Aguja de la S – 2335 meters

On November 6^th 1987, the Austreans Hans Bannthaler, Cristine Olbertech y Ewald Lidl climbed the rap to right of the East face, then they followed a well defined dihedral all the way to the col. From there, they climbed the North spur to the summit. The route has 450 metres, 55° degrees on ice and 5.8 on rock. Written by Marco Dura y Guillermo Dura

Guides and group sizes

Ratio is 1 guide per 2 guests.

Difficulty and prerequisites

Guest should feel comfortable flat footing and front pointing on moderate angle ice up to 55 degrees with crampons

These are all physically demanding days and participants must be in good hiking shape.

Guests are required to carry a backpack with their personal gear (clothes, sleeping bag, pad, etc), group (tents, pot, stoves, etc) and food. About 20 to 25 kg, except summit day. Otherwise, personal porters could be arranged in advance.

No alpine climbing experience is required. However, if you have had some, especially in rock climbing, it helps a lot.

Transportation

Participants are responsible for their own transportation to El Chaltén, Argentina.  Your travel agent should be able to arrange this for you. You could get there either by flying to Buenos Aires, and then flying to El Calafate, and from there, a bus ride to El Chaltén.

Accommodation & Meals

All meals and accommodation from day 1 (Meeting in El Chaltén) to day 3 are included. Tents are in double and triple basis. In case the program is done in 2 days, accommodation in El Chaltén for day 2 is not included, however, we could arrange it for you.

Also, if you need us to arrange accommodation for you before and after the climb, please advice us and try our best to sort it out.

Please let us know of any special dietary requirements.

Weather consideration

The fame of the area regarding wind and fast changeable conditions are not a legend. Be ready to experience nature and all its beauties and power. You can block extra days, as back up days, which can give you more chances to make best use of weather conditions.

ITINERARY

Day 1

We meet our guide at 8:00 AM. We check gear, food and arrange last minute details. Hike for 3 hours to reach Poincenot Camp. This is one of the most visited trails in the area. We keep hiking up stream on Rio Blanco until we reach Laguna Sucia. From there, on moraine (scree) kind of terrain we go up to find the “cave” where we will spend the night.

Day 2

Alpine starts, about 3 in the morning, after a quick breakfast we start our approach. A short section of rock to reach the snout of the glacier, where we rope up. We gain altitute pretty fast getting to the accumulation zone of the glacier Sucio. The sunrise is amazing at this time! Also great views of Saint Exupery and Poincenot south faces! We get at the foot of the route, we cross the ‘shrung’ and we keep climbing on the 55 degree snow/ice ramp for about 4 pitches. We leave the ice gear hanging at the face of the dihedral and change to rock gear. 7 nice pitches ahead! The climbing is very relax despite few loose rock here and there. We rapel the route and head back to “la cueva” for a very well deserve dinner.

Day 3

Wake up when our body tell us to do so, take down camp and hike down to town, El Chaltén. Afer a hot shower, we will meet to celebrate with another tasty dinner.