Climb Aconcagua

Cristina and Mariana were perfectos, the very best. Thanks. I will highly recommend Aconcagua Express Expeditions to everyone and I will use Aconcagua Express Expeditions again.

Keith Faulder
USA

I would firstly like to thank you all for putting together such a great expedition. I would like to make particularly comment on the efforts of our guide Cristina who did such a great job.
The cooks at both base camps also deserve mention, as the food they prepared was fantastic. Having said that the cooked meals provided at altitude were perfect for the conditions. The hotel at Penitentes was also a little run down, but again there did not seem to be many other options.
This criticisms do not even rate as concerns. The service provided by your company was fantastic and I would not hesitate to recommend it to others.

Stephen Hynd
Australia

Hallo Joaquin,
Nun bin ich schon einen Monat zurück in Deutschland und denke immernoch jeden Tag an die tolle Bergtour zum Aconcagua. Du glaubst nicht wie glücklich ich bin, daß ich das geschaft habe. Dies habe ich im besonderen Dir und Deinem Unternehmen Aconcagua Express zu verdanken. Mit Tom Torkelson hatten wir einen super Bergführer der zum einen eine sehr schöne Route zum Gipfel geführt hat, Vacas Route, die zum anderen auch eine optimale Aklimatisation ermöglicht hat. Die gesamte Organisation war vom Anfang bis zum Ende sehr gut. Es gibt wirklich nichts was ich meine, was besser gemacht werden könnte. Wenn Du neue Kunden aus Deutschland oder Europa hast, die Fragen zur Aconcaguabesteigung haben, kannst Du Ihnen gerne meine email-Adresse geben, damit Sie Kontakt mit mir aufnehmen können.
Vielen vielen Dank!!

Johannes Niedeggen
Deutschland

Mecha (Gabriel Rocamora) was a great lead guide, I can’t recommend him highly enough !

Edouard Derom
USA

Everything went very smooth, it was great to have a small bag of stuff sent from Plaza Argentina around to Plaza de Mulas, as we could have clean underwear, socks and our trail shoes without having to carry them to high camp.

Tatiana seemed very knowledgeable with first aid and altitude sickness, and seemed well prepared.  Tatiana’s food was awesome. The other groups in our camps were jealous when all they had was rice and we had fresh baked pizza in Camp 2! A couple mornings in base camp, there was not much provided for breakfast (one day was only toast) and we finally had to ask them each day to make eggs.

Joaquin was very helpful with all of my requests, and very quick to respond, which is one of the main reasons I selected KL Adventure to work with on this trip.

The transfers and transport was fine.  All vehicles were comfortable and there was plenty of room.  Hyatt is awesome of course. Penitentes is not great, but obviously there is no other option.

The trip was great, we will definitely work with you again for our 2010 climb, and also hope to add a Patagonia trip in the near future. It was also nice to have Joaquin meet the group in Mendoza and to spend more time with him on the drive to Santiago. We would definitely want to have Tatiana as our guide again.  She was exceptional and there was not another guide on the mountain I would have rather had than her. It is also very nice to have a local guide as your leader, better in my opinion than having American or European guides.

Billi also did a very nice job, as an assistant guide she was great.  The two of them worked very well together.

Andrew Nachman Northwest Voyageur
USA

Hallo Joaquin
Ich möchte mich auf diesem Weg für Dein perfektes Service bei unserer Aconcagua Expedition bedanken. Es war von Anfang an eine Freude mit Dir zusammen zu arbeiten. Die Transfers, sowie die Reservierung und Bezahlung der Permits haben wunderbar geklappt, auch die Hotels waren einfach klasse.

Es gilt besonders hervor zu heben die Flexibilität von Aconcagua Express bei Terminänderungen und die Freundlichkeit der Mitarbeiter. Ich werde Dich und Deine Firma auf alle Fälle bei den Alpinschulen in Österreich, Italien und Deutschland weiterempfehlen.

Christine und Werner
Austria

Over the last couple years I had the opportunity to lead many individual and groups to Aconcagua, Patagonia, central Cordillera and Lake District of Chile. I could not have provided the exceptional service my clients have grown accustom to without the help of KL Adventure & Aconcagua Express. Joaquin Oyarzun and his team were perfectly dedicated to the comfort, safety and enjoyment of my clients. It is this type of dedication to service that I search out when I lead trips. It is what guarantees a successful trip. Nature will deliver what it will. Outstanding infrastructure provides the comforts and support that keeps clients coming back.

Jean Pavillard
UIAGM / IFMGA Internationally Certified Mountain Guide World Wide Adventures
Switzerland

Lieber Joaquin,
Da ich annehme, dass ich Dich nicht mehr vor meiner Abreise sehen werde wollte ich mich auf diesem Weg nochmals bei Dir bedanken. Es hat alles so gut geklappt! Und auch Deine Unterstuetzung bei dem zweiten Teil meiner Reise nach Patagonien war fuer mich eine grosse Hilfe!!

Das Satelittentelefon habe ich eingepackt und werde es Ralf bringen. Ich wuerde mich freuen von Dir zu hoeren. Fuer Deine Arbeit und Deine Bergtouren wuensche ich Dir weiterhin viel Glueck.
Herzliche Gruesse

Beate Boltz
Germany

Tatiana and Billi were great guides on the Aconcagua expedition. I’d be happy to climb another mountain with them again!! Our food was better than that from other groups going up the mountain, and it was nice to have hot thermoses brought to our tent in mornings (other groups noticed this, and the fact that they had to go get their own water, among other things less positive than that of our group). I always felt safe, that Tatiana & Billi knew what they were doing on the mountain, and that they had enough energy to handle whatever could come our way. On summit day, Billi brought a guy down to Camp 3 from 1/3 (or more) of the way up, then she ascended and caught up to us, in order to summit from Camp 3 in only 5 ½ hours! A real rock star. Then, when I was really burnt out almost all the way back to camp (with heavier snow coming down and covering the trail), Billi helped me back to Camp3… a real help when it was needed, and on the part of the trail where accidents are most prone to happen (way down from summit day). This was really appreciated. Our staff helped create a real team atmosphere, and our group was the “cool table” at the lower camps, and out dining tent was the social center of activity with several groups joining us for cards, games, etc after dinner. Our pace up the mountain was the right speed, not to fast and not too slow, enabling 5 of 6 of our group to get to the summit, and the remaining 1 doing his personal best on summit day! One guy from another group was “turned around” partway up on summit day; he later felt that he could have made it to the top with a slightly slower group pace. I’ve seen this before on other mountains. Our pace was just right! We were properly aware of the mountain challenges before the expedition, and the challenge met my personal expectations. I came off the mountain without any physical aches and pains, feeling good about the expedition and ready for more mountains in the future! Perhaps Elbrus and Denali, the 2nd with some technical training and practice. I have NO COMPLAINTS about this expedition! I believe our guides, our food were better than that of other groups, that our group gear was appropriate, and that we were properly instructed on how to prepare for the mountain and which gear to bring! I enjoyed the company of the clients as well, and that of the other teams headed up the mountain with us. This was a great expedition, and I’m lucky to have made some new friends on the mountain.

I’d recommend KL Adventure for anyone wanting to climb Aconcagua, in particular Tatiana as lead guide. Likewise I’d climb a mountain (Nepal?) with Billi and recommend her guiding services as well. Best Wishes, Mark.

Mark
USA

Gabriel and Mariana were really fantastic and helpful, especially since I struggled with acclimatization. Suzanne (at base camp) was also really great. When I descended early she looked after me to ensure that all of my logistics for leaving the park were coordinated. The trip was overall well organized, very informative, very realistic expectations and a great experience – unfortunately, my body did not hold up as well as usual, but I do not feel that I (or the company) could have done anything differently to improve my chances. A great climbing team!

Nancy Henning
USA