Confluencia - 10,990ft/3,350m Old Confluencia camp (Photo: Adam Pease)         New Confluencia camp (Photo: Eldon Boone)

After a few minutes drive from Penitentes, climbers will arrive at the park gates. You will show your permit, obtained in Mendoza, and then start your hike. A few day hikers will be there, admiring the very small Horocones lagoon, which looks verdant and beautiful amidst the stark mountain scene. The ranger station at the entrance also has a helicopter landing pad. The helicopters are kept very busy carrying supplies to, and wastes from, the camps. They also carry injured or sick climbers. The mountain is exceptionally well run. Evacuation services are part of your climbing fee. The fee may seem high, but not when you or your friends need evacuation, as one of mine did.

It is a short walk of about 3 hours to Confluencia. For 2005 the camp has been moved south from its previous location near the river. The new location is a much larger and more level site, but lacks the relaxing sound of the water that made the first nights sleep so restful. Water is piped in to the camp along 2000ft of pipe from a glacial stream.

Confluencia is typically your base for an acclimatization hike on the second day to view the south face of Aconcagua. The hike takes about 7 hours round trip. The south face is magnificent and imposing. It is remarkable to think of climbers attempting the south face route. It is one of the world's most challenging mountaineering routes - a 7000 ft wall at high altitude. It can take weeks to place fixed ropes and ascend, sleeping in bivuoac bags clipped to the wall of stone and ice.

At the base of the South Face is a glacier that is gradually making its way down the valley. It doesn't look like a glacier at first, so covered as it is with rock and dirt.

-> to Base Camp - Plaza de Mulas

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