Alpine climbing in the desert

Our approach to Aconcagua involves three days of trekking up the Vacas Valley. This desert valley is very reminiscent of parts of the Grand Canyon. Here climbers are just starting up the trail at the mouth of the Vacas Valley.

Once you climb out of the valley floor, the views open up and you get a sense of the tremendous scale of this beautiful place in which you are traveling. The climbers in the photo are climbing up to Base Camp at Plaza Argentina in the Relinchos Valley, a tributary to the west of the Vacas, on day 3 of the approach.