A few weeks ago I had a trip to Aconcagua and reached the summit. Before the trip I read many relevant posts here, so I'd like to post things I learned too.

I took the 360 route. It goes from vacas valley on the east side, turns west to go to the basecamp at plaza de Argentina, and descends the normal route. I travelled alone, so I joined an early season guided trip.

360 vs normal route: I think I made the right choice. 360 is less crowded, you see more landscape, more rivers etc. The infrastructure is not as mature as the normal route though, many things are under construction.

Equipment: due to the harsh condition I was not very sure about my gear. Below are what worked and what not.

Sleeping: I used a western mountaineering 0f bag. Very satisfied. Except for the early night when I felt a little chilly on my back, no complaints at all. I did wear some layers when sleeping. Used a thermarest r6.5 pad which I use for all camping. Used a liner to keep the bag clean from my body oil. Used a pad inflator, which is a luxury add-on but well worth the cost and weight. Overall the biggest concern was the temperature rating of my bag, but it worked perfectly. I was warmer than my previous trips to 3000m+ altitude in other places.

Clothes: I brought two synthetic, two down jackets for lower and higher altitude, wool base layer and a hard shell. Mostly used the wool, synthetic and down. Worked well. I rented a summit parka in Mendoza, very bulky, but warm. Only used it on the summit day. For legs I got wool and down. Used down for sleeping and summit. For feet I got hiking socks for most days and mountaineering heavy wool socks for summit day, sleeping, and water bottle liner.

Boots: rented la sportiva g2 Evo. Warm. Not easy to put on or take off. I also got some abrasion from the top edge of the boots on one side of My legs, very painful.

Accessories: for hands I brought liners, mountain gloves and mittens, but didn't use the mountain gloves and only used the mittens on the summit day. The liners were on the colder side when I went higher, but not bad at all. I got holes on the liners though. For face and head I brought a balaclava, a buff, and a liner hat. Only the buff worked for me. Other stuff was for the summit day, and the balaclava made the glasses foggy immediately. Buff was mostly good, but when it froze around the mouth area, it blocked all the air flow so I couldn't breathe. My head is on the bigger side so it's uncomfortable to wear the liner and the helmet; instead I just used the hood on the jackets.

Misc equipments: carried a whole bunch of hand and toe warmers, but didn't use them at all. Used a Fenix headlamp, perfect. Used a 70L backpack, it worked but was on the smaller side. I didn't hire any porter though.

Experience: good overall. Felt the impact of altitude, but very mild, and temporary. On the summit day, no symptoms at all. The daily itinerary and the pace was not aggressive so that we could well acclimatize, and I didn't even sweat much which made layering much easier. We didn't use climbing gears, except crampons on the summit day.

Weather: it was early December. Unfortunately I don't know how to retrieve historical weather data so I don't have numbers. It's always freezing at night, or if you go higher than the base camp. There were a few days after base camp when the wind was so strong that I had to stop walking. On the summit day the wind was strong and we were not sure if we could make it until la cueva. But at the summit the wind was mild like a miracle.