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Common name: Aconcagua

Original name: Ackon Cahuak (Quechua for ‘stone sentinal’)

Location: Aconcagua Provincial Park, 110 kilometers northwest of Mendoza, Argentina

Altitude: 6962 meters ( 22,841 feet)

First (western) ascent: Mathias Zurbriggen, 1897

Facts and trivia: Not a volcano but created by a subduction of the Nazca Plate. Also called the 'stone sentinel', Aconcagua is the highest mountain outside of Asia. Although the air is thin at the summit (~40% of sea-level) it is a fairly non-technical mountain.

In 1883, German explorer Paul Güssfeldt notoriously persuaded local porters up the mountain by telling them there was a treasure there. It seems the Argentineans learned from this as permits, fees, accommodation and transportation is roughly double the price for foreigners as it is for fellow Argentineans.

Aconcagua can be approached from different ways: the north via the Normal Route, the Polish Glacier via the Polish Glacier Traverse and Polish Glacier Routes. Other routes to the summit from the south and southwest are more difficult.

As the high season is December-March, which is winter time in the Himalayas, climbers can be ‘the highest people on Earth’ without having to surpass 8,000 meters.

Please click here for our Aconcagua expedition log, and here for the pictures we made during our expedition