Provincial Park Rangers
Since 1990 Aconcagua Provincial Park has had a park ranger service which controls the protected area and offers assistance to the visiting climbers. This service is present in all of Aconcagua’s base camps as well as in selected other ascent route locations.
Park Rangers are in charge of:
- Keeping order within the Park
- Caring for visitors by providing information
- Checking and maintaining the cleanliness of the region
- Conserving the natural resources within the Park
- Controlling the Aconcagua overnight camps
- Controlling the expedition service providers
- Exercising power of police inside the Aconcagua Provincial Park
- Organising and supervising evacuations
- Checking admission permits (in Horcones and Punta de Vacas)
- Dealing with complaints
- Controlling waste collection (of individual climbers and service providers)
Evacuations will be coordinated by the medical staff in charge of emergencies, by whatever means they consider necessary or whichever are mostly readily available (e.g. mules, helicopters or ambulance). Helicopters will only be brought in if the life of a climber is in jeopardy and a hasty removal from the mountain is necessary, as recommended by a mountain medic.
The responsibility of the Park Rangers in terms of protecting climbers in the Park only extends from the entrance gates to the base camps. Higher than this, they only get involved in emergency evacuations and cleaning duties. The Aconcagua Provincial Park administration office is located in Horcones and from there the work of the different camps is coordinated, mainly those in which the park rangers are always present such as at Confluencia, Plaza de Mulas, Nido de Cóndores, Punta de Vacas, Pampa de Leñas and Plaza Argentina. The park rangers have adequate technological equipment and modern communication systems which allow them permanent radio coverage which extends all over the park in VHF to prevent emergencies. The radio frequency is 142.8 MHZ FM.