Today the weather is suited for a nice trip up to Bonete summit. Here we can see the mountain that reaches 5040 masl. The snow formations are called penitentes, the same name as the village where we stayed the night some days ago. Our goal is to reach to the snow area to the left of the summit and then traverse to the right at the picture, below the summit. The last part we will walk on the mountain ridge at the right of the picture. We meet our friends from Romania who we shared the bus with to Penitentes. They were there the day before and according to them you can reach the summit on about 3 hours. At the medical examination this morning Mattias had a low content of oxygen in his blood (69 %) and he decides to spend the day by exploring Plaza Mulas together with Erik who also had decided to rest this day.

We have passed Hotell Mulas and the first steep that comes after that. Marco was the one who walked most slowely, but with an steady pace and he caught up with Robert and Olof while they were having a break. By walking a bit ahead Marco was able to take this nice picture...with Aconcagua in the background and Olof and Robert walking into the ice.

We are in the middle of the traverse below the summit. The picture shows one of the mountains that we intended to climb first, namely Cerro Catedral (5335 masl), furthest away at the picture. Nearest you can see Morro del Catedral. It demands longer time and a bit more advanced equipment to climb these mountains and that is why we finally decided to climb Bonete instead. A good choice because the tiredness is in fact obvious already now. Marco do not have any walking sticks and that makes the accent even harder since both Olof and Robert who have sticks are walking easier.

Olof, Marco and Robert has reached the summit after 3 hours...yehaaa. One summit taken, now it is only the big one left... Mentally it feels good to have reached a summit with more than 5000 metres in altitude, in case for some reason you should not reach the summit of Aconcagua. A solitary climber and two tourists with a guide accompanied us at the summit. The altitude according to the GPS was 5042 masl. After 20 minutes Marco chose to walk down, Olof and Robert stayed a little bit longer.

A nice picture from the summit of Bonete, facing Aconcagua. Those with knowledge or experience from the area can easy find the different base camps on the normal route. For instance, Plaza de Mulas, Canada, Alaska and behind the crest Nido de Condores. You can also see the traverse to Canaletan and the famous Grand Acerro.

When we walked up we went zigzag like serpentine roads, but walking down there are other rules. Here we can clearly see which way most of them take...straight down through the gravel. In the valley we can see Hotel Mulas and Plaza de Mulas. It takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes to walk down again to Mulas. However, it is important not to walk to fast. Marco also had radio contact with Mattias so that they could arranged to meet at the hotel.

Plaza de Mulas are for many tourists the final destination in this visit at the national park. The whole camp is full of different characters and personalities from the whole world. At the picture we can see a robust lady who had rent a mule so that she could went back to Puente del Inca. Mattias and Erik got a first-class entertainment when four mule keepers tried to lift this lady onto the poor mule which did not feel like carrying any tourists this day. After a hard work for half an hour she sits at last in the saddle happily, the mule however does not seem to be as happy as her...Another memorable person was a short loud American with a wide Arizona dialect who we met at the cue to the medical examination. He told us that this was his third attempt to try to climb Aconcagua. The first time he had taken his Hang Glide Parachute up to Nido de Condores (5500 masl) during an acclimatization trip. The aim was that he would hang glide back to Plaza de Mulas. When he had left from Nido and passed over Camp Canada at an altitude of 5300 masl a powerful wind blew him straight into a mountain wall. It all ended with severe bruises, a difficult fracture on the left arm and he took the first plane back to USA. The second time it was snowing too much...we did not see him anymore but let us hope that he reached the summit this time!

The team came together with Mattias and Erik at Hotel Mulas. We had a good meal but soon we left for Plaza de Mulas. It is good to check your health. Marco is sitting in the medical tent at Plaza de Mulas och get information about his pulse and that the amount of oxygen in his blood is 82 %. The content of oxygen should not be lower than 80 %, if so you have to rest and drink a lot of water. It can also be additioned that a measurement made immediately after a physical effort usually give lower values. The values for Mattias have now enhanced to 84 % which is quite OK according to the doctor and he gives us permission to climb higher the next day.