Ridge. We will prepare our tents and eat and rest, to be ready to get the summit.
Accommodation: Tents.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.
Day 13: Summit day (6961 m)
It is the most demanding day of the expedition.
We’ll climb the North Ridge to Independencia Refuge at approximately 6.500 m. We’ll ascend through the Portezuelo del Viento , climb La Canaleta, and the Filo del Guanaco, that leads us to the summit.
The prize is waiting for us, a 360° view and the experience of overcoming, that you only finally understand once you reach it.
At the end of this experience, we’ll descend to Camp 3.
Accommodation: Tents.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.
Day 14 to 15: Spare days
We have three extra days set aside on our itinerary to attempt summit.
These extra days are built in to provide the best possible conditions for each participant to summit.
Accommodation:Tents Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.
Day 16: Return to Base Camp
Return from Camp 3 to Base Camp. We’ll enjoy a great dinner to celebrate the experience.
Accommodation: Tents.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.
Day 17: Base Camp / Penitentes / Mendoza
We’ll have breakfast and then start the descent from Plaza de Mulas to Penitentes.
There is a private transport waiting for us to take us to the hotel in Mendoza City.
Accommodation: Hotel, double or triple room.
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch.
Day 18: Mendoza
We have breakfast at the hotel. Check out and end of services.
Details
More info
About the client-guide ratio:
Up to 3 clients: 1 Guide for the whole expedition 4 clients: 1 Guide for the whole expedition + 1 assistant for Base Camp-Summit-Base Camp From 5 to 8 clients: 2 Guides for the whole expedition 9 clients: 2 Guides for the whole expedition + 1 assistant for Base Camp-Summit-Base Camp From 10 to 12 clients: 3 Guides for the whole expedition
Basic equipment required (you can rent it on site)
a) Clothing: Light Weight Long Underwear. Expedition Weight Long Underwear. Fleece Jacket. Fleece Trousers. Parka. Jacket. Waterproof/breathable. Wind Pants. Waterproof/breathable.
b) Headgear: Sun hat. Balaclava. Wool or pile ski hat. Head lamp. Glacier glasses.
c) Hands: Synthetic gloves. Mittens. Gore-Tex over mitts.
d) Footwear: Light hiking boots or trekking shoes. Climbing double (or triple) plastic or synthetic boots. Gaiters. Wool socks. Liner socks.
e) Climbing Equipment: Ice axe. Crampons. Ski poles.
f) Camping: Backpack. -20°C Sleeping bag. Ridge Rest sleeping pad. Therma rest pad. Dish, glass, knife, spoon and fork. Pocketknife. Water bottles. Pee bottle. Pee Funnel (for women). Sunscreen. Lip screen. Personal first aid kit.
g) Traveling: Large duffel bag with lock. Smaller duffel with lock. Plastic bags. Travel clothes. Toiletry bag. Camera gear.
Should you hire the help of a porter? If you have never carried a backpack of 20kgs over 5000 or 6000 meters, you have to know that it's a very demanding physical activity. You need to be very well trained. Otherwise, we recommend you hire the services of a personal porter to have a better chance of reaching the top. It is very common to hire a porter (around 1000USD). If you do that, you'll carry a backpack of around 35-60 liters.
Trash and personal waste It is mandatory to remove everything from the mountain. You can't leave food behind just because you are exhausted from carrying it. So please think about this carefully when organizing your backpack. The same happens with trash and personal waste: nothing can stay on High Camps.
- NON-STOP FLIGHT OPTIONS FROM LONDON TO MENDOZA (*)
From London to Buenos Aires:
- Airline: Norwegian Air UK LGW-EZE (13 h 40 m) US$774 round trip
- Airline: British Airways LHR-EZE (13 h 50 m) US$1,216 round trip
From Buenos Aires to Mendoza:
- Airline: Aerolineas Argentinas AEP–MDZ (1 h 55 m) US$115 round trip
- Airline: LATAM Operated by Latam Airlines Argentina AEP–MDZ (1 h 52 m) US$117 round trip
- NON-STOP FLIGHT OPTIONS FROM NEW YORK TO MENDOZA (*)
From New York to Buenos Aires:
-Airline: United EWR–EZE (11 h 5 m) US$1,005 round trip
- Airline: American - LATAM Operated by American Airlines for Latam Airlines Argentina JFK–EZE (10 h 44 m) US$1,083 round trip
- Airline: Aerolineas Argentinas - Delta JFK–EZE (10 h 55 m) US$1,270 round trip
From Buenos Aires to Mendoza:
- Airline: Aerolineas Argentinas AEP–MDZ (1 h 55 m) US$115 round trip
- Airline: LATAM Operated by Latam Airlines Argentina AEP–MDZ (1 h 52 m) US$117 round trip
(*) Total price includes taxes + fees for 1 adult. Additional bag fees and other fees may apply.
Meeting point
FAQs
What are some recommended accommodations near our adventure location?
About the guide
Inka
4.9
(14)
Guide Agency
Mendoza based company specialized in expeditions and trekkings to Mt. Aconcagua. All the trips are run by the best certified and professional guides, with unrivalled logistics and infrastructure.
Languages
English
What people are saying about Explore-Share
Man
5
Climbing with guide Guillaume was absolutely a highlight of my 2-week Europe vacation. Originally, we were planning on climbing in the Calanques, but the park was closed due to wind and fire danger. Guillaume chose another amazing location (Pic de Bretagne) based on my climbing abilities and preferences and kindly offered train station pick-up and hotel drop off, which I appreciated very much. The multi-pitch route we did was not only fun but also the right amount of challenge, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The communication from the team (Gauthier) was prompt and clear—highly recommend!
Maxine
5
Luis Silva was a great climbing guide and belayer! He taught me how to do moves that were difficult and encouraged me to try routes that were challenging for me! Because of his encouragement, I managed to complete these routes! I really enjoyed the climbs and completed 8 routes in the Sesimbra/Azoia area. The weather was perfect, no direct sun and cool enough to enjoy the climbs. Explore-Share made booking an outdoor climbing experience in Lisbon extremely easy. Luis, our guide, was fantastic, and the platform’s organization was flawless.
Valeriya
5
You’re simply the best!!! :))) Explore-Share made everything easy and stress-free. Will definitely use again.
Joshua
5
We had Léo as a guide for our day climb in Fonty. We were blessed with a knowledgeable, warm, and instructive guide. Communication with Léo and Ivan was smooth and swift. Explore-Share was excellent in arranging everything for our day climb. The communication was quick, and the platform was easy to use, making our adventure stress-free.
Cami
5
Patrick was a great guide. He took us on an intermediate Via Ferrata at Passo Sella. Renato was quick to respond with any outreach on the Explore-Share platform. The booking process was straightforward, and once Patrick was confirmed, all went well. It was a wonderful experience, and I’d highly recommend the platform.
4.8
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