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Mendoza, Argentina

If you want to summit the highest point of South America, you must take some things into account:

- NOT everybody can do this, inspite of what some travelagencies may tell you! You will stay a long time above 4000 m, and the acclimatisation period most climbers (as did we) take, is not sufficient to have no side effects of this. Before you undertake this expedition (or any longer expedition above 5000 m), go and see a cardiologist for an ECG. It is possible you suffer from heart abnormalities that only trouble you on high altitudes...

- Take at least a couple of days of acclimatisation at Plaza de Mulas basecamp

- Go to the doctors in Confluencia basecamp and Plaza de Mulas basecamp before advancing on the climb. They will measure heart rate, blood oxygen level and blood pressure free of charge. If you have no heart abnormalities, these three indicators will tell you if you have any change of reaching the summit, and, more important, returning safely...

- If your bloodpressure is allready high before you fly to Mendoza, cut on salty food...

- Know that although the climb itself is far from technical, the conditions in which you climb are extremely harch:
° because of the lack of oxygen, above 5000m, your hart rate will not drop below 100-120, even when your sleeping
° to avoid altitude sickness, climb slow, rest a lot, and drink a lot (5 liters a day). If you do get headaches, drink even more, or, if necessary, decend. Don't take any medication and keep on climbing. This can and most likely will lead to AMS (accute mountain sickness) and even HAPE (High Altitude Pulmonary Edema) and HACE (High Altitude Celebral Edema). These last two can and probably will kill you...
° sleeping is possible, but not for long: automatically, your heart rate will drop. As a result, you will wake up every 20 minutes or so because your brain will not get enough oxygen. You will wake up hyperventillating, whith the feeling of suffocation
° temperatures can drop as low as -40. This is cold, but whith the correct gear, you can handle this. Use down jackets, gore tex jackets, down sleeping bags and double boots.
° water only exist in the form of ice. This does not contain enough minerals and can therefore, as strange as it may sound, dehydrate you even more. Always carry minerals in powderform (isotonic drinks)
° mind what you're eating. Digesting food needs oxygen. You don't have any oxygen to spare on this altitude. Do not eat fats or other food that needs a lot of oxygen in digestion.
° nothing, and I mean nothing, decays here. Carry EVERYTHING down and out the Park. (f.i. photo of the "kakatube"
° its very cold at night. Do not leave your tent in ANY case...come prepared with lots of bags and bottles...
° also, it is very windy up there (see movie with this entry)

- Plan your summit attempt well. If weather forecasts are bad, stay a bit longer in Plaza de Mulas basecamp. Once you leave for Nido the condores, you leave for your summit attempt. DO NOT take restdays at Nido or higher.

- If all of this exites you more than it frightens you. Book your ticket as fast as possible and go for it! You will be treated on amazing views, and the feeling of being up there is impossible to compare!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wouterf/aconcagua/1147956900/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wouterf/aconcagua/1147956900/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/wouterf/aconcagua/1147956900/tpod.html Tue, 23 May 2006 05:49:30 -0400 Ascent of Cerro Aconcagua, 6962m, South Americas highest peak, and the highest peak outside the Himalayas

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