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I started in Aconcagua working at the base camp in the 2013-2014 season, and at Christmas I already hung up my apron and took my backpack to carry to the high altitude camps (although I continued to lend a hand in the kitchen when I dropped the kilos). This helped me a lot to get to know the mountain and how all the logistics moved, and above all to train every day going up and down with the kilos on my back to the high altitude camps along their normal route. Also, this season I was able to make my first summit on the roof of America.
The following year, already received as a guide, I went up to the Aconcagua season to work as a porter and if a guide came up, I would take it from the Plaza de Mulas base camp. It didn’t take long for the opportunity to lead to the summit to appear.
One day, Gigi and Vale, who used to work at the base, come running and tell me “colo” there is a job as a guide, a lady who wants to go to the summit. None of the guides or porters that were there wanted that job. I of course said yes right away.
So we sat down to have tea and get to know Susan. She was from the United States, she was 61 years old and she tells me that she had come down from a summit attempt the day before. Her expedition had reached the pass of the wind, that is, at approximately 6440 meters above sea level, and they had come down precisely because of a lot of wind (although she told me that she did not think there was that much wind). So she was super acclimatized and very motivated to try the summit again. She explained to me that she didn’t have much time due to flights, and that she wanted to make the attempt to the top in only 3 days. That is, climb directly from the Plaza de Mulas base camp at 4,200 masl to Camp 3 Cólera at 5,990 masl; the next day the summit attempt and finally on the third day go down to the base camp. As always, I wanted to go up the mountain immediately.
We prepare the tent equipment, heater, etc. We chose the food, a very difficult subject because Susan was a “level 8” vegan. And the next day we went straight to Cholera. Already in camp 3 and after fixing the heater (in which Agustín Aramayo helped me, still grateful), we prepared to rest for the next day. The summit attempt left very early and we had good weather, obvious cold as always and some wind, but acceptable. Every now and then I offered her to stop to rest, hydrate, eat something, but she almost always told me to “go on, slowly but steadily” so we kept going up; I was amazed at the physical performance of this woman, truly exemplary her determination. After two long breaks in Independencia 6400 masl and in La Cueva 6680 masl approx. We continue along the gutter step by step. The edge of the guanaco step by step and going up. Finally the summit 6962 masl! Happy to share with Susan and accompany her in her dream of stepping on the roof of America. I will always remember with affection this first guide on the mountain that I love so much and has given me so much.
(Anecdote: coming down from the summit in the cave with a very nice sun, we slept a little nap after the tremendous effort of the top)

INCAHUASI (6640 masl) and SAN FRANCISCO (6016 masl) !!

 

Last March a tremendous expedition left for CATAMARCA along the Ruta de los Seismiles

After a trip by truck from Mendoza passing through San Juan, La Rioja and Catamarca, we arrived in Fiambalá, once the operation was resolved we went up to 3 thousand meters to start with the acclimatization that would continue in Las Grutas at 4 thousand meters, for that We also climbed the Cerro Falso Morocho 4478 meters above sea level, with that beautiful view of the two giants behind, targets that were coming.

We also include the ascent of the Bertrand Volcano 5265 masl to continue enjoying those heights. We took a rest day in the outdoor hot springs to recover our strength, super stressed haha.

It goes without saying that the landscape that accompanied it was amazing vicuñas and guanacos everywhere, lagoons with flamingos, priceless sunsets, and also mountaineer friends came and went

It was the turn of one of the big guys in a long day and with very snowy terrain although with very good conditions to travel and some wind we entered the San Francisco Volcano 6016 meters above sea level

We even went down to Fiambalá to solve technical problems and relax. And we came back to face two “giant cakes” as a friend would say. We faced with the truck and then camp 1 and 2 to hit the Inca Chico 5848 masl there we had to abandon 4 canes because the static of the storm requested it, so they were left as an offering at the summit haha. Once we rest in the tent, we have dinner and Diego and Payo tell us that it went well for them in the Incahuasi, we celebrate the two summits, the plan is that the next day they break down camp and go down to the truck and in the meantime I shoot the summit in the Incahuasi to go straight down to the truck, a hard hit but super possible.

 

The issue is that it does not stop snowing and continues to accumulate. Inside I say to myself “well, lock in another time it will be the mountain, it will continue to be there”, we continue to hydrate and eat what we have left, I also prepare the equipment just in case. And at about 10 p.m., incredibly, it completely cleared, no wind, the entire mountain had accumulated 20 to 30 cm. I return hopes and the original plan goes up! At 2 o’clock I wake up and have a firm breakfast, I put on almost all of my coat, crampons and helmet and leave the tent to face the gutter that will take me to the summit plateau. It was 7 hours of making a mark and looking for the summit that I wanted to escape at first. Summit celebration on an incredible clear day without wind amazing 360 view Reaching the top I feel something strange in my left foot was the crampon that had broken the toe, and now? Haha how do I lower that gutter, well fix it with cord and down. I carefully go down the gutter, I rest in camp 2, I keep going down, I rest in camp 1 and load some things that were left, and I arrive at the van at 3:00 p.m., ready for the mates and the trip back to Fiambala !!

Everything went great and we renewed the energies for the projects that are coming in 2022!!

The question that floated in my head was not whether to travel or not haha, but where to start. So after the Aconcagua season back in 2019 I decided on Ecuador, beforehand I thought it was a country that has everything and I really wasn’t wrong. Everything close, and you move quickly from the mountain to the jungle and to the beach in a “blink”, tremendous!
As always “carabiner head” I thought first of the mountain. I organized the acclimatization and what better way to start it than in Quito which is at 2800 meters above sea level. Touring the historic center and its square, the basilica of the national vote, its parks, the property and monument of the middle of the world, enjoying the gastronomy and the views in the Guápulo neighborhood. Something that caught my attention was the visit to the Capilla del Hombre Museum by the artist Guayasamín, highly recommended, impressive!

 

After several days of enjoying the city, it was time for the first sports objective: the RucoPichincha hill of 4696 meters above sea level; Although you get quite close with the cable car, it added a lot to the acclimatization process and has unbeatable views of Quito and its surroundings.

 

In order for the “corporeal” to continue to adapt to the altitude, I decided to climb two more hills without technical difficulty. So I moved to El Chaupi south of Quito and climbed Cerro Corazón 4790 masl and Iliniza Norte 5126 masl. From its summits I had tremendous views of Cotopaxi and I already wanted to climb the snow-capped volcanoes.

 

In Aconcagua I had met two great mountain guides Juliana García and Ramiro Garrido, we had shared work and guided on a beautiful summit on the roof of America, so when I decided on Ecuador I did not hesitate to ask them how to manage in that beautiful country. That’s how they advised me on everything, and not only that, but Juliana just had a guide to Cotopaxi 5897 masl </ strong> with a single passenger, so she invited me to be part of that ascent; In one morning and at full speed I put together the backpack and that same afternoon we are already acclimatizing inside the Cotopaxi National Park. That same night we moved by truck (listening to reggeaton haha) to the starting point of the ascent. We went up a few meters and to get on the glacier we roped up. It was a cold hit, there was a humid wind that made itself felt, we still reached the summit and went down happily for a few beers.

 

As soon as I got off the “coto” Juliana told me that she was going to give a course at the Cayambe Refuge, that if I wanted I could join her and that Alejo Assati, another Ecuadorian guide (who also knew Aconcagua) wanted to go up the Cayambe 5790 masl. Imagine that I answered … “I’m going” if where I sign up haha. So with Alejo we share an ascent closed by the clouds sailing between the cracks of the glacier, but finally the summit and again going down to celebrate.

 

Before the roof of Ecuador I decided to visit and relax in the city of Baños, and what a good choice. Canyoning, trekking, swings in the sky, bicycle descents, Tibetan bridges, waterfalls, zip lines, many toasts … in short, a few days with everything!

And from Baños I decided to go a little further east to get to know something about the Ecuadorian jungle. In El Tena again, a little bit of everything: rafting, rivers, waterfalls, trekking through the jungle, we even ate chontacuro (roasted worms) haha

 

He wanted to go back to the mountain and climb the largest in the area; but first the sea tempted me haha ​​so I went to Montañitas for a few days. There I tried surfing, I was able to enjoy a few seconds of balance on the board in each attempt, so two days of many waves and boards passed and I tried the activity, I loved it (I need practice, yes ha). With some French friends I had made, we decided to go to Isla de la Plata, what a beauty: whale watching, snorkeling, and a tour of the island seeing the blue-footed boobies, all amazing. I went a little north along the coast and found Cannoas, a beautiful beach: sunsets, yoga, walks from end to end on the sand.

 

With the goal of Chimborazo, I had already gained good acclimatization on the other hills, but I had spent several days on the beach, so I decided to meet the altitude again in a more friendly way and went to Otavalo< /strong>. There, at 2,500 meters above sea level, I toured the market, visited its lagoons by bicycle and made good friends.

Now yes! Let’s go to the big one, I said. And I organized the team for the last hit in Ecuador. For this objective I couldn’t get a roped partner, so I decided to do the ascent alone, a bit of a gamble but that’s where I went. I took the “bondi” that was left for me at the door of the Chimborazo Reserve, the only thing that I got off at 9 at night and there was no one in the offices haha ​​everything closed, so I got ready to bivouac

LEÑAS DEL  TOLOSA 4000 vintage style!

A new “cerrazo” came out for me, in the area of ​​the Andean corridor in Mendoza, 1188 meters of difference in altitude in 3.22 km in 6 and a half hours, beautiful ascent I started walking at 7:45 am I went into the ravine I quickly put on crampons, helmet and pickaxe. I advanced quite quickly through the snow and in the end the channel of about 40º to 45º left me on the summit edge, the snow was quite good at times hard and at others opening a trail. The day was painted, clear without wind tremendous spring day.

The summit edge was between snow and rocks until I reached the top rock, there to be honest I hesitated for a few moments whether to face it or not haha, well I was alone and I had a few steps of climbing on rotten rock in front of me, so I took courage I left With crampons on and without a backpack, I faced the climbing steps that left me at the summit. Standing on the top, happy to overcome my fears, I prepared myself for the obligatory photos and videos, a festive lunch and a deep breath of the immensity of the mountains.

I went down fast and the truth is that I soon want to equip myself for randonnée and do this type of descent because it invited me to go down even faster. At 2:15 p.m. I was already in the truck stretching and enjoying some good mates.
Thank life for having known this sport that puts us in contact with nature in such an incredible way.

I feel that it is very healthy for mountain guides to face projects of ascents and climbing (large, small, medium whatever), and “kick” alone from time to time it returns us to the primitive of mountaineering, it helps us to connect with the mountain in a different way and renew our enthusiasm for the sport by strengthening that connection. Obviously discovering new places for us also makes us grow and broaden our horizons.

to continue enjoying the mountain
summit and base camp hug!

colo

TRAINING FOR ACONCAGUA

 

Here are some General Advices that can help in the training for our ascent to Aconcagua, I hope you join them to motivate and make dreams come true!

 

INTRODUCTION

 

Mountaineering as a sport, and could be said as an “art”, is a balance between many factors: equipment, nutrition, hydration, acclimatization, evaluating objective and subjective risks, logistics, breaks, itinerary, training and others. Today we stay with the latter for an approach to it.

As we always say, it is best to first consult professionals, in this case first a medical study that will discharge us to train and practice mountaineering; It would be great to add the advice of a nutritionist and a physical trainer (who will accompany our training)

From the above it follows that it is super important to take care of our nutrition and our hydration in the day to day living the training plan (these will be topics of future blogs).

In addition, it is understood that the training must be personalized according to the characteristics of each one and very importantly according to our sports objectives. In fact, we have to train by visualizing and directing the plan towards them.

The ideal would be to include 3 aspects in our weekly training plan: AEROBIC, FUNCTIONAL and SPECIFIC.

It is also important that we give space in each training session to the WARM UP (with an aerobic moment and joint mobility) and at the end of the COOL DOWN (stretching elongation ). This helps us avoid injuries and improve our flexibility.

Finally, in the conclusion and the key point in our opinion: “the best training is sport itself”; in our case if we want to climb mountains the best we can we can do is go and climb them (always progressively in height and difficulty)

 

DEFINITION AND PRINCIPLES OF TRAINING

We include two training definitions:

• “Planned process that aims to change the sports performance capacity complex”
• “It should aim at the development of each and every one of the capacities, which allow the athlete to climb more safely, overcome greater difficulties, spend less time for the same job and be able to perform for longer periods”

In other words, we must work on RESISTANCE, POWER, STRENGTH AND FLEXIBILITY in a planned manner always based on our objective.

 

It is important to understand and respect the principles of training (this is where the physical trainer helps us with their advice), we leave you with a summary of them:

1-Principle of the EFFECTIVE LOAD STIMULUS:

The stimulus must exceed a certain intensity threshold in order to initiate an adaptation reaction. The magnitude of the stimulus ranges from a weak stimulus to an excessive stimulus, passing through an optimal stimulus.

• Weak: maintains the functional level of the athlete
• Optimal: initiates changes in the athlete by requiring adaptation to a great effort.
• Excessive: Causes damage to the subject, mostly functional.

2-Principle of PROGRESSIVE INCREASE:

The load must be increased progressively to ensure a correct adaptation. Progression order:

• increased training frequency (not weekly sessions)
• increased training volume (session duration)
• reduction of breaks
• increased training intensity

3-Principle of STRESS-REST ALTERNATION:

When the balanced relationship between load and recovery is not respected, reducing the rest time produces a long-term reduction in the level of performance that can also lead to chronic fatigue due to the impossibility of recovery.

4- Principle of REPETITION AND CONTINUITY:

Before varying the type of loads, the achievement of adaptation stability must be ensured, through continuity in the presentation of loads, repeating them throughout a phase before modifying it.

5-Principle of PERIODIZATION:

Make a subdivision of the training time along periods that respect going from a contractive phase to a stabilization phase and then propose a reduction

6-Princi

More than 5000 km traveled by car (visiting the north of Argentina, Bolivia and returning through Chile).

8 mountains climbed, including the roof of Bolivia, the Sajama.

Descent by bike on the road of death.

Lots of mate and plenty of toasts!

Copious amounts of local food!

 

I shared this trip with Diego Arcos, Maxi Garay and Leo Muñoz, we set sail back in July 2017 on a rainy and cold morning from Mendoza; we headed north and, on our way to Bolivia, we passed through Tucumán just in time for the 9th of July so we enjoyed Argentina’s patriotic celebrations.

In the province of Jujuy, we stopped in Tilcara and visited the spectacular mountain valley Quebrada de Humahuaca.

Entering Bolivia, we spent two nights in Potosi (a shocking testimony of colonial plundering). We already experienced the colorful Quechua and Aymara cultures.

With the altitude experienced in Potosi and with the days of preparations in La Paz we were ready to venture into the first ascents, so we got back on the “fancito” (I clarify: the ship, Suzuki Fun car model that responded very well to all the kilometers especially when we tried to 4 x 4 in the approaches to the hills – color note at the bottom the orange grill that topped the roof of the car and in which we loaded all the bags with equipment) and set sail for the Cordillera Real.

It is worth mentioning that in La Paz we were lucky enough to experience the festivities of the city with the avenues crowded with people and decorations, music and delicious food including the famous anticucho.

Our first objective was to acclimatize well with the Pico Austria (5230 masl) and then enjoy the more technical ascent of the C° Pirámide Blanca (5260 masl) and C° Pequeño Almapayo (5730 masl), beautiful mountains that we climbed from the base at the Laguna Chiar Khota, an incredible place.

Without wasting time or acclimatization we went to make a classic of Bolivia, the C° Huayna Potosi (6088 masl), mountaineering “five stars” from the shelters.

We took advantage of the descent of these mountains to take a break from the ascents and visited Copacabana and the Isla del Sol, an amazing place, not to be missed!

From La Paz we were already “manijas”, very enthusiastic and we started to organize the next “pegue” and we left in the direction of the C° Illimani (6462 masl) one of the giants that can be seen from the capital city. The final part “the stairway to heaven” was very long, but beautiful sunrise at the summit!

After that “cerrazo”, we decided to rest again from the mountain, but not from our release of adrenaline and endorphins, so we embarked on a bike descent called “the road of death”, we got on the bikes at about 4000 masl and went down to 1300 masl and in the jungle to enjoy the pool and buffet lunch, but not before falling a couple of times from the bikes and spend some scares hehe.

The next objectives were in the Western Cordillera, so we got back on the ship, “the little fan”, and traveled to the village of Sajama near the border with Chile, a village at over 4000 meters above sea level very picturesque, we made friends with several families and again we coincided with the local celebration at the school so we toasted long and hard and witnessed all the dances and music performances of the school and village bands. From here we climbed the Acotango Volcano (6052 masl) and the Muru Payachata (Parinacota) Volcano (6330 masl) and of course the “roof of Bolivia” the Sajama Volcano (6542 masl). We shared these pegues with Nico Cairone and Neri Chalar, who had already paved the way by organizing the logistics of the hills and generated good friendships in town.

 

In conclusion a trip as they would say in chronicle “with everything” hehe, 2 months of local festivals everywhere, downhill biking, beautiful landscapes and cities, delicious and hearty meals. The mountain of Bolivia opened its doors wide and gave us permission to step on all the summits that we had proposed. The Plurinational State of Bolivia is an incredible country with a rich culture to return and climb much more!