If the sportsmen come from the plain or from low places, we recommend to stay 2 or 3 days in Puente del Inca. During the time they are there they can walk and do little ascensions. This is good for better acclimatation. It would be good too to send the major loads by mules until the base camp and then the members of the group can do the way up walking. With regular march you can do it comfortably in two days. The first day until Confluencia (Inferior Horcons) and the second until Plaza de Mulas. Advanced reservation for mules is highly recommended. (pls see Alternative Vallecitos Acclimatization)

Once installed in the base camp you have to do practice of acclimatation and visit the superior Horcones'glacier. You must walk too, all about. If you are in good conditions you can intent the ascension of mount Catedral or mount Cuerno. Or you can shuttle the loads to the altitude camps and return to Plaza de Mulas. This practice to .go up and down, not too high, is an excellent exercise for acclimatation.

According to scientific information the period of acclimatation depends on the persons. It is more difficult for young people. The best age is between 30 and 40 or 45 years. The nervous equilibrium is very important for acclimatation. Another problem to consider is the descent. If you don't sleep well you can not recuperate well. You must take moderately somniferous. If acclimatation is a phenomenous corrector of the elements and always compatible with life, the adaptation is a hard discipline for the organism which tries to compensate to the utmost the elements not compatible with life: rarefaction of the air, disminution of athmospherical pressure, the cold, aridity, alcalosis and so on. Above 6,500 meters (maximum of acclimatation zone) the persons live only with their reserve. Therefore it is necessary to interrupt staying up there for a long time. You must come down to lower points where you can recuperate these reserves. Doing this several times you can get acclimatation and determine the time of maximum permanence in that height, so that there is no risk of deterioration, serious sign of alarm.

Mountain sickness is manifested through the following symptoms:

1. Acute indisposition with headache, nausea, vomiting, weakness and general health decline.
2. Brain edema, with severe headache, mental or visual disorder, unstable motion, nausea, coma, etc.
3. Pulmonary edema, evidenced through dyspnea, cyanosis, tachycardia, cough, unsteadiness, etc.

These signs overlap in such a way that they can be manifested in combination.
They are stages of the same process, and they are caused by one single denominator: reduced oxygen in the air. All these symptoms may be prevented through proper acclimatation.

A good knowledge of the signs and the effects of mountain sickmess will enable the climber to prevent severe health disorders, or even death, which may overcome in a short time. People affectedby the sickness can recover fairly well by coming down to lower altitudes as promptly as possible. But this is not the case with affected people who stay exposed longer at higher altitudes.
The safest practice is to come down to lower altitudes when the first sign of sickness is detected.