Summiting Cerro Aconcagua

Leaving Base Camp

Camp I on Aconcagua

When I first arrived at base camp, I didn’t think life was that bad. We had good food and services, and even showers! Most people didn’t use them because of the price. I took one shower and never used the internet, but the fact that either was available at 14,000 feet was pretty impressive.

At the end of each night, though, you still crawled back into your tent and slept in freezing temperatures. After a while I was definitely ready to move on. Finally, on Day 8, we packed everything up and left Plaza de Mulas for Camp I. Conditions were going to become progressively harder from here, but simply making progress toward the summit lifted everyone’s spirits.

Me at Camp I

Camp I to Camp II

Camp II on Aconcagua

We spent only one night at Camp I before continuing to Camp II on Day 9. At these elevations, spending additional time higher on the mountain comes with its own physical cost, so our plan was to keep moving rather than spend unnecessary days at the high camps.

Camp II sat at roughly 17,500 feet (5,400 meters). The photo above shows the main camp, although our expedition set up our tents a little higher where the ground was cleaner and there were fewer people.

Our Tents Above the Main Camp II

All this snow was unusual for Aconcagua. We were climbing at the very end of the season and had encountered storm after storm. Earlier in the expedition much of the mountain had been the dry, rocky environment Aconcagua is known for. Now everything was buried.

It also made climbing considerably harder. Moving through deep snow takes far more energy than walking across exposed rocky terrain, and we were doing it while the air became thinner with every camp.

Snowed In at Camp II

My Climbing Partner Feeling the Altitude at Camp II

We had already climbed through heavy snow on the way to Camps I and II, and shortly after digging ourselves into Camp II another storm rolled in. This one was bad enough to prevent us from moving higher as planned, and an extra day at 17,500 feet was definitely not part of the plan.

At one point I remember being silly and foolishly running around outside camp in a T-shirt and shorts before diving back into my tent. A few hours later I started feeling sick from the altitude while my climbing partner laughed at me.

The next morning I woke up feeling much better, stretched, looked over at my climbing partner… and he looked dead. Now he was the one feeling sick from the altitude, so naturally it was my turn to laugh at him.

Extra Food for an Unplanned Weather Day

We had brought an extra bag of food specifically in case bad weather kept us on the mountain longer than planned. Unfortunately, that precaution turned out to be necessary.

Dinner at Camp II

Climbing to Camp III

Our Group Climbing Toward High Camp

Eventually the weather improved enough for us to continue toward Camp III at roughly 20,000 feet (6,000 meters). It still wasn’t exactly good weather. Heavy snow continued falling and made the climb considerably more difficult and miserable than it needed to be.

Our guide had climbed Aconcagua many times and stopped along the way to give us a motivational speech. He acknowledged that the snow and cold had made this expedition unusually difficult, but reminded us that we were almost there. In the photo above, I’m the one with my ski poles crossed.

Camp III at Roughly 20,000 Feet

Camp III was by far the highest I had ever slept in my life. At approximately 20,000 feet, simply existing was becoming exhausting. Once again, we chose a spot slightly above the main camp where the ground was cleaner.

Tents at Camp III

My Tent at 20,000 Feet

Waiting at 20,000 Feet

Just when the summit finally felt within reach, we received another bad weather report. Our guide came to the tent and recommended that we postpone our summit attempt for another day. Reluctantly, we agreed, which meant another full day sitting at 20,000 feet feeling miserable, bored, and anxious.

We had already spent what felt like forever on this mountain. At this altitude I wasn’t particularly interested in doing much exploring, although the views from camp were so incredible that I didn’t really need to.

Heaven’s View

I called the view above Heaven’s View.

Aconcagua’s Summit From Camp III

What made waiting even more frustrating was that we could actually see the summit from camp. The highest point in the Americas looked incredibly close, although we knew better. Reaching it would still require a full day of climbing and would be by far the biggest challenge of the expedition.

Summit Day

Our Expedition on the Summit of Aconcagua

Two days later, our guide’s prediction proved correct. The weather was perfect.

We left Camp III in darkness and started toward the summit. The day was long and naturally broke into several sections. Our first objective was Independencia at roughly 20,600 feet (6,300 meters), which wasn’t too bad.

From there we began a long traverse through deep snow toward the famous Canaleta. Normally the Canaleta is one of the most notorious parts of Aconcagua’s Normal Route: a steep climb through loose rock and scree high on the mountain.

For me, though, the traverse was much worse. The unusual amount of deep snow made every step exhausting, it seemed to go on forever, and the wind made it even more miserable. Ironically, all that snow actually helped us once we reached the Canaleta because the loose terrain was largely covered.

Once I made it through the Canaleta, I knew I was going to reach the summit. There were still several hundred vertical feet left and every step was difficult, but knowing I was that close gave me all the motivation I needed. Eventually there was nowhere higher left to climb, and I had reached the summit of Aconcagua—the highest point in South America and another one of the Seven Summits.

The lack of oxygen had me feeling almost drunk, and I remember stumbling around a little on top. But I was still coherent enough to understand what I’d accomplished. After weeks of hiking, acclimatizing, snowstorms, altitude sickness, delays, and waiting, I was finally standing at 22,841 feet (6,962 meters).

Below is me on top of South America.

On Top of South America