Departure from Chopper Camp to Plaza de Mulas Plaza Argentina

After another night with fitful spells of sleep we awoke to a calmer but even colder morning. I had spent a good portion of the night working to keep my feet warm. Before going to bed I had gone out in my down booties, as I had several times before, but this time the snow made them wet. This meant my feet started off fairly cold when we laid down for the night. However, when we awoke in the morning I realized I was fairing better than my tentmates. With the condensation and snow making its way into the tent Mark’s sleeping bag had started to get damp. Even worse, Peter’s bag was actually very wet in places. He had been really cold from the waist down for the whole night.
Our guide Mark came around to each tent sharing the plan for the day. Option 2 had won out: we would aim to climb to High Camp, grab our gear and descend. There was only one crux to his plan. He was concerned the trail would be covered in snow and ice from the storm and therefore might require crampons and an ice axe. Everyone on the expedition had brought this mandatory gear but we didn’t have it with us at Chopper Camp. When the weather was better several days earlier and we had a carry day everyone decided to cache the crampons and ice axes at High Camp. If the route was impassable without the gear we’d have to retrace our steps so Mark sent Tobias up to High Camp to scout the route.

Meanwhile at Camp 2, Marcela made pancakes and we all worked together to take down the tents. Normally the people staying in a tent would take the tent down on their own but with such high winds we needed more people to ensure the tent didn’t blow away as we removed the rocks and disassembled poles. Each tent we took down showed significant signs of wear from the storm. Every tent had snapped guy lines and several had vestibules which were ripped. One tent even had a bent pole.

The storm had taken a severe toll on us as well as our gear. Almost everyone seemed to be moving a bit slower. Some of this was from knowing with this wind even though the snow had stopped our chances to attempt the summit were minuscule. But we were all looking worse for wear and could feel how our fitness had deteriorated as we sat in the tent. Krzysztof was the one member of the team vocally asking Mark if we might not be able to stay at Camp 3 instead of heading directly down to Plaza de Mulas. Mark continually responded he was “99.99% sure” we were heading down today.  Unless it was absolutely calm by the time we climbed to Camp 3 there wasn’t a chance of sleeping there. You can see in this picture how the wind continues to blow all the loose snow off the summit. I knew even the 0.001% chance Mark was giving us was being generous.
By the time we packed the tents and our personal gear it was already noon and Tobias had returned confirming the route was navigable without any special gear. It felt late to be heading up the mountain and the storm was still blowing but going up and then heading back down was going to be the quickest way off the mountain. As usual, Mark set off leading us up the mountain while Tobias and Marcela remained behind to pack the remaining gear.

We were less than 15 minutes into the day’s climb when Jim shouted up to me that Mark, the climber from Hawaii, had turned around and headed back down the mountain. He didn’t have the strength to continue. I relayed the message up the mountain to our guide Mark and he came down to speak with Mark directly. Only a few minutes later Mark signaled for all of us to turn around and return to where Tobias and Marcela had almost finished packing. As we came down a small group of Belgians, who had setup camp not far from us, was proceeding up the mountain. They looked even more beat up and were proceeding slower than our team.

Mark was feeling too weak to continue up the mountain. Even if we split his gear amongst us to make it easier we would be moving too slowly and would have a long day of exposure to the storm and arrive at Plaza de Mulas after dark. Dividing the team in two was not an option. Mark decided we would return to Los Penitentes via the longer route of retracing our footsteps back through Plaza Argentina.

In 18 years of guiding Aconcagua with over 100 expeditions, Aventuras Patagonicas had only failed to have a group make the traverse over the mountain once and that was earlier this season. We would become the second group and the protocol was not well known. Mark called Rodrigo in Santiago to give him the news and organize the logistics. There were still base camp services at Plaza Argentina for a few days which was important because we were now out of group food.

After hanging up with Rodrigo we had to deal with the next issue. We had a 40km hike out from Plaza Argentina to Los Penitentes mainly through high but very warm plains along the river. Most of us, including the guides, had stashed our comfortable footwear at High Camp on the carry. So now all we had available to wear were our extremely heavy (mine weigh almost 6lbs for the pair) and warm mountaineering boots or down booties. Hiking out in the former would be extremely uncomfortable and the latter would almost be impossible.

Just as unhappy as we were with the prospect of being stuck in his mountaineering boots for three days Mark gave the contents of his backpack to Marcela and Tobias and prepared to head up to High Camp. We had about 90kg (198 lbs) of gear stashed high which Mark would not be able to carry down alone. But he was going to climb up, rummage through all the bags and stuff sacks and return with everyone’s shoes. In the evening we would radio for porters from the Plaza de Mulas side of the mountain to retrieve the remaining gear and hopefully it would make it back to Los Penitentes about the same time we did.

As we regrouped I took the opportunity to take two pictures I had hoped to take on the summit:

The mood was glum as Marcela and Tobias led the group down the mountain and Mark ascended into the dark and windy tempest on the summit. As we descended the team broke naturally into two groups moving at different speeds. I felt okay but was extremely tired and spent time moving back and forth between both groups. At one point just after a very narrow scree and ice bridge crossing a crevasse the slower group was no where to be seen when I looked back. I slowed up to wait for them and when I still didn’t see them after a few minutes I turned around to make sure everything was okay. When I encountered them everything was okay but they were moving slowly. Bev was now feeling very weak as well. Marcela told me I could not bounce between groups and I needed to pick one and stick with that pace. I was in no rush to get to the bottom so I decided to finish the day with Marcela. As the day wore on the sky grew darker and we lost the normal path through the moraine. There are hundreds of paths up the glacier and across the moraine and we were on one of those paths but it had a lot of climbing up and down through the scree. This was only tiring Bev and Mark more. We split some of the contents of Bev’s pack between Marcela, Kori and me and pressed on.

We made it in to Plaza de Argentina Base Camp but it looked much different. The mess tent where we had eaten only a few days earlier was gone. Any structure still at the camp was in the process of being disassembled and taken out for the season.  It was beginning to look like a ghost town as opposed to the bustling Base Camp of 10 days ago.

The other half of our team was already in the new makeshift storage/mess tent and hot tea was waiting for us after a very long day. It wasn’t long after we got in when Mark arrived with our shoes. He said the storm was blowing incredibly hard at Camp 3. He had only spent enough time there to go through the bags and collect all the shoes he could find, cover the bags in rocks again to keep it from blowing away and then headed straight back down. When he was coming down he saw the group of Belgians and they were about halfway to High Camp and were moving quite slowly. Everyone else he saw around High Camp was retreating to lower down the mountain. Mark distributed all the shoes he had fetched but it turned out Peter’s boots had been missed and were still at the top of the mountain. His exit off the mountain was not going to get any more comfortable as he’d continue to sleep in a damp sleeping bag at night and would have to endure hiking in mountaineering boots during the day.

For dinner we each had a huge plate of jambalaya. Even the people who asked for half portions weren’t able to clean their plates. The Base Camp crew was trying to use up all the remaining supplies. It was the kind of big and filling meal we needed after so many days in a tent and a long trudge down the mountain.

Now that we were in the relative safety of Base Camp the conversation turned to all the rumors we heard while on the mountain. Rumor had it even now at Base Camp there were some serious frostbite injuries. We started to ask the guides for details. It turns out there were several teams who started up the mountain after us but they turned around at Camp 1. Other than the Belgians and the the team of two Brits we were the only expedition to make it to Camp 2 in the period around the storm. We had waited it out much longer than any of the other groups before coming down. Most of the other expeditions had some sort of minor cold injury (frostnip or frostbite) and a few had major cases in which fingers or toes would be lost.

The rumors about a body being pulled off the mountain in the helicopter were indeed true although the details were still coming to light. It was known that a relatively inexperienced young man and his mother were on the mountain with a guide who had successfully led trips to climb 7,000m and 8,000m peaks in the Himalayas. As they were climbing the mother started to develop signs of altitude sickness and the guide insisted they turn around. That evening the mother was feeling better but was still in critical condition and with the guide focusing on the mother’s health he failed to catch signs of HACE in the son. HACE is often characterized by strange and irrational behavior as fluid builds up and presses on the brain. That night, without the guide’s knowledge the son left his tent and decided to try and summit on his own in a fit of delusion brought on by the HACE. The guide couldn’t find the son in the morning and focused on getting the mother down to safety and radioed for others to search for the son. A few days later a guide on another expedition came across the body of the son and thus the early morning helicopter evac to remove a corpse as well as the frostbite victims was set underway. We all finished our desserts of flan with raisins (complete with seeds) and dulce de leche realizing we had been very lucky to have some experienced and knowledgeable guides leading our team and fortunate to not have had any altitude or cold related incidents.

After dinner everyone in our group except for my tentmates, Peter and Mark, and me decided to sleep in the mess tent. We opted to set up and sleep in our tent. After a long conversation in the tent about world travels we drifted off to sleep. The wind seemed like it was hardly blowing in comparison to what we had endured over previous days and we slept through the entire night.

Plaza Argentina Base Camp to Pampa de Lenas

When we went to take the tent down after breakfast we were shocked to discover the fly of our tent was ripped in several places. Upon closer investigation we found one of the poles on our tent had bent in half and another was cracking. The weather the previous night had been quite calm, much like we had experienced at Base Camp on the way up the mountain. Our guide Mark explained the tent had taken a beating up high and it didn’t take much to push it over the edge. Seeing our shelter in such sorry shape made me thankful we hadn’t proceeded on to High Camp. The tent never would have survived the wind and the consequences of losing or having a severely damaged shelter could have been quite severe.

We all put on our hiking shoes very thankful Mark had retrieved them from High Camp. One of the porters at Base Camp had heard about Peter’s predicament and loaned him a spare pair of trail running shoes. They were a bit of a tight fit but a much better option than the mountaineering boots and Peter happily used them.

From Base Camp our guides had radioed the arrieros to return with a mule train and pick up our bags so we could travel as lightly as possible. The arrieros had left a few days before to head back to Los Penitentes with our mule bags full of gear we had left at Base Camp meaning we were all left only with what we had high on the mountain. We looked like a pretty ragged bunch as we walked down the mountain.  Some of us had makeshift backpacks made from stuff sacks and we were all wearing the bare minimum of our cold weather gear we’d had at Camp 2 trying to stay cool yet remain protected from the sun.  Everything we had planned to hike out in was still in our High Camp cache.

Since we were out of food Mark had ordered an asado at Pampa de Lenas when he radioed the arrieros. After hiking a solid 25-30kms we arrived at camp happy to see the arrieros preparing the fire for a feast. No one had told the arrieros we had not made the summit. Assuming we had they brought boxes of wine and some bottles of champagne to celebrate. They also had the fixings for two different kinds of salads. Fresh produce was a wonderful treat after having lived on rehydrated foods for so long.

As the night wore on we got to be friends with the arrieros and they served us directly from their huge gaucho knifes. In contrast to our asado on the way up the mountain the meat this time was tender and delicious. We devoured everything they cooked and as most of the people wandered off to bed I sat down with the arrieros along with our guide Marcela and Krzysztof and enjoyed a mate.

Drinking mate is a very Argentinean custom. The act of drinking mate is very social and has many subtle nuances and unwritten rules. Yerba mate is an herb grown in the country and the basis of the drink. It seems every Argentinean citizen has their own mate gourd for holding mate, a bombilla which is similar to a soda fountain straw but made from metal through which it is drunk and a thermos for hot water. Yerba mate is typically very bitter so sugar is often added to take the edge off. The server is responsible for packing mate in the gourd and refilling the gourd with sugar and hot water after each person drinks. When the gourd is handed to you it is important to not touch the bombilla, not take too long to drink the mate and very importantly to completely finish the mate you were served. Saying “Gracias” when you are done drinking signals the person pouring you are done and do not wish to partake any longer. This is important because the server is responsible for keeping the drinking order the same as people join and leave the rotation. As you travel the country you constantly see small groups of people drinking mate or people walking around the streets with a thermos and their gourd. You can stop in almost any restaurant, kiosk or gas station and request water for mate and almost immediately receive water heated to the appropriate, not quite boiling, temperature.

Shortly after midnight our mate session ended and I headed off to bed. It was a clear night and a wonderful temperature. I was starting to go stir crazy from so many nights in the tent so I pulled my sleeping bag and pad from the tent and setup for a night of “cowboy camping” in the open air under the stars. While I was ready to get back to civilization and a hot shower I wasn’t quite ready for the expedition to end. In less than 12 hours I’d be back at the hotel getting cleaned up and I wanted to enjoy every last minute I had in the mountains surrounding Aconcagua.

Pampa de Lenas to Los Penitentes

It was a short hike out to the road the next morning. A mini van and a Land Rover Defender were waiting there to take us back to the hotel. The drivers had freshly sliced watermelon which was delicious on such a hot day. Upon arriving back at the hotel we took our first coordinated group picture of the expedition. We were all tired and anxious to get cleaned up so after grabbing the gear we’d left at the hotel which included the essentials like clean boxers and freshly laundered, soft, non-synthetic clothes we all made a bee line for our hotel rooms. I grabbed a quick self portrait shot before I got cleaned up and you can compare before and after the expedition. I lost a little under 10 pounds while I was on the mountain.

Before and after self-portraits

However, by the time this picture was taken I think I’m already starting to recover. The pictures from the time when we were tentbound at Camp 2 are definitely when I felt and probably look the worst. I’ve received emails likening the video of me in the tent to the Blair With Project.

Los Penitentes to Mendoza

While the dinner and shower at Los Penitentes was nice we were really all anxious to make our way back to Mendoza and back to civilization. It seemed like a quick three hour ride back to the Park Hyatt the next day. I think everyone spent a little extra time under the waterfall shower savoring the luxury of warm and plentiful water and washing the last of the grime from the mountain down the drain.

That evening we had a fancy dinner planned at Francis Mallman 1884, a restaurant belonging to one of the up and coming chefs in Argentina. We drank some succulent wines and ate savory tapas and mains from a clay oven. It was great to have everyone from the expedition together one last time. Even David who had retreated from Camp 1 because of altitude sickness was able to join us. Towards the end of dinner Mark from Hawaii stood up and passed around small 12″ x 1/2″ PVC pipes to everyone. Inside was a copy of the map of Mt. Aconcagua created after the original survey of the mountain. He had received an original earlier in the year as a gift and had worked to get the color and clarity just right in reproductions he made for everyone on the team. It was a fantastic surprise and a great addition to my map collection.

Since we were in Argentina the dinner had not begun until a little after 10pm which meant it was almost 1am by the time we left the restaurant. In less than 12 hours I would be on a plane to Santiago where the next portion of my South American journey would begin by meeting Anne and we would head to Torres del Paine. My itinerary had me returning to Argentina in just a little under a month and I was looking forward to it.

I learned one more quirky little fact about the country that evening as the taxi sped back to the hotel. After we blew through the first red light I attributed it to crazy South American driving. After the second I was a bit concerned and we weren’t all the way through the intersection of third red light when I had to ask what was going on. Evidentially, stop lights become optional after midnight and again become mandatory to heed at 6am in Mendoza. It is a hold over from earlier times when the possibility of being robbed or car jacked in the middle of the night while waiting at a stop light was much higher. It was assumed to be safer if the driver of a vehicle had the option of cautiously proceeding through the intersection after making sure the way was clear. I think our driver had forgotten about the aspect of proceeding cautiously or had delusions of being a Formula 1 race car driver but we all made it back to the hotel without incident. We settled in for a good night’s sleep in a comfortable bed sans sleeping bag for the first time in 18 days.

The next morning some people left extremely early. The rest of us gathered at the buffet of the Park Hyatt devouring the fresh fruit. Since a few of us were staying on traveling in South America those who were heading home brought gifts of spare Snickers bars, dried fruit, rolls of TP and other necessities we might need. It felt like Christmas as I headed back to my room with all kinds of fresh supplies. But only an hour later Yvan and I were in a car headed to the Mendoza airport. My expedition to climb Mt. Aconcagua had officially come to an end.

Aconcagua Afterword

I sent a number of postcards after I got off the mountain. On one of them I was explaining to my parents where I camped on the mountain when I realized a picture truly is worth a thousand words. So I turned the postcard over and annotated the approximate positions of the various camps. Realizing this might be beneficial for more than just my parents I asked them to scan it after it arrived in Chicago. I hope the visual helps as people read my account on the mountain.

Camp 1 is in a small saddle. There is a gully on the left which we camped in for protection from the wind. The dashed line represents our track up over the ridge to Camp 2.

Camp 2 or Chopper Camp is actually on the back side of the mountain in this picture. After our path crossed the ridge we had another 1.5 hours of hiking to get to camp.

Camp 3 or High Camp is also just slightly on the back side of the mountain and out of view. Had we had the chance to summit we would have walked around the back side of the mountain and on up to the top.

The massive glacier directly in front and to the left of High Camp is the somewhat infamous Polish Glacier which is a much more technical route. It is not climbed very frequently and when it is climbers are often out and exposed for 24 to 36 hours while climbing in the dark.

I mentioned the Belgian group which continued to proceed up the mountain as we came down. They looked very rough as we passed them on our way down and it was concerning to hear from Mark they were only half way to High Camp when he came down from fetching our shoes. Everyone in our group was interested to hear how they fared partially because we wanted to know they were safe but also honestly, because they had made the choice to continue on and I think we were looking for what the possible outcome might have been had we forged on. I found out later they made it safely to High Camp. However, the winds were blowing fiercely so they continued to traverse across the mountain to an old stone shelter. They spent the next two days in the shelter waiting for the storm to abate and when it did they had clear weather and at least some in the group successfully reached the summit.

* * *

We can always play the “what-if” game and even having this extra tidbit of information about the Belgians does not allow us to draw any clear conclusions. However, knowing the Belgians were successful it does allow us to focus on the critical factors our group would have faced had we continued:

• We were out of time and scheduled to return to Mendoza. We could have squeezed one more day into the mountain by heading straight back to Mendoza and not staying at Los Penitentes. For those returning to jobs it might have been difficult to explain if we squeezed two additional days we would have had the needed weather window.

• We were out of community food. However, most of us still had quite a bit of food in our personal stash as well as uneaten food in our lunch bags. None of it would be hot food but we did have cocoa and tea and there was plenty of fuel for melting snow for water.

• Our tents were very beat up. As I noted, my tent would have been severely damaged with a night in the winds at High Camp. Two more days would have been questionable. We did have some spare capacity in tents so maybe we could have grouped up. There was the option of waiting it out in the shelter too. However, the shelter the Belgians stayed in would not have been big enough for both groups.

• Stamina and Endurance. This is the ultimate reason many people were on the expedition in the first place, to find out if they had what was required to summit one of the highest peaks in the world. I can’t speak for anyone else in our group and while I was definitely suffering after three days in the tent I would like to think I could dig deep and had it in me to summit. Even without the bad weather this is the question which can never be answered in a hypothetical game. You can only find out how your body reacts to such extremes in temperature and altitude by attempting to make the summit.

While this makes for interesting discussion over a beer and I can list what I consider to be our successes:

• We set ourselves up for success and made a solid attempt to get to the summit.

• We were safe and avoided the injuries and deaths experienced by other groups.

• We stayed on the mountain longer than most other groups.

• We learned a lot about high altitude mountaineering and ourselves.

The bottom line is we did not reach our goal: standing at 6,962m (22,841 ft) on the summit of Mt. Aconcagua. I have no doubt some of members of our expedition will be back in the next year or two to try again. In response to all the people who have asked me if I’m going to try again all I can answer is: I haven’t yet decided.