Trip Reports

Aconcagua - 28 Nov to 20 Dec '15

Written by Leader Becky Coles, December 2015

El Nino had ensured a snowy and cold start to the season on Aconcagua. Looking up at the South Face during an acclimatisation walk on the team's second day in the mountains we knew it was going to be some undertaking. It was also immediately evident to the team that on the pre-expedition weekend in North Wales, something they'd been told by Mungo was wrong. Mungo had said the mountain was ugly. The team agreed that Mungo was wrong.

Up at Base Camp, where the team continued with acclimatising, the Base Camp staff were working overtime as all water was having to be melted from snow. Usually they would have had running water off the snow and glacial melt by now. This meant that there was no spare water available to even wash our faces resulting in attempts to keep clean using wet wipes and hand santiser alone for the entire expedition and making even the acclimatisation phase from Base Camp tough for the team. Although the steak and Malbec which fortified us through our acclimatisation climbs meant that it wasn't all bad. Spirits and appetites not dampened by the situation our team soon got the reputation for being hearty eaters and the kitchen adapted the portions to keep up.

When we started our ascent there had only been one previous short weather window which some teams had taken advantage of to summit. At Camp 2 the weather was awful. It snowed hard all day, and with the wind, it was impossible not to let the snow storm enter the tent every time we got in or out of it.

During our stay at Camp 2 Jon emerged from his tent with what looked like a golf ball under his top lip. He had a severe tooth infection and needed to descend immediately for treatment. Two other team members also headed down that day worn down by the relentless conditions.

We spent an extra day at Camp 2 waiting out the weather and debated if it was going to be possible to set up camp at Camp 3 due to the high winds forecast, or if we should attempt the summit for Camp 2. We overcame the small logistical problem of eating all the food and a porter was sent up with more. The team's appetites had not abated even with the extreme altitude. In the end we made the move to Camp 3 and hoped that the winds would drop enough the following day to make a summit attempt.

Due to the cold our local guide, Ilan, suggested starting late, when the sun was up and it was a little warmer. This goes against the instinct of most mountaineers - it was like an anti-alpine start.

Starting moving at 7.30am, our joints stiff with cold, we could see teams well ahead of us and I thought we'd probably misjudged it and maybe should have started earlier. However, an hour into our ascent teams started coming back down. They were too cold to continue.

The sun was on us now and we were warm enough. We continued waiting for the forecast winds to get up and turn us around. High on the mountain, Hugh and Anthony ran out of steam. They were so close but just didn't have anything left and Mauri went back to Camp 3 with them. Ilan continued with Andrew and Oli and I with Melanie and Martin. The weather was glorious and the high Andes stretched out to the horizon. Again, Mungo was wrong about Aconcagua being an ugly mountain.

On the summit ridge I was wearing just liner gloves and there was a light breeze. Stood on the summit with Oli, Andrew, Melanie, Martin and Ilan I thought how incredibly fortunate we were. It was only the second time so far this season that the mountain had allowed people to summit.

The weather held for our descent but the wind was soon back once we were in our tents at Camp 3.

Back at Base Camp the next day we tucked into pizza, which we washed down with champagne to celebrate. Afterwards I treated myself to a 10 wet wipe wash.

Becky Coles, Expedition Leader

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