The Stone Giant – Aconcagua
Measuring 6962 meters Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere and the second highest of the fabled ‘7 Summits’ (the highest peaks on each continent), and is a mountain that demands the utmost respect and caution for all who dare to ascend its perilous slopes.
My love hate relationship with this 4.3 mile high summit started in 2007 whilst still serving as a regular Army Air Corps soldier, 5 years later as a Territorial Army Air Corps soldier and full time mountain guide this pile of ancient rock, scree, ice and snow is still testing and challenging me, and even after 4 ascents it still has the ability to test me at every opportunity, and to destroy anyone it chooses with regular frequency.
After successfully guiding 156 clients to the summit of Kilimanjaro in 2010 I was looking forward to the anticipated challenge that I knew Aconcagua would bring, and was also suitably acclimatised and experienced to deal with the anticipated problems that inevitably occur at such extreme high altitudes as Aconcagua.
Assisting me on this climb was my close friend and trusted colleague Phil ‘Darby’ Allen, an ex Royal Marine pilot and former 655 Sqn AAC veteran, now working with myself in the outdoors industry as freelance Mountain Guides.
After over a year of planning, fund raising and training; including an Alpine Proficiency course and numerous ‘closer to home’ training trips, the 4-man team from 657 Sqn Army Air Corps along with Darby and myself arrived in Mendoza, Argentina, a lovely town on the edge of the Aconcagua National Park, and apparently the 7th wine capital of the world with a population of approximately 1.7 million.
After a manic day spent purchasing costly park permits and other essential consumables in Mendoza the team departed for their ‘adventure of a lifetime’ which began with a stunning bus ride up the Rio Grande valley to Puenta del Inca and the start of the long approach to Aconcagua.
After a couple of nights at Puenta del Inca (the park entrance) to acclimatise to the thinning oxygen levels the team was soon on its way. The first objective on the ‘approach trek’ was the halfway point of Confluencia Camp, it is here that most teams, including ourselves conduct their acclimatisation training by spending 2 nights and a day trek up to 4000 meters, and the South-Face viewpoint of Aconcagua; ‘a spectacular vista of Aconcagua’s gargantuan 3km high ice-clad South Face, one of the hardest climbing challenges in the world’.
After completing the following days gruelling 16km walk to Plaza de Mulas Base Camp in the somewhat oppressive heat and dust the team spent a well-earned rest day preparing their equipment and provisions for the long climb ahead.
The initial climb and ‘gear cache’ to Camp Canada 5000m was conducted with relative ease, and after depositing the ‘high mountain’ stores, food, gas, cookers, crampons, axes etc the team erected their high altitude tents and descended back down to the thicker oxygen levels at Base Camp 4400m where they would sleep the night, before ascending back to Camp Canada the following morning after their acclimatisation had caught up with their height gains.
The team acclimatised well, and after a mandatory check up by the Base Camp Doctor were given the ‘green light’ to start their ascent. The climb back up to Camp Canada was a relatively slow affair, carrying heavy packs in expedition style ‘triple layer boots’ up a relentless scree slope in searing heat was not one of the highlights of the trip, and after several hours all were pleased to be safely at Camp Canada and the safety of their 4-season tents, which had fortunately survived the night without them.
The following morning everyone was woken by the sun beating down on their frozen tents and after a quick freeze-dried meal were soon toiling up the continued scree slope towards their next destination; Nido de Condores, the second intermediate camp at over 5500 meters.
During the ascent to Nido it became apparent that the assistant guide; Darby was not firing on all 4 cylinders and was suffering from a lingering winter chest cold, and was most definitely not finding the dusty thin air conducive to high altitude mountaineering.
After eventually arriving at Nido de Condores, 5000m, it was not long before Darby was to succumb to the effects of altitude, and struggling with low oxygen saturation levels and continued breathing difficulties, along with the initial signs of suspected Pulmonary Oedema, it was with a heavy heart that Darby was assisted back to Base Camp by the Park Rangers and subsequently choppered out of the park where he was to make a full recovery once safely back in Mendoza’s oxygen rich environment.
The following morning after checking the short range weather forecast it was decided to capitalize on the next few days expected good weather, and with continued good health and acclimatisation it was decided that the team would skip their planned rest day and head further up the mountain to their final high camp of Camp Colera at 6000 meters to hopefully push for the summit in two days time and hopefully beat the expected poor weather that was forecast for the near future.
During the ascent to Camp Colera another team member, Graham was to find the altitude, coupled with a lingering bout of diarrhoea and vomiting too much to continue, and after a brief rest at Colera descended back down to Nido to wait for the team to return the following day after their planned summit attempt.
Summit day arrived with anticipated good weather, and as all shivered their way out of their tents at 0630hrs they were eager to get underway for their summit push, and the opportunity to get the blood flowing again and to warm their chilled bones.
The going was laboriously slow and difficult, with everyone’s bodies struggling to adapt to the ridiculously thin air, and the relentless scree slopes that typify Aconcagua. After 5 hours of heavy breathing and sucking in the precious available air, the team finally arrived at the infamous Canaletta summit gulley. (250 meters of steep rock, snow and scree, which delivers successful parties to the summit of Aconcagua)
After a further 2 hours of seriously hard work and lung burning effort the team arrived at the summit of Aconcagua, exhausted, elated and triumphant. A fantastic achievement for a relatively novice team of mountaineers, and one to be rightly proud of.
After three hours of descent and a short break to collapse the tents at Colera the team arrived back at Nido and a recovering Graham, where they spent a further night before making the short descent to Base camp and the long walk out back to Puente del Inca and the welcome bus journey back to Mendoza, and eventually onwards to Buenos Aires for some well earned R&R before flying back to England.
For myself, R&R in Mendoza was short lived and I was soon back on Aconcagua with a commercial group of clients approaching from the opposite side of the mountain to my Army expedition.
Aconcagua has the record for the most number of seasonal deaths of any mountain in the world and should not be underestimated.
Aconcagua is a fantastic objective for military and commercial expeditions, but only with the very best of clothing, equipment and experienced leadership should it be attempted.
Imp Adventures will be leading a summit climb on Aconcagua via the Horcones Route in Jan 2012, for more details see www.impadventures.com or email damon@impadventures.com
Damon (Boris) Blackband
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