DAY 6 – Rest Day at Plaza Argentina Base Camp
Restaurant-style food, hot showers, yoga tent, foosball, internet cafe, wi-fi… I shoulda brought a shaver!
Do I dare call this glamping?? (From left to right: kitchen tent, dining tent, foosball arena, yoga tent)
No, this might not be your typical expedition experience, but I didn’t care. Inka Expediciones really has this dialed in. I was so glad to have picked a local outfit for my first of these Seven Summits. At my age, I have nothing to prove. So I loved every minute of it and highly recommend Inka for anyone who wants to balance this physical challenge with some well organized creature comforts. It was awesome to let someone else worry about most of the logistics needed for this adventure.
I also had no issue with taking a shower upon arriving at base. Normally this isn’t an option in a remote area at 14,000′, but Inka made it possible and I took full advantage.
Several solar arrays around camp heated water and powered satellite internet through Starlink.
Through that internet connection, word spread through camp that Karl Egloff had just set a new speed record on Aconcagua. According to ExplorersWeb: “He ran from Base Camp to the main and south summits and back in 8 hrs 49 min.” The news feed said he left on Thursday, February 7, from Plaza de Mulas–base camp on the other side that we’d stop at next week–ran to the main summit, crossed Filo del Guanaco (“Guanaco Ridge”) to the south summit, and then returned to Base. Simply incredible!
We were on our way up to Puente de Inca on February 7. Had we planned to climb the Normal Route from Horcones, we probably would have met him!
Restful and Relaxing
Friends were often found in Inka’s internet cafe taking a physical break, but maybe not a mental one.
It was a good day to rest and recover before having to carry to high camp 1.
