Aconcagua: Traverse between Plaza Francia and Plaza Argentina

[Nacho]

Hi, does anybody made the traverse between Plaza Francia (BC of the south face) and Plaza Argentina (BC of Polish Glacier) in Aconcagua, via the col?

I want to know how long is the traverse, and the difficults. It seems easy from Plaza Francia, but I don't know the other side.

We going to try again the south face of Aconcagua, and we going to try the polish glacier for acclimatation.

Thank you very much... Nacho, from Argentina.

[7summits]

Hi Nacho,

I climbed to the col from Plaza Argentina and that is quite easy, first a long shallow wide valley, ending up stepper and steeper until just a steep scree slope with a switchback track. Down only takes a very short time 

I think the hardest part is going up from Francia. Remember that the col is South East from the rocks of Cerro Ibáñez . That's to the right if seen from Francia, left if seen from Argentina. The col is about 4900-5000m.

Normally there is no snow/penitentes on the Argentina side.

Keep us posted!
 

[Nacho]

Do you remember how long does it takes? I want to know if I can return from the summit to Plaza Francia in one day via east face.

Thank you... Nacho

[7summits]

Woa, that's a long trip!

Summit to camp 2: about 2 hours if you are fit
Camp 2 to basecamp: 2-3 hours
Basecamp to col: it took us I think about 4 hours, but we were using this as acclimatisation trip. But the distance alone will take some time, so count at least 3 hours.
Descent to Francia: ??

(Times given are for fit and experienced people else they can easily be doubled)

This means if you are racing nonstop from the summit it will take at least 7 hours with little rest so you better save some energy after summiting!

When are you going? Keep us updated here!

[Nacho]

We are planning the trip for the first days of 2005.

The last summer (January in this part of the world) we made an attempt to the Messner route in the south face, and we had to go back at 6300 m, because the mix part was terrible. There was no ice, and a lot of rock falls. We was 10 days in the wall, because we acclimatize (ok, I don't know how to write it !) there.

This year we are planning to acclimatize in the polish glacier, and make a 4/5 days attempt to the French Route... the serac in the messner route looks very dangerous !

Thank you for the data... then I post here to tell you the results.

Nacho.

PD: We was planning a Denali Wes Rib trip this year, but we have no money... so another year... maybe. It's very expensive for us...