Petro - Aug 9, 2009 11:53 am Date Climbed: Mar 5, 2009
Polish Traverse - solo
An epic experience. I planned to do the Polish direct, but when I got up to camp two the weather turned really bad (strong winds and snowfall). I made a few attempts to go up, but hence I was the only one to stay in the camp I found it impossible to climb the glacier by myself. All in all, I spent 5 days in C2 (5800m) on Polish Route and then used a good day for a transfer to Colera - C2 on the Normal Route (6000m), since there was too much risk of an avalanche on the glacier. Unluckilly I lost my sunglasses during the traverse and had to spend two more days in a tent curing snow blindness. Another team was trying twice to go up to the summit at the time but had to draw back due to strong winds and lots of snow on the route. So it turned out that I would have lost those two days anyway. They decided to retreat and left me their spare sunglasses and some eyedrops which would help me go down the next day. So I remained the last person high on the mountain.
But the next day my eyes were much better and the weather was ok despite the strong winds. I left late (09:00 am) but managed to get to the summit. There was relatively a lot of snow on the way and I had to make a new track by myself so it was quite hard. While descending I met two other climbers who had started straight from Nido and seemed really exhausted. Anyway, they made it to the summit too - big respect.
I hadn't had much respect for this mountain before this climb, but 19 days on the mountain made me change this opinion. It may happen that the weather will be great, but if it's not, the mountain becomes quite serious, even on classical routes. It was a good lesson for me.
Tbacon251 - Jul 14, 2009 2:45 pm Date Climbed: Jan 25, 2009
Almost!
Almost made it! The weather was very bad and the snow very deep. Slow me way down. Made it 21,700 feet!!!! Will go back in a couple years.
cstraveller - Jun 24, 2009 9:13 am Date Climbed: Jan 5, 2007
Normal Route
Horcones - 2 x Confluencia - 3 x Plaza de Mulas - Nido de Condores - 3 x Camp Berlin - Plaza de Mulas - Horcones (11 days from park entry to park exit)
attimount - May 25, 2009 10:59 pm Date Climbed: Feb 19, 2008
Normal Route
Beutifull day with no clouds on the sky, climbed from Nino de Condores in ~14 h. The best trip in my life.
JanVanGenk - Apr 29, 2009 4:12 am Date Climbed: Feb 8, 2009
Polish Traverse
Traversed the mountain from Plaza Argentina to Plaza de Mulas. Spent some horrible nights in storm in Camp 2 of the Polish route. Luckily got a weather window to summit just 2 days before the expiry of my permit.
alpine climber - Mar 12, 2009 1:28 pm Date Climbed: Mar 6, 2009
Normal Route
Heavy snows and high winds delayed the summit bid, but I and two other American mountaineers reached the top after 14 days in the park. Very strong winds summit day, difficult to stand up straight on any ridge and along the traverse. Crampons were necessary the whole day as the route was covered with wind-blown snow and ice. 14.5 hours up and back, but beautiful all the way.
punchline - Mar 11, 2009 8:37 am Date Climbed: Jan 31, 2006
The Winds ...
were not our friends ... made it 100' shy of the summit and turned back. Beautiful country and great wineries to ease the disappointment!
Brian Kalet - Feb 24, 2009 12:07 am Date Climbed: Feb 13, 2009
Boriss Andean - Feb 13, 2009 6:12 pm Date Climbed: Feb 12, 2009
Rout Climbed: Normal Route - Plaza de Mulas.
Climbed solo to America's highest peak. It took me 11 days to do it because hauling my loads up by myself was hard, but mostly because of bad weather.
I spent a night in Berlin Refuge (5,850 meters) in the middle of a bad snowstorm, very windy and cold up there!. I managed to descend to a lower elevation, Nido de Condores (5,300 meters) the following morning, where I spent a couple of more snowstorms.
A beautiful view from the top (6,962 m/22,841 ft.) A dream come true.
Found new and old friends who were part of this new adventure as Vanina, Clavo and Colo, all from Argentina. Thank you guys!
Can't wait to climb it again by the other routes as well.
First attempt, unfortunately unsuccessful, weather was too bad, lots of snow, windy and very cold. Made it to halfway between Camp 1 and Camp 2.
Brad Marshall - Jan 16, 2009 4:40 pm Date Climbed: Jan 3, 2009
Losing a New Friend on the Polish Direct
Back on the mountain for a third time. Attempted the Polish Direct route with Stefan Jeromin who, I'm sad to report, fell to his death during his descent. He will be sadly missed by all.
Have summited twice. Once with snow in the caneletta and once whithout. I definitely prefer the snow.
mdostby - Nov 3, 2008 8:59 pm Date Climbed: Feb 7, 2005
False Polish Traverse
Attempted with Miguel Forjan a few years ago. Am planning on returning to take care of unfinished business.
Samuli Mansikka - Jun 28, 2008 2:56 am Date Climbed: Jan 15, 2008
Polish Glacier Direct
Climbed Polish Glacier Direct with my climbing partner Jere Pettersson on January 15th 2008. The route was in excellent condition so simul-soloed almost the whole route. The rockband was easily went around from it's left.
Angle varied between 30 - 55 degrees average probably being around 40 degrees. The final ridge to the summit was surprisingly long and boring.
Descent to high camp through Canaleta and polish traverse.
Photos at www.samulimansikka.com
hernberg - Jun 25, 2008 6:44 am Date Climbed: Jan 11, 2007
Falska Polacken
Made the summit via the false polish with my climbing partner Olle as the first summit team of the day
Wow, the highest I've ever been and the highest I'm likely to be for a long, long time (if not ever). I felt great leaving Nido at 3:30am, I felt great at 'Refugio' Independencia at sunrise, and I felt like crap on the summit. It was fantastic. My climbing partner got injured, so he stayed at Camp Canada. I started out from Nido with another fellow, but we split up at Independencia. I hiked the rest of the way by myself, but I was hardly alone. The Gran Acarreo is definitely the way to go on the way down. I was too tired to glissade safely, but it was still an easy, direct route and I didn't have to take my crampons off until below 6000m. Trudged back down to Plaza de Mullas that night. What an adventure.
melchior - Dec 28, 2009 1:25 pm
Been there in Feb this yearUnfortunately I didn't summit due to altitude sickness but I'll be back for sure!
Darek - Dec 10, 2009 4:48 pm Date Climbed: Jan 11, 2009
Normal-Polish Traverse LoopThe most serious mountain I have walked to. 8 days to summit including 5 days to ascent one single peak. Photos and a report from our trip (external link).
Petro - Aug 9, 2009 11:53 am Date Climbed: Mar 5, 2009
Polish Traverse - soloAn epic experience. I planned to do the Polish direct, but when I got up to camp two the weather turned really bad (strong winds and snowfall). I made a few attempts to go up, but hence I was the only one to stay in the camp I found it impossible to climb the glacier by myself. All in all, I spent 5 days in C2 (5800m) on Polish Route and then used a good day for a transfer to Colera - C2 on the Normal Route (6000m), since there was too much risk of an avalanche on the glacier. Unluckilly I lost my sunglasses during the traverse and had to spend two more days in a tent curing snow blindness. Another team was trying twice to go up to the summit at the time but had to draw back due to strong winds and lots of snow on the route. So it turned out that I would have lost those two days anyway. They decided to retreat and left me their spare sunglasses and some eyedrops which would help me go down the next day. So I remained the last person high on the mountain.
But the next day my eyes were much better and the weather was ok despite the strong winds. I left late (09:00 am) but managed to get to the summit. There was relatively a lot of snow on the way and I had to make a new track by myself so it was quite hard. While descending I met two other climbers who had started straight from Nido and seemed really exhausted. Anyway, they made it to the summit too - big respect.
I hadn't had much respect for this mountain before this climb, but 19 days on the mountain made me change this opinion. It may happen that the weather will be great, but if it's not, the mountain becomes quite serious, even on classical routes. It was a good lesson for me.
Tbacon251 - Jul 14, 2009 2:45 pm Date Climbed: Jan 25, 2009
Almost!Almost made it! The weather was very bad and the snow very deep. Slow me way down. Made it 21,700 feet!!!! Will go back in a couple years.
cstraveller - Jun 24, 2009 9:13 am Date Climbed: Jan 5, 2007
Normal RouteHorcones - 2 x Confluencia - 3 x Plaza de Mulas - Nido de Condores - 3 x Camp Berlin - Plaza de Mulas - Horcones (11 days from park entry to park exit)
attimount - May 25, 2009 10:59 pm Date Climbed: Feb 19, 2008
Normal RouteBeutifull day with no clouds on the sky, climbed from Nino de Condores in ~14 h. The best trip in my life.
JanVanGenk - Apr 29, 2009 4:12 am Date Climbed: Feb 8, 2009
Polish TraverseTraversed the mountain from Plaza Argentina to Plaza de Mulas. Spent some horrible nights in storm in Camp 2 of the Polish route. Luckily got a weather window to summit just 2 days before the expiry of my permit.
alpine climber - Mar 12, 2009 1:28 pm Date Climbed: Mar 6, 2009
Normal RouteHeavy snows and high winds delayed the summit bid, but I and two other American mountaineers reached the top after 14 days in the park. Very strong winds summit day, difficult to stand up straight on any ridge and along the traverse. Crampons were necessary the whole day as the route was covered with wind-blown snow and ice. 14.5 hours up and back, but beautiful all the way.
punchline - Mar 11, 2009 8:37 am Date Climbed: Jan 31, 2006
The Winds ...were not our friends ... made it 100' shy of the summit and turned back. Beautiful country and great wineries to ease the disappointment!
Brian Kalet - Feb 24, 2009 12:07 am Date Climbed: Feb 13, 2009
Polish TraverseTrip Report
Boriss Andean - Feb 13, 2009 6:12 pm Date Climbed: Feb 12, 2009
Rout Climbed: Normal Route - Plaza de Mulas.Climbed solo to America's highest peak. It took me 11 days to do it because hauling my loads up by myself was hard, but mostly because of bad weather.
I spent a night in Berlin Refuge (5,850 meters) in the middle of a bad snowstorm, very windy and cold up there!. I managed to descend to a lower elevation, Nido de Condores (5,300 meters) the following morning, where I spent a couple of more snowstorms.
A beautiful view from the top (6,962 m/22,841 ft.) A dream come true.
Found new and old friends who were part of this new adventure as Vanina, Clavo and Colo, all from Argentina. Thank you guys!
Can't wait to climb it again by the other routes as well.
Aconcagua Trip Report Here
SteveMarr - Feb 1, 2009 5:01 pm Date Climbed: Feb 14, 2001
Normal RouteClimbed via the Normal Route with Dan Cherry. We couldn't have asked for better weather during the entire trip.
Olaf - Jan 26, 2009 10:18 am Date Climbed: Jan 21, 2009
Polish TraverseSumitted via the Polish Traverse.
Nice weather till the summit ridge when it started to snow.
Wonderfull experience and a tough day out!
msihl - Jan 18, 2009 8:36 pm
Aconcagua from Plaza ArgentinaFirst attempt, unfortunately unsuccessful, weather was too bad, lots of snow, windy and very cold. Made it to halfway between Camp 1 and Camp 2.
Brad Marshall - Jan 16, 2009 4:40 pm Date Climbed: Jan 3, 2009
Losing a New Friend on the Polish DirectBack on the mountain for a third time. Attempted the Polish Direct route with Stefan Jeromin who, I'm sad to report, fell to his death during his descent. He will be sadly missed by all.
TRP - Dec 7, 2008 1:24 pm
AconcaguaHave summited twice. Once with snow in the caneletta and once whithout. I definitely prefer the snow.
mdostby - Nov 3, 2008 8:59 pm Date Climbed: Feb 7, 2005
False Polish TraverseAttempted with Miguel Forjan a few years ago. Am planning on returning to take care of unfinished business.
Samuli Mansikka - Jun 28, 2008 2:56 am Date Climbed: Jan 15, 2008
Polish Glacier DirectClimbed Polish Glacier Direct with my climbing partner Jere Pettersson on January 15th 2008. The route was in excellent condition so simul-soloed almost the whole route. The rockband was easily went around from it's left.
Angle varied between 30 - 55 degrees average probably being around 40 degrees. The final ridge to the summit was surprisingly long and boring.
Descent to high camp through Canaleta and polish traverse.
Photos at www.samulimansikka.com
hernberg - Jun 25, 2008 6:44 am Date Climbed: Jan 11, 2007
Falska PolackenMade the summit via the false polish with my climbing partner Olle as the first summit team of the day
paisajeroamericano - Apr 6, 2008 11:55 am Date Climbed: Jan 13, 2008
El TechoWow, the highest I've ever been and the highest I'm likely to be for a long, long time (if not ever). I felt great leaving Nido at 3:30am, I felt great at 'Refugio' Independencia at sunrise, and I felt like crap on the summit. It was fantastic. My climbing partner got injured, so he stayed at Camp Canada. I started out from Nido with another fellow, but we split up at Independencia. I hiked the rest of the way by myself, but I was hardly alone. The Gran Acarreo is definitely the way to go on the way down. I was too tired to glissade safely, but it was still an easy, direct route and I didn't have to take my crampons off until below 6000m. Trudged back down to Plaza de Mullas that night. What an adventure.