Trip Reports

Aconcagua - 1 to 22 December 2013

Written by Leader Mungo Ross, January 2014

Look at the stats, read the reports and you will soon see that Aconcagua has a reputation for extreme weather - high winds and low temperatures. Not this time though! Walking into base camp we met several disappointed groups walking out having run out of time never getting above base camp in the gales sweeping the mountain during the previous weeks. Stories of very few summits, tents being blown away, frostbite and frustration with the poor-to-be-expected-really chances of making it to the top of South America's highest mountain. Figures bandied about are something like 7000 would-be ascentionists each year with around a 40% sucsess rate. So the 10 members of this season's first of four Jagged Globe groups had high hopes for personal altitude bests for all if they could beat the odds and get to the top.

Our walk on the way in to see the mighty South face of Aconcagua, though good for acclimatisation, was disappointing for the view as she kept her face half hidden behind heavy grey clouds - not so much shy as indeed a mountain of moods. But our own war of attrition was to begin the very next day, one out of the 10 feeling the effects of decreasing oxygen with the increasing altitude more than the others, even before reaching base camp, the Plaza de Mulas.

However, after a rest day sunbathing and refreshed with hot showers, wined and dined by our superb base camp crew (tough life climbing big hills these days!) we were all ready for Bonete Peak, a nearby scree-slope with a fine rocky summit just over 5,000 metres high. 8 of the group completed the ascent in fine fettle, two falling behind with the one from the other day again falling foul of the lurking AMS, though further complicated by other underlying medical conditions. Despite the forced abandonment of the climb and careful descent the medics in base camp took little time to order an immediate evacuation - so by breakfast next day we were down to 9.

Climbing Aconcagua is described as a non technical walk, referred to as the easiest 7,000 metre mountain in the world, but there is no such thing as an "easy" 7,000 metre mountain. Folk are expected to carry at least their own personal gear and help with stocking the high camps with food as well as assisting with pitching and striking the tents: this is not Nepal with smiling Sherpas and dozens of porters. This is tough, and "tough" is impossible to imagine without previous experience of "tough". So we lost number two of our group to the discovery of what "tough" really is; it's so easy for any of us to underestimate a challenge, Aconcagua takes no prisoners - and we never even got the high winds and low temperatures!

That left 8 with the task of maintaining some level of percentage success and they were all looking good established in camp 2 two weeks in with spare days up our down sleeves. Everyone accepted the decision to make a summit attempt from camp 2 having considered our options in the light of the weather forecast and the effort and logistics of establishing a camp 3. By the time we set out at 4 am on 15 December, two more members had decided to stay in their tent and give the mountain her odds. Climbing to high altitudes is full of surprises and none more so for the group than when the leader has to descend - we are meant to be machines but can at times be gentle and sensitive wee beings! So after losing me 3 hours into the summit climb, there were only 6 stout (not fat!) fellows (generic!) with Lucas and Tarcho pressing on. I wasn't there but I believe them when they say that at the cave below the famous Canaletta four more could go no more, had given their all and bowed to Aconcagua's greater might. This left the responsibility of some semblance of statistical success on just Peter and Paul, who with Lucas, kept going until there was no more up - no views either but they took the photographs to prove it before the long walk down.

If there is a lightheartedness in the telling of this tale then it reflects the three weeks we have spent together. Much is made of the notion that there is more to climbing than just getting to the top of a mountain and while acknowledging the disappointment of not getting there, I know that this group are all richer and wiser for our time together on this one. Aconcagua might not be super steep but the learning curve she offers is and we have all been high on that, and had a lot of fun in the process.

Thank you once again to Jagged Globe, thank you to Fernando and all the superb Argentinian staff and especially thank you to a group who met as strangers and have gone home as friends.

Mungo Ross, expedition leader for Jagged Globe. « Previous report | Next report »

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