Route

Aconcagua is the second highest of the Seven Summits behind Mt. Everest, and the highest mountain outside of Asia. There are two primary approaches climbers chose to summit Aconcagua, The Normal Route, via the Horcones Valley and the Polish Glacier via the Vacas and Relinchos Valley. I would be letting down my Polish heritage if we didn't make our summit attempt via the Polish Glacier. And so it was done, Aconcagua via the Polish Glacier Direct.

Besides drawing us in with its name, the Polish Direct offers a less-traveled, more scenic, and slightly more technical approach to the summit. There are two primary routes up the glacier, the Polish Traverse and the Polish Direct. The Polish traverse is slightly more hazardous with crevasses and seracs, while the Direct route is just like the name suggests...direct up the right hand side of the glacier (when viewed from Camp 2). The Direct Route is steeper with maximum pitches ranging from 50-70 degrees near The Bottleneck (6500 m, 21,320 ft). The route then reaches the East Ridge and then continues along a series of false summits to the top of the Americas.