Normal : Leaving Plaza de Mulas you follow the route indicated in the accompanying chart. It is advisable to make a first stage and set up a base camp at the top part of the "Portezuelo del Manso" (5,200 m). It is a good practice to stay at the base camp for a couple of days for a proper acclimatation. The area is characterized by a great number of rocks which allow for well-protected camps. Depending on snowfall intensity during the winter time, in some seasons there may form a small lake which provides the necessary water supply for expeditions. The "Antartida Argentina" refuge (5,500 m) is no longer used by climbers since it now lies way off the route.

From "Portezuelo del Manso" or Camp 1, climbing gently up easy alluvium paths, you reach refuges "Plantamura", "Libertad" and "Berlin" (6,000 m) . At this altitude many expedition also stay for a couple of days for acclimatation. From this point two alternative routes are possible: the first one is to scale all the way up to the summit, an exhausting climb in itself. The second one is to reach refuge "Independencia" (6,500 m) and from there, on the following day, go up to the top. The first alternative is the most usual, but you are very likely to be caught by the darkness of night on the way down. Whereas the second one, though implying shorter journeys, has the disadvantage that it may become very rough to stay overnight at such altitudes, matters being aggravated by the fact that the refuge is half in ruins.

In any case, and due to the numerous expeditions trying to reach the top week after week, the use of tents is more than necessary, since all the refuges are like small bivouacs with capacity for 3 or 4 people. Coming down there is a natural predisposition to follow the route of the Gran Acarreo, but this way will invariably deviate you from the refuges. There is no natural protection against eventual storms and bad weather in this route. If there is a tempest, it is suicidal to go down following the way of the Gran Acarreo, hoping you can do it more rapidly. We know by experience that there is no natural defense where you can wait under protection until fury of the storm has passed. Both ascending and descending it is always prudent to follow the rock of the North West where you will find the refuges.

If physical conditions are good in the ascension, you can calculate 20-40% less time for the descent. If you are very tired after the ascension, this calculation is not helpful because at these heights recovery is not possible. So you need more Or less the same time for coming down as you used for ascent. This northern route does not present technical difficulties, but you must not forget storms of an unbelievale force and altitude "puna". You must observe all the serious rules of mountain safety . Otherwise, any mistake can be fatal and form of suicide.

Polish Glacier Route

Ascending the deep pass of river Vacas and Relinchos where you will find lots of water courses with enough firewood you arrive at the base camp "Plaza Argentina", "Plaza de Mulas Superior" (4.100 mts.). From the base camp you ascend in direction West-North-West by serius slopes of up to 4.700 mts. once you passed the big outcrop rock you can set up camp 1. Then you. go on in the same direction and will come to Portezuelo Ameghino (5.300 mts.). You go on South West direction, ascending by the North of Westcrest until you arrive at 5.800 mts. Approximately this is the beginning of the Polish Glacier and there you may set up camp 3. Once on the glacier you do not leave it until you arrive at 6.500 mts. Very close to the side of the edge and in a place protected by the rocks, you find camp 4, named "Piedra Bandera". To attack the summit it is convenient to camp at 6.700 mts. The distance. from Punta de Vacas to the base camp is approximately 60 kms. Since access is fairly easy many expeditions get to the base of the Polish Glacier either through the Northwest route or the Normal route, departing from the refuges installed at 6.000 mts.

French Route Inferior Horcones - South Wall

The South wall presents in its 3.000 mts. a crag which was used by a French expedition in its first ascension in 1954. This crag gives a relative security against avalanches. The base camp (4.100 mts.) named "Plaza Francia" is situated at the left side of the beginning of the crag. You get to camp 1 by the gradient of strong slope and simple to scale on the base of the "Grandes Tortes" at 4.900 mts. These formations are sulcated by access canals and generally covered with ice. So you need excellent technical skill on rock to cope with 4° (+) of difficulty. After this the way is open to Camp 2 (5.800 mts.) at the base of the Inferior Glacier. After a walk over a considerable icependant end after passing a little rock parapet you overcome the "cascada" of superior glacier using artificial technique on ice. This represents a vertical cut of approximately 50 mts. The superior glacier presents a convenient "plateau" for the installation of camp 3 (6.400 mts). Traversing to the right hand side you come to the final part and key to the superior crag. Because of the terrain's demands (5° grade of difficulty) you must set up a camp 4 on 6.700 mts. from where you attack the top. Descent is normally undertaken by the north face or normal route.

South West Route - Edge Ibañez, Grajales, Marmillod

From Plaza de Mulas Vieja (4.230 mts.) after a short horizontal walk to the South you ascend by the slope of gradient and in a 6 to 7 hours day you will arrive at the first walls and at the last point of ascension without scale. There you may put up camp 1 (5.500 mts). The next day you advance to the foot of the walls going up and down following laces and stony tracks in direction of the South crest at a distance of approximately 2 1/2 kilometers. At half the distance the mountain is crossed by a big channel which constitutes the key to the ascension. This channel permits to arrive at the superior edge avoiding the part between. 6.000 and 6.600 meters which presents various vertical and impracticable towers. To arrive at the channel base you must dominate a first rocky rank of 100 meters, which sorrounds like a belt this whole face of the mountain. This obstacle is passed over advancing in direction of the crest. When you arrive close to it you will find a deep channel. So you ascend until the base of the first vertical tower of the edge near the point marked 6.009 meters in the topography 1/50.000 of the Geographic Argentine Institute. From this point on you go to the North some 200 meters down sloping a stony track until arriving at the base of the "Gran Canal". On a roof -like rock at 5.700 mts. you will find camp 2, only 200 meters above camp 1 with a slight deviation to the South in the vertical sense of the mountain. You attack the channel by a slope. of polished rock which becomes straight after a hundred meters and forms a toboggan slide of snow between two rocky walls. Further up, the terrain becomes wider again. Finally you come to an open pendant which ends on a vertical wall and forms a cut of the edge on the right hand side but looses height on the left hand side . The route goes in diagonal in this last direction. There, between the snow and the wall base you find a relatively good place to put up the third camp at 6.400 meters. From there you follow the superior border wall, which is a secondary crest in the west flank, until arriving at the junction point with the South crest (probably point 6.707 meters in topograph~ 1/50.000 of G.M.A.I.)- You go forward using the principal edge which you do not leave until you arrive at the top. You descend by the crest which joins both tops (crest of Guanaco) and take the superior part of the "Gran Acarreo" of the Northern face, very close to the principal summit .

East Glacier - Argentine Route

The approximation route is through Valley de las Vacas and Relinchos up to Plaza Argentina Superior. The East Glacier lies between the Polish Glacier and the South Wall, and it begins above 6.300 m, with a maximum slope between 60-65 degrees. The bottom stages do not pose great difficulty, its most complicated part lying at 6,200 m where a drop on the rock about 400 m high offers the greatest difficulty. The final part is reached very close to the summit along the edge of the Polish Glacier. This route was conquered for the first time in February 1978 by Argentine climbers Guillermo Vieyro, Jorge Jasson and Edgardo Porcellana.

South West Ridge - Mendocinian Route

This new variant going past the Pyramid, was first scaled in January 1982 by Carlos Sansoni and Sergio Buglio. You enter it through the Horcones Valley, climbing up to the top of the Pyramid peak (6.000 m). From there, along a chute or "gutter" close to the 6.100 m it intersects the original route of the Southwest Ridge which leads to the South summit. The descent is done down the Great Alluvium (Gran Acarreo) to Plaza de Mulas.