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The team had decided beforehand to split porters to take some of our gear down. The prospect of dropping a mile in elevation with 60+ lbs did not interest anyone. Today ended up being a glorious sunny day, and as can be expected, it was all downhill from here. We got some incredible views of the other side of the mountain, another benefit of this route.

Most of the way down was thick scree so I was able to half/slide half-walk down the mountain very quickly. Scree going downhill is interesting – if you know the technique you can blitz down the slope but trying to walk down it normally is extremely hard on your body and takes forever. Some of the team were not as comfortable coming down the slidey way so we ended up getting pretty spread out. I can’t imagine how hard it must be for people to ascend this way. It’s like the climb to camp one, except one mile of that stuff. It would have been horrendous! Yet this is apparently the more popular way to climb the mountain.

After a few hours we arrived at the other base camp – Plaza de Mulas, much bigger than Plaza Argentina. It is apparently the largest base camp in the world next to Everest’s base camp. It has an art gallery(which they proudly boast as the highest in the world!), a bar, real showers and many times more tents than the other camp.

We got into camp early in the afternoon and were treated to pizza inside a geodesic dome similar to the one at Plaza Argentina. Our bags had all been brought in by the mules, but we’d be waiting awhile for the porters to bring our stuff down from camp three. These guys are absolute beasts – climbing from Base Camp to Camp Three in a day and coming down with 100 lbs(45 kg). What took us 12 days takes them one!

The rest of our team got in a few hours later and we just hung around the tent. Huey & I explored the art gallery, which we determined was way overpriced. The guy wanted $30,000 for some of his paintings. I admit his pricier ones looked good, but not that good! He apparently painted one on the summit of Aconcagua, though it looked little better than stick figure quality to me. I guess that’s what happens when you try to paint while oxygen-deprived…

None of us wanted to setup tents tonight so we all group bunked in the geodesic, thinking it’d be warmer. It wasn’t, but at least we didn’t have to set anything up. Tomorrow we have a 17 mile trek out to the park entrance. Luke says it’s flat as a pancake, but we know what his pancakes are like!

Continue to Day 16 – Trek To Park Entrance