Aconcagua trekking expedition in Argentina

Planet

Aconcagua lies within Aconcagua Provincial Park in the province of Mendoza in the Republic of Argentina. The permit fee paid before climbing the mountain contributes to the conservation work carried out within the park.

We enforce a strict Leave no Trace policy on our Aconcagua expeditions. We educate all our clients in how to minimise their negative impact on the environment we’re travelling in and offer leave no trace training on every expedition. We encourage them to take ownership of their interactions with the environment and consciously make every effort to leave it as found. Whatever is brought with us on expedition from equipment to food, must be taken away again. Tracks and trails are followed as much as possible to avoid any additional disturbance to local ecosystems. All clients are encouraged to give any animals they encounter a wide berth, to avoid unnecessary trauma to the animal and potential danger to themselves.

We spend 14 nights camping as we ascend and descend the mountain. We pitch our tents in established camps which limits the ecological impact of our presence and affords us the opportunity to meet other adventurers and hear their stories.

We provide all water on the expedition trails, which is first filtered with a katadyn filter, boiled or treated with purification tablets. We encourage all clients to bring their own water-bladders and water bottles to be filled each day in an effort to eliminate or minimise the need for the purchase of single use plastic water bottles. We minimise the amount of canned and packaged goods on our expeditions, reducing our non-biodegradable waste. All biodegradable waste is buried deep in the ground, far from water sources, breaking down over a short period of time. All other waste is carried off the expedition and disposed of in a responsible manner.

People

On all our trips we want to put money directly back into the local communities we visit. We stay in small, locally run hotels in Mendoza, avoiding big international chains. We encourage clients to visit the local markets and to pay market price, where fair and reasonable. All food supplied on the trail is sourced fresh from local markets. We place a strong emphasis on the importance of sourcing locally wherever possible and illustrate the value of this for the local communities to our clients. If we summit on the first night and descend early from the mountain, we organise a visit to a local vineyard to sample the famous local Malbec.

Our Earth's Edge team of guides, cooks and porters are employed to lead and assist our expeditions on the ground along with the expedition leader and doctor on the expedition. Our Earth's Edge guides are highly experienced and very familiar with the expedition route, local history, cultures and customs of the region and are happy to share this knowledge on the trail.

We have clear and transparent payment policies. We pay industry-standard wages or above to our Earth's Edge guides, porters and cooks. We also offer advice on tipping to all our clients. We ensure the money is divided fairly between the Earth's Edge guides, cooks, porters and drivers. We offer specific tipping advice for Aconcagua in keeping with the local guidelines on best practice.

The demands of high-altitude trekking require specific and often expensive equipment. We encourage clients to rent any additional equipment they may need locally in Mendoza before we depart for the trail. This helps support local businesses and reduces the overall cost of the trip!