I guess we were now ready to have an attempt at this big mountain. We arrived in Chalten at the end of november and went straight away to the base camp and then to the advanced one as the weather was miraculously fine : Carrying food, climbing and camping gear is the worst part of any expedition. It is always during those days that you say to yourself : never again, too old for that s... !

    In order to climb a bit and get some burning forearms before going to the southern tip of Patagonia and get ourselves on bigger objectives, we decided Julien and myself to get a bit of mileage at 'Arenales', a beautiful valley south of Mendoza, surrounded by pink granit peaks. Basecamp was pretty comfortable. Some nice little parties with the locals...The weather ? Nippy, often windy.... 'montanas para los machos' would say those incorrigible argentinians !!