So far so good!

Author: Sarah

31 Jan

On Monday 20^th December we said goodbye to the little civilisation that was left and headed off into the foothills of Aconcagua. It was a late morning start at this stage as we could not depart until the mules had been loaded up with all our heavy equipment – rather them than us! We would have to carry everything after Base Camp, but for the time being it was their job and we were able to enjoy a gentle start to the acclimatisation process. As it was the middle of summer it was extremely hot, but fortunately there was a light breeze to take the edge off. Nonetheless most of us acquired a little sunburn and the classic watchstrap tan! Whoops!

This was an easy day’s walking to start us off – only about 6 hours and with a decent stop for lunch by the river. We were pleasantly surprised by the scenery. We had heard several accounts from guides and other climbers whilst we were climbing Mont Blanc about the horrendous scree Aconcagua is famous for and how there was nothing to see but scree, scree and more scree! And whilst there were horrendous sections of the dreaded scree at a later stage in the climb, the initial 3 day walk up to base camp was truly spectacular. Apparently, much of this could be attributed to us taking the longer, but mush more scenic False Polish Glacier Route. The normal route is very barren and a notorious dull slog which gradually chips away at a climber’s motivation with no great views to distract you from the pain!

We arrived early evening at our first camping spot Pampa de Lenas which stood at 2800m. As we each marked out our camping spot there was time to chill out and watch the sun go down as we waited for the mules to arrive with our equipment. We were then amazed to find that we would be having a BBQ that evening – more giant steaks!!! A group of Americans who were climbing with the same company as us arrived (loudly) shortly after and it was from that point on that Steve would amuse us all with his observations about the difference between American and European cultures! So far so good!