NORMAL ROUTE - NORTH RIDGE

Leaving Plaza de Mulas you follow the route indicated in the accompanying chart. It es advisable to make a first stage and set up a base camp at the top part of the "Portezuelo del Manso" ( 5.200 m). It is a good practice to stay at the base camp for a couple of days for a proper acclimatation. The areais characterized by a great number of rocks which allow well-protected camp. According to snowfall intensity during the winter time, in some seasons there may exist a small lake which provides the necessary water supply for expeditions. The "Antirtida Argentina" refuge ( 5,500 m) is no longer used by climbers since it now lies way off the route. From "Portezuelo del Manso" or Camp 1, climbing gently up easy alluvium paths, you reach refuges "Plantamura", "Libertad" and " Berlin" ( 6.000 m) . At this altitude many expedition also stay for a couple of days for acclimatation. From this point two alternative routes are possible: the first one is to scale all the way to the summit, an exhausting climb in itself. The second one is to reach refuge "Independencia" ( 6.500 m) and from there, on the following day, go up to the top. The first alternative is the most usual, but you are very likely to be caught by the darkness of night on the way down. Whereas the second one, though implying shorter journeys, has the disadvantage that it maybecome bery rough to stay overnight at such altitudes, matters being aggravated by the fact that the refuge is half in ruins. In any case, and due to the numerous expeditions trying to reach the top week after week, the use of tents is more than necessary, since all the refuges are like small bivouacs with capacity for 3 or 4 people. (Refer to the section giving details about the conditions of refuges). Coming down there is a natural predisposition to follow the route of the Gran Acarreo, but this way will deviate you from the refuges. There is no natural predisposition against eventual storms and bad weather. If there is a tempest, it is suicidal to go down following the way of the Gran Acarreo, hoping you can do it more rapidly. By experience we know that there is no natural defense where you can wait under protection until the storm is over. Ascending and descending it is always prudent to follow the rock of the North West. There you will find the refuges. If physical conditions are good in the ascension, you can calculate 20-40% less time for the descent. If you are very tired after the ascension, this calculation is wrong because in these heights a recuperation is not possible. So you need more Or less the same time for coming down. This northern route does not present technical difficulties, but you must not forget storms of an unblievable force and "puna". You must observe the serious m, les of mountain security. Otherwise, any mistake may be fatal.

POLISH´S GLACIER ROUTE

Ascending the deep pass of river Vacas and Relinchos where you will find lots of water courses with wood enough you arrive at the base camp "Plaza Argentina", "Plaza de Mulas Superior" ( 4.100 m). From the base camp you ascend in direction West-North-West by serius slopes up to 4.700 m. Passed the big outerop rock you can put up camp 1. Then you. go on in the same direction and will come to Portezuelo Ameghino ( 5.300 m). You go on South West direction, ascending by the North of Westcrest until you arrive at 5.800 m. Approximately this is the beginning of the Polish Glacier and there you may put up camp 3. Once on the glacier you do not leave it until you arrive at 6.500 m. Very close to the board and in a place protected by the rocks, you find camp 4, named "Piedra Bandera". To take the top it is convenient to camp at 6.700 m. The distance. from Punta de Vacas to the base camp is approximately 60 kin. Since access is fairly easy many expeditions get to the base of the Polish Glacier either through the Northwest route or the Normal route, departing from the refuges installed at 6.000 m.

FRENCH ROUTE INFERIOR HORCONES - SOUTH FACE

The South wall presents in its 3.000 m a crag which was used by a French expedition in its first ascension in 1954. This crag gives a relative security against avalanches. The base camp ( 4.100 m) named "Plaza Francia" is situated at the left side of the beginning of the crag. You get to camp 1 by the carriage of strong slope and simple scale on the base of the "Grandes Tortes" at 4.900 m. These formations are sulcated by access canals and generally covered with ice. So you need excellent technical skill on rock to cope with 4° (+) of difficulty. After this the way is open to Camp 2 ( 5.800 m) at the base of the Inferior Glacier. After a walk over a considerable icependant end after passing a little rock parapet you superate the "cascada" of superior glacier with artificial technique on ice. This represents a vertical cut of approximately 50 m. The superior glacier presents a convenient "plateau" for the installation of camp 3 ( 6.400 m). Traversing to the right hand you come to the final part and key of the superior crag. Because of the terrain's exigency (5° grade of difficulty) you must set up a camp 4 on 6.700 m from where you attack the top.

ROUTE SOUTH WEST - EDGE IBAÑEZ, GRAJALES, MARMILLOD

From Plaza de Mulas Vieja ( 4.230 m) after a short horizontal walk to the South you ascend by the slope of carriage and in a 6 to 7 hours day you will arrive at the first walls and at the last point of ascension without scale. There you may put up camp 1 ( 5.500 m). The next day you advance at the foot of the walls going up and down following laces and stony tracks in direction of the South crest distantl approximately 2 1/2 kilometers. At half the distance the mountain is crossed by a big channel which constitutes the key of the ascension. This channel permits to arrive at the superior edge avoiding the part between. 6.000 and 6.600 meters which presents various vertical and impracticable towers. To arrive at the channel base you must dominate a first rocky rank of 100 meters, which sorrounds like a belt this whole face of the mountain. This obstacle is passed over advancing in direction of the crest. When you arrive near there you will find a deep channel. So you ascend until the base of the first vertical tower of the edge near the point marked 6.009 meters in the topography 1/50.000 of the Geographic Argentine Institute. From this point on you go to the North some 200 meters down sloping a stony track until arriving at the base of the " Gran Canal". On a rock like a roof at 5.700 meters you will find camp 2, only 200 meters above camp 1 with a light devitation to the South in the vertical sense of the mountain. You attack the channel by a slope. of polished rock which becomes straight after a hundred meters and forms a toboggan slide of snow between two rocky walls. Further up, the terrain becomes wider again. Finally you come to an open pendant which ends on a vertical wall and forms a cut of the edge on the right hand but looses height on the left. The route goes in diagonal in this last direction. There, between the snow and the wall base you find a relatively good place to put up the third camp at 6.400 meters. From there you follow the superior border wall, which is a secondary crest in the west flank, until arriving at the junction point with the South crest (probably point 6.707 meters in topograph~ 1/50.000 of G.M.A.I.)- You go forward using the principal edge which you do not leave until you arrive at the top. You descend by the crest which joins both tops (crest of Guanaco) and take the superior part of the "Gran Acarreo" of the Northern face, very close to the principal top.

EAST GLACIER - ARGENTINE ROUTE

The approximation route is through Valley de las Vacas and Relinchos up to Plaza Argentina Superior. The East Glacier lies between the Polish Glacier and the South Wall, and it begins above 6.300 m, with a maximum slope between 60-65 degrees. The bottom stages do not pose great difficulty, lying its complicated part at 6,200 m where a drop on the rock about 400 m high offers the greatest difficulty. The final part is reached very close to the summit along the edge of the Polish Glacier. This route was conquered for the first time in February 1978 by Argentine climbers Guillermo Vieyro, Jorge Jasson and Edgardo Porcellana.

SOUTHWEST RIDGE - MENDOCINIAN ROUTE

This new variant going past the Pyramid, was first scaled in January 1982 by Carlos Sansoni and Sergio Buglio. You get into it through the Horcones Valley, climbing up to the top of the Pyramid peak ( 6.000 m). From there, along a chute or "gutter" close to the 6.100 m it intersects the original route of the Southwest Ridge which leads to the South summit. The descent is done down the Great Alluvium (Gran Acarreo) to Plaza de Mulas.