Guided ascent week in Cordillera Blanca to Pisco summit

We summited Ojos del Salado on December 8th, 2023. We where a small and nice group of 3 mountaineers and 2 guides. Gaston was a very friendly senior guide. Very helpful was his admirable experience as a mountain guide. He provided a reasonable and balanced program consisting of acclimatization hikes, driving and rest days. Explore-Share was the only provider who offed me this expedition for a reasonable price at suitable dates and assisted very well in finding the right guide. It was an unforgettable trip I can recommend to everybody, who loves mountaineering and outdoor adventures.

We loved Gaston - he was very nice - BUT - one of the team members was not prepared - at all - for this type of climb which significantly hampered the performance of the other team members. I would STRONGLY encourage a stronger process of weeding out those who have no business signing up for such a climb - I will admit, my entire experience was 'ruined' because of the weak climber - we had to take long, long, long breaks in order for her to catch up making the rest of us extremely cold - it was so unfortunate - additionally, I would suggest a higher hiker to guide ratio - since we were required to carry our own gear to the high camp - and one of the members was not strong enough to pull their own weight - this added additional burden to the other climbers! I am so frustrated that due to the lack of training, responsibility, and knowledge of one climber it ruined the entire experience for the rest of us!

I recommend Gaston as an example of a first rate mountain guide. Very attentive to his clients and an excellent chef. I have never been so well looked after on an expedition. Thank you all very much.

The trip to Aconcagua with Gastón was really nice. Gaston was a great guide and we all learned a lot from him. In addition to his mountaineering skills he is an excellent story teller and we enjoyed his company a lot. It was unfortunate that we were not able to summit, but I was expecting that may be the case with weather so I was not disappointed. All in all, I was really pleased of the service, food, wine, company, mountain. I can not think of anything bad to say.

Gaston is the most experienced guide and trustworthy person that I've ever met in my life. We summited Aconcagua in 9 days and it was the best adventure in my life. Definitely recommend!