Mount Aconcagua

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TREK TO PLAZA DE MULAS - SERVICES

Dificultad:

Included Services

Assistance to buy the Trekking Permit
Transfer Mendoza / Puente del Inca / Mendoza
Meals
Lodging in Puente del Inca
Assistence for the arrangement of loads to be transported by mules
Mules
Transfer to Aconcagua trailhead
Confluencia Camp Site
Treking to Plaza Francia
Plaza de Mulas Base Camp
Trekking to Horcones Glacier
Our Guides
Tents
Communication

Not Included Services

Trekking Permit
Drinks and other personal costs not mentioned in the itinerary
Expenses for giving up the trekking
Sleeping Bag and Personal Equipment
Personal Insurance
Problems with your luggage (Loss or delay during the flight)

Included Services

Assistance to buy the Trekking Permit
Mount Aconcagua is located in a provincial Park, managed by the Government of Mendoza.
To get into the Park you should get a permit, the price of which will depend on the activity you are going to participate in (climbing, long trek, short trek). This working paper must be done personally, as a government rule. That is why each passenger should go to the Park’s office with his or her own passport.
The guide will assist youwith the payment of the permit, and with the working paper.

Transfer Mendoza / Puente del Inca / Mendoza
We will take you to Puente Del Inca in our own vehicles. We will drive over 180 kilometers, which separate Mendoza City from Puente Del Inca. The scenery throughout this journey is boasted as one of the most spectacular landscapes in the Central Andes.

Meals
Throughout the trekking you will enjoy all meals (B: breakfast / L: lunch / PL: packed-lunch if you are on the move / D: dinner), which are carefully planned by professionals to have a balanced diet during those days on the mountain.
Our cooks always prepare every meal, with fixed menu from the second day.

Those meals mentioned in the itinerary are included.
If you are vegetarian or celiac, or you need a special diet, please let us know in your Booking Form. It will be a pleasure for us to prepare an especial menu for you. This service has an extra cost.

Lodging in Puente del Inca
Puente Del Inca hotel was built here and it is the only lodging in this strategic zone at five kilometers far from the Aconcagua Park trailhead.You will spend one night (at the begining of the program) in this beautiful place, in rooms for three to six people (according to the number of members in the group) with a private toilet.
Complete breakfast and unforgettable dinner in the restaurant of the hostel are also included.

Assistance for the arrangements of loads to be transported by mules
Our mountain guides will advise you on when you have to decide what to include in your luggage and the way in which it should be arranged on the mules.

Mules
Aymara Adventures & Expeditions owns more than 100 mules which carry people or belongings.
These animals pasture during autumn, winter and spring, this means from the middle of March to the middle of November. Before starting with the summer season, these animals are tested and given medicine by veterinarians. They are treated with caution.
At the beginning of the Aconcagua season, they are transported by lorries to Puente del Inca without shoeing to avoid any injury.
During the season, they are treated with a lot of care and attention. It is important to take into account that after two trips to Plaza de Mulas and one to Plaza Argentina, the mules rest 4 or 5 days, so as they can recover from this activity.
The negative aspect of these animals is their untamed character. That is why we have selected a professional team of muleteers, called “arrieros”, who have dedicated their lives to the country animals”. Experience has taught them haw to deal with these animals.
From Puente Del Inca to Confluencia, from this camp to Plaza de Mulas, and on the return to Puente del Inca, your belongings will be carried by mules. Each mule can carry up to a limit of 180 kg, but our mules only carry 60 kg to move comfortably on the mountain. Every client may transport on the mules a maximum of 30 kg on each stage of the approach. We strongly recommend you to bring a strong duffel bag.

Transfer to Aconcagua trailhead
You will be driven in our own vehicles for 5 kilometers, from Puente Del Inca Hotel to the first Rangers Station. Here your permit is checked out and you are informed about the park rules.

Confluencia Camp Site
During the trekking, you will stay two nigths in our base camp in Confluencia, which has the enough comfort to spend a good deal of time, being fully equipped, with wide dinner tents, electrical light, tables and chairs to have meals.

Trekking to Plaza Francia
On the 3rd day of the trekking, you will visit the base of the mythical South Face of the Aconcagua Mountain. This is the most vertical face of the mountain, with glaciers and walls almost 3.000 m tall. During this trekking you will get up to 4.000 m.

Plaza de Mulas Base Camp
Once you have arrived at Plaza de Mulas, you will spend the night in our own campsite, fully prepared to make your trip around the magnificent South American mountain, as comfortable as possible. With tents for eating, another for the kitchen, a third tent for equipment storage, and toilets. Here you will be attended by excellent workers, who will prepare delicious meals and provide an excellent service.

Trekking in the area
You will make a short trek at the area to know the Plaza de Mulas Base Camp and the glaciers around.

Our Guides
Our mountain guides are qualified professionals of the AAGM (Argentinean Association of Mountain Guides) and the EPGAMT (Provincial School of High Mountain and Trekking Guides). The last qualification is a result of 3 years of study. We believe that to succeed in our expeditions, professionals with experience and the ability to offer security should guide our teams.
Our guides’ equipment includes: VHF radio, a first aid kit, complete with the appropriate medicines for altitude sickness, ropes, an altimeter, and professional clothing and equipment. All these will provide security and comfort.

Tents
Normally, during the summer high season, Aconcagua is a mountain with good weather conditions. Yet if you happen to have a few days of storms, you will be responsive to nature’s whims at high altitudes. Therefore, we will be sure to provide you with the highest quality tents. We use only two brands: The North Face and Mountain Hardwear, which have proved to work well for our clients over the years.

Usually two climbers will sleep in each tent. Remember that each passenger has to set up the tent with his partner. The guide will help you when necessary.

Communication
You will see that we keep track of where we are at specific sites along the way. We take advantage of the VHF and BLU radio lines that help us to stay in contact between Plaza de Mulas, Confluencia, Puente del Inca and Mendoza. Therefore, we can respond almost instantaneously to whatever issue that may arise.

Not Included Services

Trekking Permit
It is essential to acquire a permit to enter the Aconcagua Provincial Park. The price varies according to the season in which you enter the Park (low, mid or high). Please, contact our staff to learn the current value according to the starting date of your trekking.

This procedure is personal and the payment must be done in Argentinean Pesos directly to the authorities of the Aconcagua Provincial Park, in Mendoza.

The amount of thye permit is non-refundable and the price may suffer increases without prior notice by the authorities of the Aconcagua Provincial Park.

The payment of the fee contributes to the maintenance of the Aconcagua Provincial Park (collaborating with its protection an preservation) as well as with the maintenance of the Medical Services and Rangers.

The permit entry to Aconcagua Provincial Park is not included in this program.

Expenses for giving up the trekking
In order to have better but cheaper services, the expedition is quoted taking into account the whole group. In any case that you give up the scheduled itinerary because of personal problems, mountain sickness, etc, you start taking private and individual services. The extra expenses that you will pay if necessary are: mules from Plaza de Mulas to Puente del Inca (around U$D 200.-), the private transfer from Puente del Inca to Mendoza city, etc. Once you give up the itinerary, the transfer in a regular bus.

There is a possibility that you be evacuated by helicopter, and in that case your belongings willnot travel with you. If you do not wait for your belongings in Puente de Inca, in this case you have to pay not only the mule to carry your equipment down, but also a transportation to take your belongins to Mendoza. Each person is responsible for his belongings and personal equipment.

Sleeping Bag and Personal Equipment
Neither the technical nor the mountain equipment are included services, so you would have to buy it or rent it. Take into account our guides if you need assistance.
If you rent equipment, you will be responsible for it. Apart from that, you must give the equipment back to the mountain shop in time.

Personal Insurance
Having a personal insurance is not a fundamental requirement to climb the Mt. Aconcagua. However, we suggest that you contact an insurance company if you wish to take insurance out, taking into account the risks involved in the mountain.

Problems with your luggage (Loss or deley during the flight)
If your luggage is lost during your flight, or it arrives later than you do in other flight, you will have to work the problem out with the corresponding air line. Aymara is not responsible for such an event.
In the same way, if your luggage does not arrive in Mendoza in time for the departure date of the group to Puente del Inca, the trekking will be carried out as initially planned, and you will be responsible for those extra expenses caused by this shortcoming.