Mendoza – Vallecitos

After almost 3 weeks together with Doloris, David, and Nani, the time had come to say goodbye and thank you for the trip. Although only Nani and I reached the summit of Aconcagua, the whole group agreed that it had been a very nice trip.

David, I, Doloris, and Nani on a hike out of Aconcagua Base Camp.

Back in Mendoza, the luxury of Park Hyatt hotel was replaced with Gorilla Hostel, centrally located in Mendoza. I had planned to stay in Mendoza for about 2-3 weeks before heading south to Patagonia to meet my friends, Matoco and Pepo, whom I went on a trip with in Nepal just a few months ago.

At the hostel, I met several people who had either been to Aconcagua or were planning to attempt it.

After ten days of summer, sun, and temperatures well over 30 degrees Celsius in Mendoza, my longing for the mountains grew so strong that I found some new hiking companions at the hostel, packed my backpack, and headed back towards the Andes mountains. I needed a period of acclimatization.

Ryan, from Australia, was planning to attempt Aconcagua solo, so these were his acclimatization days before he would enter the national park and head towards Base Camp.

Ryan, me, and Ricky at Co Adolfo Calle, which is 4,270 meters above sea level.

Base Camp

In five days, we managed to climb Co Adolfo Calle at 4,270 meters and Pico Vallecitos at 5,370 meters.

We shared the smallest two-person tent ever, experienced sun, rain, snow, and wind, and found our way through the fog to some magical mountain peaks.

I was still well acclimatized from the Aconcagua trip, so even the hike to the highest peak over 5,300 meters above sea level was a breeze.

Ryan and me at Pico Vallecitos, which is 5,370 meters above sea level. Back in Mendoza, it was suddenly time to move on, luckily only heading straight south to Patagonia.

Five weeks in Mendoza had passed so quickly, and I was very happy that I wasn’t going home just yet.

Aconcagua was magical, and Mendoza was absolutely beautiful.