This was to be my experience of very high altitude, my previous highest was 4940m on Pico Humboldt in Venezuela. Although I had climbed to nearly 4000m a number of times in the previous year or so in Rwanda, Japan and Slovenia and done some cold weather and glacier travel on Svalbard.
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| Pico Humboldt, Venezuela |
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| Summit of Pico Humboldt, Nov 2006 |
Arrived in Mendoza, met the rest of the team for a pre-climb dinner. Then we had one day in Mendoza to check kit, buy any last minute supplies before heading off to the hills and acquire the permit to climb Aconcagua, which cost US$500.
I hadn't met any of the them before but the rest of the team seemed like a good bunch from all over the world - UK; USA; Spain; Sweden; Switzerland; Argentina and Australia. A few of the team had climbed Kilimanjaro before but nothing higher so this was hopefully to be a new altitude personal best for everyone.
We would be climbing with a local company called Inka. The expedition was led by Andreas Jones (originally from Patagonia with some welsh blood in there) who had summited Aconcagua 14 times, so hopefully we were in good hands!
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| The guide team |
We drove out to Penitentes, a ski resort in the Aconcagua area stopping off at a steak ranch for an excellent steak for less than £10 en route, everyone was massively impressed with the size and quality of the steak and was keen to return on the way out.
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| Enjoying a pre-climb steak |
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| First view of Aconcagua |
We spent two nights at Confluenzia and did an acclimatisation walk up to Plaza Francia where we got a view of the daunting South Face of Aconcagua, often described as the "biggest problem outside of the Himalayas"
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| South face of Aconcagua |
Then it was time to move onto Aconcagua base camp at Plaza de Mulas. This would be a long and tough day a 40km hike with altitude increasing from 2900m to 4300m in searing heat but the team seemed to cope well with the demands. The terrain was not difficult but the Horcones Valley seemed to act like a trap for sun and, despite the altitude was extremely hot and dry for the whole day. It felt like walking in the desert but fortunately I had learnt my lesson from the first day and was careful to cover up from the sun.
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| Horcones Valley on the way to base camp |
Aconcagua has the second largest base camp in the world, after Everest on the Nepal side, and gives a good idea of what is still to come. We spent a couple of days at base camp acclimatising and doing the final medical checks before doing a load carry up to Camp Canada (4900m).
Before we were allowed to climb higher our blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen absorption were tested by the medical team at base camp. In addition, we would have daily heart rate and oxygen absorption reading in the team. Oxygen absorption at sea level would be 99 or 100% for a normal person whereas it would fall at altitude until you became acclimatised and was seen as a good test of acclimatisation. Some people would have readings 10 or 15% higher than others but one common factor was that everyone's base camp readings at the end of the trip were higher than at the start, it became quite competitive to see who had the highest. Likewise resting heart rate would rise at altitude with the range in the group even more pronounced some people over 100 and others much lower.
Before we were allowed to climb higher our blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen absorption were tested by the medical team at base camp. In addition, we would have daily heart rate and oxygen absorption reading in the team. Oxygen absorption at sea level would be 99 or 100% for a normal person whereas it would fall at altitude until you became acclimatised and was seen as a good test of acclimatisation. Some people would have readings 10 or 15% higher than others but one common factor was that everyone's base camp readings at the end of the trip were higher than at the start, it became quite competitive to see who had the highest. Likewise resting heart rate would rise at altitude with the range in the group even more pronounced some people over 100 and others much lower.
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| Base camp |
By this stage some team members were already suffering from altitude sickness and unfortunately Alicia had to be evacuated off the mountain in a helicopter. I was focusing on keeping hydrated and well fed, Inka had an excellent kitchen tent so the food was excellent (I would say the best food I have sampled on an expedition, with the exception of the Arctic BBQ on Svalbard) and there was plenty of fresh water straight from the glacier so this wasn't too difficult although degenerated into a water drinking competition (well you have to pass the time). The weather at base camp was generally pretty good although still bitterly cold in the evening and early morning until the sun appeared over Aconcagua at about 1000 when it warmed up significantly.
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| Localised storm over Aconcagua |
After a few days at base camp I was glad to get going. We climbed back up to Camp Canada (with full packs this time) and spent the night there. The climb was straightforward, the weather was good and took about 4 hours (from memory) and we were treated to a spectacular sunset that evening.
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| Ready to leave for the summit |
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| Sunset at camp 1 |
The next day we moved on to Nido de Condores camp (English translation- Condors Nest) at 5400m - we were lucky enough to see a couple of condors as well!
The terrain up to Nido was mostly similar to that experienced on the way up from base camp to Camp Canada, lots of scree and small rocks, but we did get our first sight of snow.
The weather was significantly colder here and I also got my first experience of collecting snow to melt for water. A large amount of the team for suffering from the altitude here and we decided to spend a day resting at this camp at aid acclimatisation and recovery.
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| Nido de Condores camp |
So we spent Xmas day 2008 at Nido de Condores, the pasta for Xmas lunch wasn't quite as good as Turkey and all the trimmings but under the circumstances we couldn't complain.
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| Xmas lunch 2008 |
Unfortunately Malin was suffering from the altitude badly and James was beginning to develop problems with his eyes so they were forced to return to base camp but the rest of the team continued up to Camp Colera (6000m) the next day. Again the terrain was not too difficult, more snow but not enough to necessitate crampons.
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| View from camp 2 |
We arrived at Colera the next afternoon and within minutes the weather turned snow started to fall heavily. We ate and rested ahead of tomorrow's summit day.
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| Arriving at high camp |
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| Camp Colera |
We awoke at about 0430 the weather was awful and unbelievably cold. I wasn't sure whether we would be able to go to the summit but Andreas confirmed that the weather was expected to clear up and we were good to go. Sebastian was unable to join the summit attempt due to a combination of fatigue, altitude and cold so he returned to base camp but the rest of the team set off.
Summit day was going to be a long day and with this in mind Andreas set a quick pace, Kristian, Paul and LeeAnn decided they had gone far enough early on in the day and turned back but Marcus, Martin, Niklas, Phil and myself continued and after a brutal start to the day the weather began to clear.
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| Summit day |
We reached the infamous Canaleta around lunchtime and were now only a couple of hours from the summit and the weather was still excellent. I did put on a bit of a spurt to reach the top of Canaleta where we were due to take a break and by the time I sat down, I was very dizzy - a reminder that although going strong we were at high altitude and the oxygen level was low - fortunately with a short break and a quick snack, this subsided and I was ready to go again.
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| Canaleta |
Marcus, Martin, Niklas, Phil and myself all reached the summit at about 1430 but unfortunately just as we approached the summit the weather closed in and kind of ruined the view. But was still great to get the top, with no Himalayan expeditions active at this time, we were sure there was a very chance that we were currently the highest people on the planet and amazingly my watch got the altitude spot on! The acclimatisation schedule was pretty brutal and I pleased at how well my body had coped, reaching the summit just over two weeks after leaving the UK.
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| Accurate watch on the summit |
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| On the summit |
The Descent
While the ascent had been pretty smooth the descent was a different matter. Statistically 80% of mountaineering accidents take place on the way down and we certainly had some interesting moments on the way down.
As I said before, the weather deteriorated just as we reached the summit, with clouds closing in and snow beginning to fall heavily conditions were much trickier. The ascent had taken about 8 hours and it was expected that it would take us about 3 hours to get back to Camp Colero, we eventually rolled into camp over six hours later at about 2100.
Firstly, Niklas was extremely tired and close to exhaustion and Martin's was wearing his glasses under his googles which was preventing his googles from sealing and he was struggling to see more than a yard in front of him so our guides decided to take the precaution of short roping both of them directly to them.
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| Tired climber on the way down |
Visibility was down to a few yards which made navigation challenging to say the least. Andreas had climbed on Aconcagua a number of times and while I was always confident in his ability to find the way down but there were a couple of instances where he was lost and had to go off and leave us to try and get his bearings (in hindsight and indeed at the time) I wasn't sure if this was the most sensible course of action and some other expeditions were not as lucky, with a number of climbers losing their lives on Aconcagua that season. Needless to say, we were all incredibly relieved when we finally saw high camp and crawled back into our tents after a very long day.
On personal level, I still felt strong throughout but was having real problems with my crampons and they must have come off about ten times on the descent. Martin was using similar crampons and had exactly the same problem so I was determined to replace with something that would be more reliable on future expeditions.
We descended down to base camp the following day. Unfortunately, in my haste to leave the cold of Camp Colero I had neglected to apply any sunscreen and was left to rue this decision over the coming days as my face got very burnt and nose and lips completely peeled off (another lesson learnt the hard way!!).
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| Almost back at base camp |
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| Celebrating back at base camp |
Then it was straight out of base camp on the 40km trek through the Horcones Valley and back to Mendoza to celebrate.
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| Back through the Horcones Valley |
