Aconcagua Story
Trip Start
Jan 23, 2006
1
8
28
Trip End
Jan 31, 2007
Mendoza,
Argentina
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Day one we met up with the company we were using, Inka, and our guides for the next 15 days. We had heard very good things about Inka, from the locals and some ex-rangers on Aconcagua, so were feeling quite positive about the whole thing. We met the rest of the group, all of whom seemed really nice, and rented our equipment. We had a welcome dinner at an Argentinean BBQ, which was an overload of food and some wine and beer. The following day we rented the rest of our gear and sourced our climbing permits, and were then ready to go...
3km of mountain face - and Ali's face
We bused from Mendoza to Penitentes, a skiing area, and stayed the night at 2500m, with another great dinner of Argentinean beef. I could already feel the altitude, and my heart rate and breathing frequency increased. Little did I know that my body was not handeling the altitude at all.Day 3 was the start of the walking, but before begining, we were taken to the graveyard of previous climbers. There are over 80 graves of people killed on the mountains, which is rather sobering - and only a small number of those killed here are buried here!! I think the guides were trying to tell us something. We also stopped in at Punta de Incas, which is a cool Incan hot spring. No dipping allowed though :(. By now we were chomping at the bit, and ready to hike. We arrived at the Guardaparque (ranger station), and were cleared to enter. We could see the mountain in the background, and it looked huge, towering above other 6000m peaks that surrounded us. The walk to Confluencia, our first stop was a tough little 4 hour walk, quite steep and a bit tricky. The camp was a dusty little spot, where we were set to spend the next day too. The camp was at 3500m, and this was where I developed my first headache. These headaches are situated behind the eyes, and on the back of the head. Not being a headache sufferer, these laid me low and I lost my appetite. I only had another 3462 meters to go!!! I started to worry!! Part of the evening routine was to measure your heart rate and O2 saturation in the blood
Aconcagua
. My heart rate was up to 80bpm (from just below 40), and my saturation was the worst in the group, at about 75%, compared to most peoples 90-95%. I was not acclimatizing well. The following day we walked to a place called Plaza Francia, and got a full view of the South Face of the mountain. It is imposing, and amazing to see this chunk of rock jutting 3400m into the sky, especially when you consider that it is already over 3500m where it starts. Some climbers have climbed these sheer faces, many have not returned from the task.On day 5 we did a long walk, from Confluencia to Plaza de Mulas, where the mules carry our stuff to. Plaza de Mulas is situated at a lofty 4300m and is considered the base camp. Many mules have lost their lives along the way, and mule carcasses can be seen dotted along the path! It is fairly depressing, and something of a bad omen for us hiking in. The last section is very steep, and you need to time it correctly so that no mules are coming down while you are going up, or you could be kicked off the edge! A rotting mule below bears testimony to the treacherous nature of this section, and lends a certain pungent smell to the cold wind. Did I mention that we had been cold since Penitentes? Freezing in fact. The next day was a rest and relax day, to recover from our 8 hour walk, but we woke to the sound of a helicopter evacuating one member of our group who had developed a pulmonary embolism overnight, a potentially fatal condition
Ambulance and mountain
. He was taken down, and was fine. The group was now down to 13 peopleIt is really hard to relax in a tent, and outside the glare was so harsh that our eyes got swollen and sunburned. We sat about staring at the mountain on whose foot we sat. It ascended into the clouds directly from the base camp and made me nervous when I craned my neck skywards to see the trails we would be blazing. The nights caused all our water to freeze, and this was when I decided to hire a second -30 sleeping bag, so that I could double bag to keep warm! The thermometer showed a chilly -5 at night, and the wind chill would have brought that down even further.
The next day was the first caching of the food, to the camp 1, called Canada Camp. We all went up, slowly, as the path is 4 hours of quite steep uphill. Eventually we got there, and stashed our food. We sat around, exhausted, and then descended down the scree and rocks in just under an hour. My headache was huge, and the doctor the previous day had told me that my blood pressure was too high (160/95). All this made for a tough day, and a severe lack of appetite. I was not sure what to do about my blood pressure, as I still had a long way up to go. I was hoping that the BP would stabilise and I would be good to go further. Once again, the following day was a rest day, to recover from the big carry to Canada. We also had arranged to test drive the crampons and walk on the glaciers
Canada Camp (Camp 1 - 5000m)
. It was a fun exercise, and built up a big appetite. My headache was abating a little and I was starting to feel better, however on returning to the doctor, I found my BP had not got any lower, and my O2 saturation was still very low. This was when the doctor put me on medication for the blood pressure and told me to return the following morning to see if I could join the others to start the assault on Aconcagua. The first stop was to be Camp Canada where we had previously stashed the food. Morning broke and we all got ready to head up to the summit over the next 4 days. I packed my stuff and ambled over to the doctor. This was where I got some bad news. My BP was now 170/110 and way too high to go further up. The altitude increases your BP, so going even higher would be a bad plan. The doctor told me I couldn't go with the rest of the group, and would have to take double doses of the medicine, and see if I could join them later in the afternoon. It was desperately sad to see the group leave without me, but I was confident that the medicine would see me through. I returned to the DR at 4 pm, and my BP had come down to 150/85, and the DR cleared me to go. I loaded up and began the 4 hour trudge up to Canada Camp by myself. A guide was sent down to meet me, and once we met up we charged up the rest of the way, and I celebrated joining the others with some dry bread. From here on in my BP was taken each morning and evening, by the guides and thankfully it never went back up again after that. I was not allowed soup, or any salty foods though
Climbers cemetry
!Day 8 had us hiking up to Nidor de Condors, or the "Condors Nest" which was at 5400m. It was a tough hike and hard on the legs, but we eventually got there and the views and sunsets were amazing. Moving around was slow going and I always seemed out of breath. My saturation levels we down to 60% and I didn't have much of an appetite. One thing altitude seems to do, is make you urinate a lot. We also drank a lot to avoid dehydration, but we ended up having to get up 4/5 times per night to urinate. This was a real pain, as it was -10 outside the tent and painful to get up!
From Canada onwards we also had to poo in plastic bags, which would be kept and carried down the mountain. This was to avoid the poo behind and under every rock, and was only partially successful as there was poo all over the place.
Next day we moved on to Berlin Camp, which was quite full, so we went on to Cholera camp, slightly higher. It was from here that we would make our summit bid.
The guides prepared us for the following day, letting us know the early morning procedure. It was important to not let your fingers and toes get cold before leaving the camp, as otherwise frostbite would set in, and you would need to return to camp or risk loosing a finger or toe
Confluencia - 1st stop
. That would be the end of your summit bid! We were set to wake up at 4am, with porrage and hot water to make some coffee. Non of us could sleep though, and when the guides woke up at 3am to start boiling the coffee, we knew we near to leaving. One of our group had been coughing all niht, and by morning had to be taken down to base camp and evacuated with a pulmonary oedema. It was a tragic event for him, as he had made it so far only to have his body fail at the last hurdle.
The main thing was to stay warm, so we dressed inside our sleeping bags as best we could, then put on our double plastic boots, down jackets and goretex pants. We were wearing 4 or 5 layers of clothing at this stage, but still felt cold. The porrage and coffee was only pecked at beause at that altitude you loose you appetite.
By 5am we were ready to leave, and we started walking. After about 10 minutes one member of our party sat down complaining of frozen fingers, which turned out to be mild frostbite. The guides took care of him and he rejoined the group. We walked on through the darkness and cold for another couple of hours, and eventually came to the last of the refuges before the summit. It was here that we put the crampons on and started the icey and snowy path called the traverse.
The traverse went on for another hour, and was a trecherous path across the face of the mountain, with a long fall for those who stumbled
Good views
. At the end of the travese there was less than 1km to go, and this was marked by a cave. A couple of the hikers in our group decided that this was as far as they were going. The summit was close, only 200m above us, but was on top of a section called the caneletta, a netouriously difficult and dangerous section. From the cave, the path ascends steeply, and although it is only 200m up, it is still another 2 hours of climbing to the top. By this stage I felt like I was in a dream world, due to the lack of oxygen and the hypoxic state we were in. We were all exhausted, but committed to getting to the top. We had a quick feed (those who could eat), and headed up the caneletta, leaving those who had decided to go no further. From here on my memory is a bit scetchy, but as we went upwards I dumped my bag for retrieval on the way down. We scrambled, climbed, slid and scraped our way upwards, until 2 hours later we could see the final ice scree slope 30m from the top. We crested this section and pulled ourselves onto the summit, collapsing into a heap on the top. We had made it, after 10 hours of walking in the freezing conditions (-16 without wind chill). We snapped a few pictures - non of which I remember - and then headed down. This was where the problems started for me. It felt like I had drunk 15 tequilas, and my legs were just not operating. A climber needs to remember that the job is not done when you reach the top, you need to get down safely
Hiding from the sun and cold
. Most accidents happen on the way down, and I could see why. I requested that the guides rope me up, and help me down, because I was tripping and lurching and in danger of falling off the mountain. I was in no mood to become another statistic, and felt quite relieved to roped up. The Aussie member of our party was slightly less fortunate, and fell onto a rock, hitting his head quite badly. He, along with another member of our group were roped together, and started the descent. It was a long gruelling descent, which took over 4 hours. The legs were like jelly, but with every meter down we regained more strength. Eventually, 14 hours later, I fell into camp and crawled into my tent not to emerge until the next day.
Even after a good nights sleep my legs were still not operating at 100%, and my balance was off. We packed up camp and headed down to Plaza de Mulas, the base camp, for some beer and wine, and some decent food. We seemed to get our appetites back somewhat, and had to eat for energy for the following days trek, which was an 8 hour walk out of the mountains. After some beers, wine and whisky, we went for our final sleep in the tents.
The next day was to be our last in the mountains, and at altitude, and I was quite relieved it was all over without any major incident. We made the long journey out, passing many dead mules, some river crossings, mule trains, other hikers, and camp Confluencia, where nearly 2 weeks ago we had made camp
More mules
. Vegitation returned and the walking and breathing became easier. Eventually we made it back to the park rangers station, signalling the end of our adventure. It was truly amazing in so many aspects. Tough mentally and physically, with the most increadable views and scenery. Our guides were fantastic, they never stopped walking, and went beyond the call of duty on numerous occassions. It is often easier to judge how good guides are when things go wrong rather than if everything is plain sailing. I had some challenges with acclimatisation, and my blood pressure. The guides helped so much and went out their way to ensure that I could be part of the summit group. All in all the group we were thrown into turned out to be an amazing group, and everyone got on really well. I would recommend an assault on Aconcagua for anyone curious about the high altitudes and keen on a big adventure! 
