Part of the death rate can be attributed to the fact that it's in Argentina, not the US. The rescue support on Denali is unparalleled for a mountain of that size, mostly because of the NPS climbing rangers.

To my knowledge, the only country with a more reliable rescue system for their mountains is France in the Alps -- and those mountains are shorter & much closer to civilization, rather than expedition-style peaks in bumfuck nowhere, Alaska.

Now, some people abuse this system. It's not a safety net in a "they'll pluck me off the mountain if I call" way, and I don't for a second mean to suggest that. Never expect a rescue in the mountains. However, there are some people who, by rights, should have died that the rangers manage to save. Aconcagua doesn't have that support, nor do Himalayan peaks. Climbers sometimes mobilize to rescue others, but there's no official infrastructure for it. They're trying to build a system on Everest that's based on Denali's system (there's a great article in Outside mag. about that), but it's a ways off complete.

My biggest statement about climbing Aconcagua would be, don't be afraid to turn back. There is zero shame in saying that this just wasn't your year. You can live to climb again if you turn around when you could have summitted. You won't climb again if you don't turn around when you should.

Ed Viesturs, the most accomplished American climber in history, is famous for saying that he doesn't count a summit unless it was accompanied by a successful descent. An appalling number of accidents happen during the descent, because people 'check out' mentally, thinking they've done the hard part.

I don't want to sound like I'm on a high horse. I'm sure you're eminently capable of keeping yourself safe without my 2 cents. I'm saying this in case someone who's curious about getting in to the sport reads this thread, so they can know more.