Day 14 | 13-2-2020 – Basecamp to Penitentes – Climbing Aconcagua (360 route)

All together it has been a quite long journey & today this climb will come to an end. Today is the last day of climbing/descending. It will take us from Plaza de Mulas basecamp back to Penitentes/exit of the Aconcagua Park.

First off we had breakfast altogether as a group. Some people didn’t bother to setup the tent (which by now is very understandable) and slept on the floor of the dinner tent. Jurjen and myself choose to setup the tent once more the evening before and finished this ritual by disassembling it after breakfast. As we had a busy (hiking) schedule ahead, Jelle helped us taking it down. One last time packing up all the (dusty) contents of the tent.

Today we had 25-ish km walk (all day long) ahead in mainly flat valleys. Once again I was happy we did the 360 tour, so this would be all new terrain, mostly made up of dry river scenery. Somewhere halfway we found a rock (in the river) an to most of us that seemd as a perfect spot for a rest (finally some rest in the shade) but as Jelle is, he saw it as the perfect boulder location. Before we knew it, he had managed to do the left to right side crossing of the rock.

After the break the hike continued. Along the way we encountered something I had seen on one of my maps along the preparation. At one time a couple of years ago an Inka body was found. This is close to what is called the Pyramid Mountain. As we came from Basecamp you do not see it immediately, but if you are doing the standard Aconcagua climbing route (with Plaza de Mulas as your “default” basecamp) you cannot miss it. Pyramid mountain is an eyecatcher mountain with a silhouette which to me is as prominent as the Matterhorn. Our guide Giorgio told us something interesting as to the location of the Inka Mummy (and this I found interesting, because it could related to an ancient universal mountain theory – in Nepal it is also common knowledge) As the top of the mountains belong to the gods, no human being/body may stay there, so that possibly would be the reason for the body laying meters below the summit and not near the top.

After nearly 26km of hiking we arrived at our destination: the entrance/parking of the Aconcagua National Park. With this our adventure came to an end. We have endured headaches, very uncomfortable toilet visits, tons of dust, sunburns but also lots of laughing, happy moments with the group and in solitude, scenic views to the top of the mountain and down to the valley. New friendships have been created and unerasable/life long lasting memories have been shaped. Thank you Aconcagua that you have allowed us to be your guests.