Aconcagua Expeditions – Living History of Aconcagua

Aconcágua is a mountain located in the Argentine Republic, at the southern end of the chain called Los Penitentes, within the Andes mountain range. With its 6961 meters [1], it is the highest elevation in the American continent. Like other nearby hills, its great height does not correspond to active volcanic structures such as the Tupungato but is the result of the tectonic uplift of the mountain range. It is guarded by high-rise colossi such as Cerro Catedral (to the northwest, at 5200 meters above sea level), El Cuerno (5450 meters above sea level), El Bonete (5100 meters above sea level), and others located in the Upper Horcones valley.In the so-called Valle de LosLos Horcones, inferiors are the Ibáñez hills (5200 meters above sea level) and the highest of the Mirador mountain (5800 meters above sea level). Between 27 ° and 33 ° 30 ‘, no quaternary volcanism is observed, and seismic activity is concentrated in a thin strip along the western edge, which coincides with the most active geotectonic zone where significant earthquakes occur. On both sides of the colossus of America, the Mapuches and Aymara lived in remote antiquity. Later the Incas, coming from the distant city of Cusco (in present-day Peru), invaded these regions, taking their culture and language, Quichua, with them. However, there are no data of his forays through the high mountain range, and the mountain was isolated from legends by the height of its steps and the lonely immensity of the high peaks beaten by glacial winds.By extension, this region is also known as the CyanCyan Andes. This was at least the most widespread, but at the beginning of 1985 and in an area little traveled by mountaineers, an Inca mummy was discovered. The body of a young man was sacrificed in the place (5000 meters above sea level), and next to it were offerings such as feathers, figurines, etc. It is necessary to know how to climb Aconcagua cheap.Even after than 300 years of Spanish rule, in 1817, General José de San Martín crossed the high border crossings between Argentina and Chile through the region of the Andean giants: Aconcagua mountain guides, Mercedario, and Tupungato. To the north and south of the first, a large army of more than 5,300 men, with 9,280 mules and 1,600 horses, passed through hills more than 4,000 meters high and fell unexpectedly on Chile, freeing Chile from the Spanish yoke. The surprise of an unsuspected route in a classic strategy decided the success of San Martín and the end of an extended Spanish rule in this region of the central Andes. A year later, San Martín left to attack the Spanish army gathered in Lima (Peru) by sea.In 1835, Charles Darwin’s scientific ship docked in the port of Valparaíso. This was one of the first men of science to provide data on the mountain. Darwin, the French Pierre-Joseph Pississ, and the José, as mentioned above de San Martín, the first studies and scientific data on Aconcagua and its surroundings in the first half of the last century.