25th – Loma Blanca

Today was an acclimatization day where we would spend 5 hours climbing the nearby 3664m high summit Loma Blanca. This would be a walk that brought us 900m above the hut, a decent acclimatization.

We left the hut at 1000 and with a gentle and steady pace we quickly ate us up through the altitude meters. We had a great view – or rather; we would have had a great view if we hadn't been walking through clouds giving us a visibility of 50-100m. When reaching the top we had our lunch, and after that break we soon packed up again and started descending to get back to the hut.

Coming back we had a short briefing concerning the next 5 nights/6 days. We will be establishing 2 different camps (3 and 2 nights, respectively), ultimately acclimatizing to 5461m on Cerro Vallecitos. After this we will be descending all the way down to a Mendoza-like altitude where we will spend a night at a hotel before continuing and going to Aconcagua. As we will be coming back to the hut first where we are being picked up we will be able to leave anything behind that we won’t need the coming days. We have been asked to bring our double boots due to a potentially cold climb of Cerro Vallecitos so despite being able to leave equipment we will still have plenty to carry. Sleeping bag, boots, down jacket, a set of clean clothes (“a set” as in “1 set” – we are only gone for 6 days) and various equipment. But the days where we will be carrying our full pack – from camp to camp – will be relatively short so it ought to be manageable. And the first camp is already at 3448m so with today’s acclimatization that shouldn't be too hard.

A beautiful view from the summit of Loma Blanca

It was almost eerie coming down and seeing abandoned ski lifts appear in the mist.

Last night we had a slightly gooey version of pasta carbonara, extremely rich so after the meat pizza for lunch only half a portion was consumed. But despite the small amount there was still plenty of energy going in, no doubt about that. This afternoon Pablo has been putting chicken and large pieces of meat on a fire. Interesting!

50 meters from the hut there is a hostel-like place with wireless internet (our hut has it too, but as they didn't pay the bills the connection was cut) and of course that had to be used during some down time. I hadn't been sitting more than 20 seconds before being made into a chair by a very attention-seeking, hug-needy, cat. When done with what I wanted I put the cat down to get up, but I had barely had time to move before it had jumped up again. So I ended up staying online a bit longer. For the cat’s sake, obviously.

The cat is the boss. Can't move if not given permission to do so.