Aconcagua, Argentina
Located in Argentina near the Chile border, Aconcagua is the tallest mountain in the Western hemisphere and one of the 7 Summits. Topping out at 7000m, Aconcagua is the perfect training ground for 8000m peaks, including Mt. Everest.
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Climbing the 360 route of ascension, under a pre-acclimatization protocol, combines parts of four different routes (The Polish Glacier, Normal, Guanacos and Ameghino).
approach (14-day rapid ascent)
climbing big mountains faster and safer
The Rapid Ascent system, developed by Adrian Ballinger at Alpenglow Expeditions, is a unique approach to climbing big mountains across the world. On average, the Rapid Ascent approach reduces the time of traditional expeditions by 30% - 50%.
Rapid Ascent, in partnership with Hypoxico, allows climbers to pre-acclimatize at home in order to simulate the stresses and begin the physiological adaptions the body undergoes at altitude. It is due to this pre-acclimatization that we can move quite quickly on our approach to advanced altitudes. We are able to ascend faster, healthier and fully ready to take advantage of weather windows for a successful summit bid push.
Hypoxico systems generate normobaric hypoxic air to replicate the oxygen levels found at altitudes up to 21,000ft/6,400m. This is achieved by drawing in ambient air, separating oxygen molecules to meet the desired O2 percentage, then outputting a continuous flow of fresh, filtered, hypoxic air for breathing.
This physiologically cues our bodies to become more effective at oxygen utilization and better able to survive and perform at higher altitudes; what we call acclimatization.