Cerro Plata + Aconcagua - 25 days

About

Cerro Plata + Aconcagua - January

11 Jan 2025 until 01 Feb 2025

For mountaineers who would like to acclimatise before climbing Aconcagua, Cerro Plata is a great option! Also, if you are one of those who doesn’t appreciate been around so many people like at Aconcagua BC, Plata is your peak! This will definitely increase your chances of summiting Aconcagua.

At 6962 metres above sea level, Aconcagua attracts climbers from all over the world. Climbers come with completely different climbing backgrounds. Despite having almost 7000 meters, its summit can be reached without any technical climbing at all. In addition, Aconcagua has one of the best logistics in the world. Making the mountain extremely accessible even to inexperienced climbers.

Cerro Plata in Argentina is a great option for those who wish to climb a high altitude mountain for the first time or those who would like to acclimatise for something bigger like Aconcagua. Plata is one of the most accessible high altitude centres in the Central Andes.

Requirements for joining this expedition are:

International Travel Insurance;
International Rescue Insurance, please use this link for GLOBAL RESCUE;
Multi-day altitude trekking experience;
Good health and be physically prepared;
Fill the booking and medical form
Read all the information available on this website

More information:

Aconcagua permits: http://www.aconcagua.mendoza.gov.ar/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=135&Itemid=497
Check out the weather in Aconcagua: http://www.mountain-forecast.com/peaks/Aconcagua/forecasts/6962

Itinerary

Cerro Plata + Aconcagua - 25 days

Day 1 – Arrival to Mendoza – 900m

One member of our staff will welcome you at the airport and bring you to the hotel. In the evening all expedition members will meet for dinner. Depending upon your arrival time, we will assist you to buy or rent all equipment you need. Included: Transport and hotel.

Day 2 – Drive to Vallecitos – 2900m

In the morning of our second day, we will leave the hotel after lunch and head to Vallecitos, an old ski station used now as base for expeditions. Will spend the night in mountain hut named Mausy. The food there is very good, the hut is very cosy and the staff very friendly. You will also meet our guardians Mr Lobo and Miss Brisa, a husky and a weimaraner who will even come with us to BC! Included: Transportation, night in mountain hut and dinner

Day 3 – Hike to Piedra Grande – 3550m

After breakfast, our near 600 meters climb starts to Piedra Grande, a very comfortable camp at 3550m. Included: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Day 4 – Piedra Grande – Adolfo Calle – Piedra Grande 4200m

We will take a 3km trek to the summit of Adolfo Calle Peak, a mountain with 4200 meters high. The walk up is not difcult and it will help us to be better aclimatized for Salto camp. Included: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Day 5 – Piedra Grande – Salto BC – 4300m

We will take a 3km walk to Salto where we will set up our base camp and spend our next 3 nights. Salto means waterfall in Spanish and this comes from a small waterfall a few metres above camp. Included: Breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Day 6 – Rest – 4300m

Rest day at Salto. Depending upon our entire team’s health, we can take a short walk to a nearby glacier or just rest for the whole day. Included: Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Day 7 – Salto – Hoyada – Salto – 4700m

Let’s take a 2km walk to a camp named Hoyada which is almost 4700m. This will be our summit camp and we want to stock it before we actually go there to sleep. This walk to 4700 metres is a great acclimatisation opportunity. Included: Breakfast, lunch and dinner

Day 8 – Salto – Hoyada – 4700m

We will go to sleep to Hoyada and take the remaining equipment up there. Included: Breakfast and lunch

Day 9 – Hoyada – Summit – Hoyada – 5943m

We will try to summit Plata today. We expect a 8 to 12 hour summit push (up and down).

Day 10 – Hoyada – Mendoza – 900m

We will start early to walk down the mountain passing through Salto, organising our tents and loading the mules. From there we have a 3 hour walk to Vallecitos. Included: Snack, dinner and transport.

Day 11 – Rest at Mendoza and permits – 900m

Your are free to rest and enjoy Mendoza today. Included: breakfast and hotel

Day 12 – Drive to Penitentes and trek to Confluencia – 3300m

We will have morning meeting about logistics and all expedition aspects as well as answering any questions you might have. Included: Transport, hotel and dinner.

Day 13 – Confluencia – Plaza de Mulas – 4300m

Today is the longest day. The 18km walk to BC might take us from 5 to 8 hours. We’ll carry a very light rucksack and have lunch at the base of a huge rock named Ibañez. The landscape here is very dry so you might want to bring a good hat. At the end of the huge open valley named Horcones we will arrive to Plaza de Mulas, our basecamp. Included: Double tents with mattress, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Day 14 – Rest – 4300m

Rest day at Plaza de Mulas. Depending on the state of the entire team, we can take a short walk to a nearby glacier. Included: Double tents with mattress, Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Day 15 – Plaza de Mulas – Plaza Canada – 4900m

Three-hour walk to Plaza Canada after a nice breakfast at BC. Included: Double tents, Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Day 16 – Plaza Canada – Nido de Condores – 5600m

Five hour walk to Nido de Condores, our second camp. Included: Double tents, Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Day 17 – Rest at Nido de Condores – 5600m

Light walks around camp to improve acclimatisation. Included: Double tents, Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Day 18 – Nido de Condores – Colera – 5950m

3 to 4 hour walk with carrying climbing equipment (wearing most of it) to Colera, our last camp at almost 6000 metres. Included: Double tents, Breakfast and lunch.

Day 19 – Colera – Summit – Colera – 6962m

Early start to the first summit attempt (2 or 3am). We’ll hidrate as much as we can and leave camp at around 4am for the 12 hour round trip to the summit (average time) Included: Double tents and water melting

Day 20 – Spare summit day

Day 21 – Colera – Plaza de Mulas – 4300m

We’ll walk down through all camps arriving at BC at around 4pm. Included: Double tents with mattress, Breakfast, lunch and celebration dinner.

Day 22 – Plaza de Mulas, Confluencia, Mendoza – 4300m

After an 8 am breakfast, we’ll pack our duffels and send them to Horcones on mules and start the 8-hour walk to Horcones. On the way, we’ll stop at Confluencia for food and a short break. Our private transport will wait for us at Horcones and take us to Penitentes so we can take another private transport to Mendoza. On the way, we’ll stop at Uspallata for a steak dinner. Included: Breakfast, pack lunch, snack food in Confluencia, private transport, hotel and celebration steak dinner.

Day 23 – Extra day

Day 24 – Extra day

Day 25 –Flight out – 900m

** The above itinerary is subject to change due weather conditions, performance of the group, political/administrative problems and any other events not described.

Equipment

Having good mountaineering equipment is one of the key points to have a successful expedition to Aconcagua. Please note all your personal equipment will be checked by one of our guides in the hotel. You can easily rent or purchase all necessary mountaineering equipment in Mendoza. Find out rental prices in our FAQ

FAQ

View our photos of Maximo Kausch:

Maximo Kausch

Founder and expedition leader

Maximo is sponsored by the following brands:

Language skills:

English - native speaker

Spanish - native speaker

Portuguese - native speaker

Maximo Kausch is one of the most accomplished climbers in the world. He is the current world record holder on number of 6000 metre peaks having reached the summit of 89 x 6000 metre peaks and climbed over 100 more extreme altitude worldwide. As expedition leader, Maximo has led several expeditions all over the world. He has climbed many 8000 metre peaks, including Mount K2 in Pakistan.

He was born in Argentina, raised in Brazil and lived over 10 years in the UK. Max is a full-time climber and guide. He literally spends most of his time in the mountains, mainly at the Andes and Himalaya. During his expeditions, Maximo has climbed some of the most remote mountains in the planet and visited at least 30 countries.

Max is a very calm person and focuses on safety and good acclimatisation plans during his expeditions. He is a trained rescuer and has extensive knowledge in high altitude medicine and medical emergencies. On his spare time, Maximo likes rock and mixed climbing in remote mountains.

In 2012 he started an unprecedented project alone and climbed 30 mountains over 6000 meters all alone. His project in now recognised as one of the main exploring projects in the Andes. Max wants to climb all 6000 metres peaks in the Andes by 2019, a total of 104. He has been to at least 11 x 8000-metre expedition at the Himalayas and has plenty extreme logistic experience. Over the years he has helped hundreds of clients to reach the summit of various mountains.

Awards

World Record: Maximo has recently become the record holder of the most number of 6000 metre peaks. He has been to at least 170 high altitude mountains over his 19 years of climbing experience.

More about Maximo Kausch

Wikipedia profile

World Record on 6000 metre peaks

Facebook Athlete FanPage

Instagram Page

View our photos of Angel Armesto:

Angel Armesto

High altitude mountain guide

Angel Armesto is sponsored by:

Language skills:

English - near native speaker

Spanish - native speaker

Portuguese - excellent command

Angel Ezequiel Armesto is a professional high mountaineering guide, graduated in 2001 at EPGAMT Mendoza. Angel was actually one the first high mountaineering guides graduated at EPGAMT Mendoza. Since then he has successfully guided 72 expeditions to Aconcagua and several at the Himalayan Range, including 2 x Everest expeditions, Cho Oyu, Ama Dablam, among others. He has also led expeditions with very complex logistics to very remote peaks including Vinson in Antarctica. In the Andean range alone, Angel has climbed over 75 different extreme altitude peaks.

Angel is an extremely relaxed and easy going person. He’s the kind of guy who can have a solid conversation on subjects ranging from quantum physics to politics or from world macroeconomy to gut microbiology.

More about Angel Armesto

Facebook Athlete FanPage

View our photos of Eduardo Tonetti:

Eduardo Tonetti

Mountain Guide and Trekking Guide

Language skills:

Portuguese - native speaker

Spanish - near native speaker

English - good command

Eduardo Tonetti was born in São Paulo - Brazil and was in the advertising business for 15 years. In 2010 he decided to quit his career and guide for living. After 4 years of studies, Edu has graduated at EPGAMT Guiding School in Mendoza. He is now a professional mountain guide and a WFR trained rescuer, licensed to guide in Aconcagua among many other Andean peaks.

Edu has been a rock climber for 13 years and has extensive experience in several rock climbing areas. He specialized in high altitude mountaineering and climbed dozens of mountains in the region. Edu has climbed big mountains like Aconcagua (6962m, 11 times), Ojos del Salado (6898m), Tres Cruces Sur (6738m), Tres Cruces Central (6640m), Mercedario (6770M), Tupungato (6556m), Cerro Plata (5943m), Vicuñas (6087m), among others.

Eduardo has worked with human development and coaching in São Paulo, Brazil and he is now using mountaineering as coaching activities having amazing results!

He has been working in Aconcagua for the last 4 years in a row and started as a porter in 2012. He worked his way up and has now led several expeditions at Central and dry Andes.

Map

Cost

Price to be confirmed

WHATS INCLUDED

Leadership of Maximo Kausch on Aconcagua, world record holder on number of 6000-metre peaks;
English speaking guide with at least 5 years experience guiding Plata;
1 or 2 assistant mountain guides (EPGAMT/AAGM certification) depending upon number or clients (client per guide ratio = 2/3);
Help on purchasing and equipment rental in Mendoza;
Transport from/to airport;
Transport from/to Vallecitos;
Night at mountain hut in Vallecitos;
4 days of full pension at Plaza de Mulas (breakfast, lunch, dinner, tents, dining tent, mattresses, etc);
Full pension at Confluencia (breakfast, lunch, dinner, tents, dining tent, mattresses, etc);
4 nights in a 3-star hotel with breakfast included in Mendoza – rooms are shared by every 2 clients;
Transport from/to Penitentes;
Lunch at Puente del Inca;
Transport from/to Horcones;
Mule transport of a 20kg load to/from Plaza de Mulas;
Mule transport of a 20kg load to/from Salto (BC at Plata);
Transport/assembly of tents, pots, gas, food, water in all camps in Aconcagua and Plata;
Steak dinner at Uspallata;
Usage of dining dome tent, toilets tents, personal tents, mountain tents, medical oxygen, Gamow bag and medical kit in all camps;
Breakfast, lunch, dinner, packed lunch, treated water in the whole Aconcagua and Plata;
Gas stoves and pots and cups in all camps at Aconcagua and Plata;
We even include Malbec wine for dinner at Plaza de Mulas!

WHATS NOT INCLUDED

Flights from/to Mendoza;
Climbing permit (it varies according to the time of the year and your nationality, check FAQ);
Personal climbing equipment (check equipment tab);
Money return in case you abandon the expedition;
International travel insurance;
Porters for you personal equipment (can be arranged in advanced);
Any costs caused by excess luggage (over 20kg);
Lunches and dinners at Mendoza;
Reimbursement for loss or damage of your personal equipment.