| Treks start from Santiago, capital of Chile, a buzzing cultural city, where you rendezvous with your guide for a briefing meeting. Luggage can be left in our Santiago office while out of town.
Cerro El Plomo is a snow peak, height 5,450m, seen clearly from Santiago. The summit has for a long time been a goal for mountaineers owing to its simple access and enigmatic Inca ruins located at 5200 metres. In 1954, the mummy of an Inca child was found near the summit surrounded by gold artefacts.
Itinerary
Day 1
We leave Santiago and head to the mountains. We reach La Parva (2,800 m) after approximately 2 hours driving. From the ski station at la Parva we continue on foot. Passing a small lagoon, we continue walking until after around 3 hours we reach the large boulder of Piedra Numerada (3,300m). We use mules to carry some of our equipment into this camp.
The camp at Piedra Numerada is an extensive meadow with many small streams nearby. We set up camp here. The view of El Plomo from here is excellent, and the sunset often superb. (Camp)
Day 2
We set off, after breakfast, for Cerro Bismark, crossing the Cepo Pass (4200m), with superb views of the Volcanoes Tupungato, Tupungatito, Cerro Federación and Nevado del Plomo. Return to camp.
Day 3
We set off early for the Plomo glacier. Camping in the spectacular basin below the glacier, we have time in the afternoon to climb up alongside the ice. As we get higher up the ridge there are amazing views of the surrounding Andean landscape: Aconcagua (south face), Marmolejo (6130 m), Tupungato (6570 m) amongst others. We then return to Plomo base camp. (Camp)
Day 4
We walk to the point of rendezvous with our vehicle, which takes us back to Santiago.
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