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Peak of the Southern American Continent, 6.962m, Argentina.
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The team
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Climbers : Michael (Germany), Francois (Quebec), Alfonso (Argentine), Hana
(Denemark), Marek (Poland), Aline (France), Sébastien (Belgium);
Guides : Micky, Pepe, Papy
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| Climbed with |
Aconcagua Adventures |
| Duration, period |
21 days, February 2006
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| Summiters |
One climber and one guide summited out of 8 climbers
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| Route |
Normal route |
| Advice |
If you have time, climb another mountain before. A seven-day trip would help your acclimatization |
| Sponsorship |
Delhaize is a food retailer company headquartered in Belgium which operates in 8 countries. In 2004-2005, I had the opportunity to do a five-month internship in
Delhaize. This belgian multinational accepted to finance a part of the
expedition to the second highest continental peak in the world. Climbing with the
flag of Delhaize in my backpack gave me the strenght to keep walking beside all the difficulties a trek in extreme altitude can bring.
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It starts with a steak and good wine
Mendoza (Argentina) is the city where most expeditions start their journey to the summit of the southern American continent. It's here that you might taste the best steak and glass of wine you've ever dreamt about. Even though staying in Mendoza seems appealing (tasty food, good hotel and rich air), we have to leave for our journey that should bring us on top of the Aconcagua. This majestic peak attracts thousands of climber every year.
The effects of the altitude at the top of the Aconcagua can be compared with a 7.500m peak in the Himalayas. This is due to the geographical localization of the mountain. The atmospheric layer is thinner above the poles and thicker above the equator. Moreover, the extremely dry environment increases the
effects of the altitude.
6000 meters, last camp, terrible night
When we got to our last altitude camp at 6.000 meters, I was feeling really bad : nausea, strong pounding headache and dizziness. I was afraid not to fall asleep and to get the well-know high altitude insomnia. With each new altitude reached, it becomes more difficult to fall asleep. The next day would be our summit day, I had to feel better by the next morning. To help me falling asleep, I took two pills of alprazolam which is an anxiolitic and therefore helps falling asleep. But it also decreases the capacity of the lungs to absorb oxygen and it could lead to death. (I didn't know of course!). I got really sacared, I could feel my heartbeat slowing down to abnormal tempo for this altitude. Somehow I believed I would just not wake up. I tried to resist the effect of the pill but I couldn´t prevent falling asleep.
At 4 am our guides woke us up to start our summit day. Two people of our 8 persons group decided
to stay at this last camp (Colera) because they were suffering from strong altitude sickness. At that time I already took
2 pills against headache, I felt much worse than the previous day.
Still, I joined the group. I was really slow getting ready and didn't have time to eat breakfast or drink anything. I started the summit day but my chances were inexistant with a strong AMS (Acute mountain Sickness) and no breakfast nor fluids in my stomach.
Summit day: stormy weather.
The weather forecast for that summit day were grim : a snow storm was expected to hit around noon. Our guides asked us to maintain a fast pace in order to have enough time to peak and then get back before the storm. However, I couldn't walk faster, my headache became stronger and I couldn't resist the extreme tiredness caused by this AMS. In addition, I was overheating due to over layering. My bad experince of mild hypothermia on Kilimanjaro taught me the problems of a cold body but this time, I was overdressed!
Only one person of our group reached the summit : a French girl who managed to keep a fast pace to escape
from the storm.
On the same summit day, two Polish from another group lost their way in the storm. The researches took more than 24 hours to find them back. Climbing the Aconcagua was a great challenge that we all tried to overtake. Through this expedition, I've learned a lot about the effects of altitude on my body and the things to do or not to do in extreme altitude. The tough experience on Aconcagua was a great learning for the next mountain: Mc Kinley.
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"Treating climbing as a means to snab a summit or complete a route engenders a fear of failure. Failure then becomes a physical or psychic defect. ... Learn to turn back before losing all ability to influence what will happen to you. Although no one fully controls a situation in the mountains, you should never voluntarily relinquish control of yourself."
Mark F. Twight
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