I'm almost 4 months late to the game of jotting down my experience on Aconcagua, but better late than never! It was absolutely a memory I don't want to forget. I've got my photo album in hand and am excited to share my experience and accomplishment on the big mountain.
Climbing Aconcagua was a bucket list goal I have had for several years. It is non technical, but the tallest mountain in both the western and southern hemispheres. After a few years of loosely saying "I want to do that someday," I realized if I didn't put the dollar down and sign up, I might never actually do this. It was time to make moves on this goal instead of just saying "someday." At that point I said I will do this before I turn 35, but in 2021 together with my best friend Rachael, we did some research on guide companies and asked for advice from friends and acquaintances and paid the deposit for a permit in 2022. We had the choice between the shorter normal route (which is up and down the same trail) or the longer 360 route (which took us up one valley and meets the normal route at camp 3 and back down the normal trail), and Rach chose the latter so that we could see more views and get a more unique experience. It was the same number of days trekking but more miles per day. The end of 2021 nears and the guide company we chose let us know that due to covid still affecting operations, our route was not going to be available in 2022 -- only the normal route would be offered. We made the hard decision to postpone the trip to 2023 and hoped it would be up and running again the next year. Thankfully by late 2022, the world was back to normal! That meant it was time to train and get our butts into gear. This would be the longest trip I'd ever have taken, so when I was hired at my current job in 2020, I made sure they knew in my interviews that this was on the horizon and I would need to take three weeks off work at some point (thankfully, not an issue!).
The journey to Argentina was 3 planes over 24 hours, and that was about the shortest itinerary. Luckily the longest leg both there and back was overnight so we tried to nap on the plane as much as we could, but man, trying to sleep sitting up wasn't even the hardest part. My bum got sore from sitting that long trying to sleep. If I could afford an overnight first class arrangement, I sure as heck would opt for that luxury.
After 24 hours, we land in Mendoza and our guide company drives us to our hotel we will spend the first 2 nights in. We opted to come a day earlier than they recommended so that we could catch up on any sleep if we needed to, and we had our work computers with us so time off work wasn't an issue. We treat ourselves to a nice dinner at the hotel with our first bottle of delicious of local Malbec.
The second day, we got to meet our team in the conference rooms and do a very comprehensive gear check with the guides. I can't lie, many of our first impressions of our team were leaving us nervous. We had some team members with clothing and gear they were using for the first time ever, and others that were asking so many questions it made us side glance at each other thinking "did they do any research or just up and decide to come climb this big mountain?!" Disclaimer: in hindsight, we loved every single one of our team member and bonded so closely on this trip, I wish we could do reunion trips with them! Given you have no choice who else decides to sign up the same week as you, it's all luck whether you get cool competent teammates or total disasters.
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| L to R: our guide Juan, myself, Rachael, Taras from Canada, Kevin from California, Brigitte from France, Gerhard from Austria, Randy from California, Carlos from Costa Rica, and our other guide Hernan. |
And we were off! I was about to go 20 days without a hair wash -- a personal record. A lot of people wondered why my boyfriend Mat didn't want to come with me on this trip. In reality I had signed up for it before I met him, and truthfully long walks was more my passion than his. But admittedly, knowing we were going to be dirty and quite possibly our worst selves, I was glad it would be my girlfriend seeing me when I felt my ugliest and not my boyfriend I wanted to make sure was still attracted to me. I was very thankful though that I got to borrow a Garmin satellite device where I could text unlimited with my family and keep them updated along the whole trip. Mom was pretty thankful too I think to hear from me each day :)
Our first three days included about ten miles each of walking. It is summer in February in Argentina so it was about 90 degrees when we started the trek. We got dusty, sweaty, and by day 3 I was already borderline pooped. In my years of hiking experience, one of the quirky things I have adopted carrying with me is an umbrella -- not just for rain but also for the hot sun, and the first half of this trip I was hiking with it nearly the entire day. My teammates roared in laughter at me when I broke it out only a minute into our trek, but after about 30 minutes, they were all commenting on the ingenuity and their jealousy that they wish they had a break from the sun. I earned my first of several nicknames -- Mary Poppins (by an old flirtatious Uruguayan man in another expedition team).
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| The trailhead to our vacas valley route |
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| Trail views from the start of the trek |
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| Our first glimpse of the goal |
After three days of trekking, we got our first sight of Aconcagua between the hills. Thus far, our accommodations were very comfortable. Rachael and I were tentmates, we had outhouses to use at each camp, and the meals we were cooked were amazing. We even had bottles of wine each night the first 3 nights, and I honestly would have been very willing to haul the weight or pay extra to have one every night at the higher camps. Y'all, the Argentinian Malbec is one of the best wines in the world. After 3 long mile days, the real work was going to begin and from here our mileage wouldn't exceed 4, but our vertical gain would be tremendous. The next day we would finally reach base camp.
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| Our camp at third night, roughly 10k feet |
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| Our views getting to basecamp were starting to get real good; we got to look at Aconcagua the rest of the time getting there. |
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| At basecamp, there was an expansive flat valley and mountains shot up all around us. This was one of my favorite spots of the trip. Basecamp sits at 13.700 feet. |
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Basecamp on the 360 route
From basecamp, we did a quick check up with the camp doctor and had our first full rest day. From here, we would begin the pattern of climbing: hike to higher camp and come back down, sleep, hike and establish new camp, rest, hike to higher camp and come back down, sleep, hike and establish new camp, rest, etc. until we reached camp 3 where we would pray and wait for a weather window to summit. Basecamp was by all accounts a little tent town. We had running water being plumbed up from the glacial melt underground. We washed some clothes in the basin sink. There were even showers available, but we didn't expect to have that luxury so we didn't pack any shampoo so we didn't even bother. We did a body rinse to wash off the dust, but our hair was going strong on no soap in over a week. |
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| Beginning the acclimatization process hiking to camp 1 to 16,200 feet |
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The inside of the cooking tent where our guides prepared our meals for us each night
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After leaving basecamp for good, we lost our luxurious outhouse accommodations. From here on out, the "roughing" it part of the trip begins. We were expected to #1 outside away from camp, and to #2 we had a small little bathroom tent where we would do our business on a square of newspaper, wrap up the parcel carefully, and put it in a large trash bag. As a taller person, this was getting difficult for me because I had to crouch so much in the tent and pulling up and buttoning pants while not being able to stand up straight was hard. Also as a female, separating the functions was sometimes difficult as well. Thankfully we had no messy incidents to deal with, but at camp 3, there were areas over by the ledges of the mountain where plenty of guideless trekkers had defecated all over and left it. It was so disgusting and disheartening to see that because at that elevation, it will not break down or wash away. It is SO important for people to properly pack down their trash and waste and respect the mountain and other hikers.
The pace was set by our guides, and after leaving basecamp, the pace became very slow. I don't mind the slow pace and respected this was a tried and true practice to help our bodies acclimatize. Only once on one of our day hikes to camp 2 and back down did I get frustrated because I didn't pack enough layers and we were walking too slow for me to stay warm in the wind. After that, I made sure to bring enough coats to stay warm. The winds were picking up, and the weather forecast for summit day started looking a little more chancey.
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| Our tents at camp 2, 18,000 feet |
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Morale was still high, but the length of the trip was beginning to hit us. We wanted to wash our hair, we wanted indoor plumbing, we wanted to be able to get dressed without running out of breath. Sometimes I would randomly find myself just gasping for air and wondered if I accidentally was holding my breath too long without realizing it. By this elevation, everything was freezing at night. Anything you didn't want to freeze you had to sleep with it inside your sleeping bag. I splurged and went all out on a -40 degree sleeping bag for this trip because I run cold and did not want to mess around with being cold on something I worked so hard and saved so much for. The climate in Argentina is one of the driest in the world and our skin was starting to suffer for it. I brought facial moisturizer but it seemed my face couldn't soak up enough of it. I felt like my face aged 10 years on this trip and I was longing for the comforts of my home and Target and pampering myself with a massage and super moisturizing sheet mask to quench my poor skin.
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| The views of Aconcagua from camp 3 |
By the time we got to camp 3, the weather forecast had really deteriorated and the winds were picking up. The original day we wanted to summit was now forecasting too strong of winds to summit, so we had to take an extra rest day at camp 3. We were pretty discouraged because we were all ready to go for it and get back down to a shower, and had already had a rest day. I was really hoping we would have an extra day back in Mendoza to do more wine tasting and sight seeing. Even just delaying our summit attempt by 1 day was super defeating. Instead of back to back rest days, the guides wanted to take us on a leisurely walk up the glacier to practice walking in crampons and to also show us an old route and camp that is no longer used. The old camp 2 sat at the bottom of the sheer vertical glacier face of the mountain that is a very technical and dangerous route. Once we got up to it, our guides pointed over across the way where you could see some rocks positioned in 2 circles where climber's bodies were marked as their graves. They had fallen and died on the mountain about 20 years ago on that route. It was a very eerie and sobering moment to realize that this mountain was a big deal and people die doing what we are trying to do. The morbid curiosity crept into my head wondering with the elevation and elements and exposure, what does that do to a body? What was left? Hernan answered my question -- just bones and boots at this point. I was thankful for feeling healthy and strong and that our guides were making the best decisions for us as far as pacing, hydration, and choosing the best weather windows, but was starting to get really homesick.
 | Looking down on camp 3
It was now go time. We ate and drank well and tried to calm our nerves so we could get some sleep before summit it. We packed our bags and took our bedtime cocktail (benadryl, melatonin, and imodium for good measure... #2ing up there was something we did not want to happen).
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Our summit day was starting surprisingly late for what I was expecting and we got up and were walking by 5am. It was dark and cold, and we were walking through freshly fallen snow. The pace was again so slow, I was wearing all my layers and hoping I would stay warm enough throughout the day. We were told to expect between 8-10 hours round trip for summit day and over 3000 feet gain. At one of our first breaks, my shoulder was starting to really ache and bother me. I asked around and no one had ibuprofen (I was shocked... NO ONE?!) Randy had only a prescription pain killer, one I don't even think I asked the name of, but I took it because I didn't want to have my shoulder ache for the next 8 hours. Not long after that break, the sun started to come up and morally this really helps to see what is all around you. |
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| Sunrise on summit day |
Right after taking the above picture, I started to get really queasy. Up to this point I felt so strong and don't normally have any other issues with elevation. I tried to get my mind off it and take slow deep breaths to try and get it to go away and it just got worse and worse. No no no no, I can't get sick up here, it's summit day! I kept trying to push the feeling away, but then I started to feel dizzy. I needed to be smart about this and not ignore how I was feeling. I stopped and told the guide in the back that I didn't feel well and needed a short break to get my breathing and nausea under control. He looks at me with a stern and serious face and says, "if you are not feeling well, you need to turn around and go back down to camp NOW, and you will NOT go for the summit." I panicked. I wanted to cry, I didn't want my attempt to end that suddenly when I thought I just needed a short breather break. I tried as hard as I could to rally because I didn't realize admitting to not feeling well would mean instantly turning around. But, I respected the process and my guides and my other teammates and I would not lie about being unwell if that were the case and I were a liability. It was only an hour or so since I had eaten breakfast and I didn't think I felt hungry but maybe that would help they said. I ate a bar and drank some water and miraculously started to feel better. Come on, Tara, now is the time you have to be strong. You can do this. Don't let this altitude get the better of you' you've been this high before, you can do it. We kept going and I promised I would be honest with myself and everyone else if I couldn't start feeling better. Every chance we had after that to stop for a snack break, I made sure to eat but was realizing that I really didn't bring enough sustenance for the day. At that elevation, my body was burning through everything so fast just trying to stay alive that high, but I couldn't eat all that I had without saving myself enough to get back down.
The day was long and slow. We stopped halfway across a snow slope and our guides set us down and said they weren't sure this was going to work out for us today. There is more snow on the route than is ideal, the conditions were getting more dangerous, and they were watching us all as we walked to make sure we were looking alert and awake. They made the decision to turn 2 members of our team back down determining they might not have enough stamina to keep going, because we were behind pace for the day. Kevin had already turned back around earlier right before sunrise, so we were 3 members down.
We finish crossing the slope and get to an overhanging tall wall. This was our last major break before the summit, which was about 800 vertical feet above us. Our guides said we could even leave our heavy packs here if we wanted to go light to the summit, but I opted to keep carrying my bag because I wanted to have all my food and water and layer options. This last 800 was definitely the hardest. It was the steepest we had hiked yet. I could hardly take 3 steps without needing to stop and catch my breath and keep myself from getting dizzy or nauseous again. Another hour we climbed and I knew we were so close, but we seemed to be taking forever to get there. I noticed that our guide Juan in the front was taking about 5 steps and stopping, so naturally following behind him, we had to too... but I was so thankful because by every 5th step, that was about all I could do before passing out and needing to stop and catch my breath. What felt like at least another arduous hour later, we finally crest the top of the mountain. We made it. It was nearly 4pm and way too late by normal standards for a time to summit.
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| From the summit looking back down the route we came up, on the right side |
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| The SUMMIT! |
As it is said, the top is only halfway there. We still had to get all the way back down. On the descent, it started to snow on us, so I wanted to wear my hood over my helmet. We weren't allowed to take off our helmets until we were nearly back down to camp 3, but the hood of my coat was not designed for wearing a helmet and it cause it to be tight and pull down on my neck. For hours and hours looking down at my feet where I was walking and having my neck compressed because to hurt SO bad, I can think of few situations where I was in more pain than that descent. I just desperately wanted to take the helmet off and be done walking and lay down horizontally. The walk back felt like it took just as long as the ascent and I was whimpering and for hours on the walk down. When we passed the last feature that had any rock fall threat, I took my helmet off and had run out of all patience to wait or be patient. I just wanted to KEEP WALKING so I could be DONE.
After 14 of the hardest hours of my life, we make it back down to camp 3. I fill up my water bottle and thermos in the food tent and just go straight back to my tent to collapse and sleep. I was perfectly ok skipping any type of communal meal together, but after 20 minutes or so Juan comes around to our tents with food -- all we had to do was hand him our bowls. It was delicious and heavenly and I was indeed thankful to have been feed so that all I had to do was crawl into bed. The next day, we just had to pack up, and haul everything back down to basecamp on the other side.
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| Walking down the normal route side to the normal route basecamp |
Basecamp on Aconcagua is the second largest basecamp after Everest. It's considered a town during the season. We went from camp 3 all the way down to basecamp -- 19k down to 14k, and when we arrived, the dining tent was set up and ready to feed us, and I still can't describe just how thankful we all were. We just wanted to eat ALL the food! There were burgers, cokes (I don't drink any pops but everyone else was pretty thankful for it), wine... it was heaven.
Our team opted out of setting up all our individual tents and decided to do one big sleepover in one of the large dome tents, all together. We really did develop some of the most tight knit and loving bonds with our whole team. I don't know how often it happens you get that lucky that you like and appreciate every person on your team. I miss them all and really hope some day we can all reunite again.
The next and final day, we hiked from the basecamp all the way out to the trailhead. I can't remember how many miles it was, but it was a super long day out. By the time we reached the bus to get picked up to be driven back, we were exhausted and dirty and limp and just desperate for the showers and beds at the hotel. We made it. We did it.
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| The view of Aconcagua at the park entrance on the way out. Farewell, beautiful |
For more photos, head on over to my facebook where I will have a more comprehensive album of pictures from the trip :)
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