Mt Aconcagua Climb

Pictures:
Album 1 - Start to Base Camp
Album 2 - High Camp 1 to Summit Day
Album 3 - Post-Summit


It is not possible to record all the events in the past 20 climbing days in a single blog entry. Should I note down the factual bits, when we did what, numbers and how? Should I focus on the summit day in particular, or a theme perhaps like food? It was a long climb. Tiring. I had lines and ideas flowing through my mind on the many long treks, but now that I am comfortable in my Hyatt room, where do I even start?

Chronological Events -

16-Dec: We had 3 guides and 11 clients. We got our permits and drove 4-5h from Mendoza (800m) to Penitentes (2400m). We stayed at a nice ski hotel with hot shower. We organized and weighed our duffel bags for the mules, and had a good steak dinner. I had my last ice-cream for the year 2010!

17-Dec: We did a slow and easy trek from 11am to 5pm (with hourly breaks), going from 2400m to 2800m. The route followed along the river. We carried only our jackets and food. The approach was very windy but hot and dry. We reached Pampa de Lanas campsite and pitched our own tents. We were expected to do so at each campsite. We had a traditional Argentinian meat BBQ dinner, cooked by the mule drivers. It was my best steak ever, succulent, juicy with crispy skin. Ooooh...

18-Dec: Breakfast was scrambled egg. Then we broke tents and set off at 1030am. There was a short bridge crossing along the way. It was very windy along the way and anything that was not secured got blown away. We arrived at the next campsite at 5pm, 3200m. We had some tea and snacks. The guides made us avocado & salad with bread. Then dinner, which was typically some pasta or carbs of sorts.

19-Dec: Basecamp: River-crossing day! Not exactly because it was a dry season and the "river" had shrunk by two-thirds. What was left was a few metres of cold water about calf deep. We chose not to bother with changing and carrying wet shoes, and got a mule driver to ferry us across, one-by-one. We started at 915am and stopped at 2pm for a picnic lunch. I totally over-ate. The subsequent trek to our Basecamp (BC) Plaza Argentina was an absolute chore. We arrived at 330pm, 4200m. The BC was a luxury. We had a big dining tent with tables, chairs and laid out cutlery. Juice, nuts and snacks were prepared for us. There was a huge tent by Daniel Lopez that offered B&B service, internet, phone and so on. A hot shower cost USD20! We had shepard's pie for dinner and cake for dessert. Bliss.

20-Dec: It was a rest day at BC. Food was amazingly good, we were very well taken care of by two young Spanish ladies who manned the kitchen tent. It was fully equipped with a giant oven and all sorts of culinary contraceptions. After an idle breakfast, we went to the medical tent to be checked by the BC doctor. Everyone had to be measured and 'approved' by him. Readings: O2=84, pulse=90, BP=110/80. Lunch was a sumptuous grilled chicken thigh and vegetables. I cleaned off the meat to bare bones. Then our guides handed out snack packs and briefed us on the ferrying routine for the next days and what to pack.

21-Dec: It was our first ferry/ carry attempt. Above BC, we started wearing our plastic boots all the way. The idea was to bring some personal gear up for storage at HighCamp 1. Some of our climbers chose to engage personal porters. I prepared my pack, it was 17kg. My new Osprey Ariel 75 was put to good use, it dwarfed me. We left at 1030am and arrived at HC1 at 340pm, 4900m. It was a tough terrain, with lots of loose scree along the way. We deposited our gear and headed back to BC. The descent took about 3h. It was a long day, and some of our climbers felt sick from the altitude. Oxymeter reading: 80 (O2)/ 95 (pulse).

22-Dec: Another rest day at BC, much appreciated. One of our climbers, Martin, decided to stop the climb. But before he left, he kindly shared his satellite phone minutes with everyone, as an early xmas present. Awww.... I managed a call back to Singapore. And also rewarded myself with a hot shower. My hair was feeling yucky and starting to itch by that point and it was irritating to sleep on them. The shower was a great investment, I felt so clean and refreshed after that! It was grooming time, helped by the very hot day at BC today. Everything was pulled out of the tent to be aired in the sun. We had lasagne for lunch, and an awesome steak for dinner. Oxy-reading: 85/90.

23-Dec: HighCamp 1: Today we move from BC to HC1, leaving behind the comfort and fine dining. My pack was 14kg. We left at 1030am and arrived at 330pm to super-duper heavy winds. It was a challenge setting up our tents. Everything was flapping and rattling away. We could not do much but lied in our tents and waited out the weather. Underneath the shelter, we could hear our tent poles rattling viciously in the wind. I went outside to pee and nearly got blown off balance by the sudden gusts of wind. One of our climbers was diagnosed with HAPE by a doctor who was at the campsite. He ordered her to descend immediately and a guide went with her. It was a sad moment for the expedition.

24-Dec: We did a carry/ ferry to HC2 at 5300m. It took us 4h from 11am to 3pm. We had to cross a col, and did a short section on ice using crampons. I took some group gear and my pack was 15kg. It was not as tough a carry compared to BC-HC1. We left our gear and returned to HC1 by 5pm. I used the infamous 'grey shit bag' for the first time. Climbers in Aconcagua were expected to carry all litter out, including poo. So each of us were issued bags to collect them. It was 'challenging', I squatted over the bag until I almost cramped. It was Xmas eve and we had pasta with choc chip xmas bread. The guides gave us an Aconcagua collar pin each as present. One climber, Christina, had some xmas songs on her iTouch. Everyone was in a festive mood. Another group of climbers had xmas tinsels and bells on their tents.

25-Dec: It was a rest day for us at HC1. It was also Xmas Day. We woke up to find 2 gold chocolate coins outside our tents. I think one of our climbers left them there because the coins had Fort Knox and US Quarter imprints. It was a nice gesture. It was a hot day, no more winds. But it was hard to kill time because we had left all our books in BC. There was absolutely nothing to do but sit around. There was a limit to how often one can trim those nails, clean one's face and do more grooming. Oxy-reading: 79/94.

26-Dec: HighCamp 2: We moved from HC1 to HC2 at 5300m today. It took us 5h from 10am to 2pm, longer than the previous carry. I had 18kg on me today - whew! my heaviest ever. It was more than one-third my body weight. I had half my tent, and my tent-mate, Brett, took the other half. It was indeed energy sapping, I felt like a porter. Each porter in Aconcagua is limited to 20kg of carry. Oxy-reading: 79/84.

27-Dec: We continued our carry to HC3 in the morning. I had a light pack, perhaps 12kg. But it was cold and snowy. I felt the cuts of the snow and wind across my face, and visibility was low. Everything was shrouded in white. It was a tough trek because of the weather. We took 3h from 11am to 2pm to reach 5800m, and just 1h to return to HC2. Oxy-reading: 72/89.

28-Dec: Rest day at HC2, another day of doing nothing and trying to stay sane. Some of the girls played game using soil and stones. The weather was ok so we had lunch outside in the open. Oxy-reading: 71/97.

29-Dec: HighCamp 3: We move to HC3 today. Yes!! No more waiting around. I was excited because that meant summit attempt would be the next day. HC3 was too high to be 'staying and resting' there unnecessarily. We took slightly less than 4h from 11am to 2:50pm. There was snow but not cold. We set up our tents at 5800m and got organized for summit attempt. Dinner was instant mashed potato with canned tuna. Delicious really at that altitude. We were each given 2L of boiled water for the summit push.

30-Dec: Summit Attempt: I had a restless night and kept looking at my watch. We finally heard the shouts of "Hot Water!" from the guides at about 5am. We reluctantly got up and readied ourselves. There was some wind but not strong. We had to put on all our warm clothings and crampons. I wore a thermal, micro-fleece, down jacket and shell. I put on two pairs of socks and inserted hand-warmers in between them, on the arches of my feet. Then I wrapped on my gaiters and strapped on the crampons. I did not have time for breakfast and took a cereal bar instead. It was cold outside, the warmers did not feel like they worked. I skipped the ones for my hands (a BIG mistake) and put on my glove liners and down mitts. We were told to put 1x nalgene bottle in our down jackets, and another bottle in the backpack. All our food was within access in our shell jackets. By the time we started, it was almost bright and there was no need for headlamps. We set off at 630am.

Barely an hour into the attempt, all except 4 climbers (out of 9) had turned back to the campsite. So it left 4 of us and 3 guides, trudging on. I made good progress in the first 1-2h. But the lack of breakfast soon caught up with me, and I could feel my energy sapping out. I reached for a Clif Bar, but it had frozen in the cold and was impossible to bite off. I sucked on a sweet, but it was insufficient. It was also almost impossible to unwrap the tiny candy in my clumsy mitts. Like a battery draining, by the 4th hour I was quite flat. I managed to get an Quaker cereal bar, and endured. Meanwhile, one of our guides, Maria, had problems with the altitude and chose to descend. She asked if I wanted to go with her, but the thoughts of summit were too tempting. I pressed on with 3 other climbers and 2 guides, but not for long. I was moving extremely slowly and would not have lasted another 8h. There was still another 4h up to cover that last 400+m, and 4h down to HC3.

I turned around with one guide at about 6500m. Sadly. I actually felt quite strong and confident for this climb. According to our guides, it was a tough summit day - it was not as cold nor windy, but there was too much snow which made the trek up very tiring. At many points, the snow was more than calf deep. It took me another 2h to descend to HC3, very slowly. I discovered that 3 fingers on my left hand felt numb and looked discoloured. I think they were mildly frost-bitten. *gasp*! It was my first time encountering frost-bite! Maria gave me some hot noodle soup, which I took in Dawn's & Olya's tent. It was always warm and cosy in there. I was so exhausted that I just lied there and had my first nap of the expedition. In the meanwhile, we waited anxiously for radio updates from the rest of the climbers. They met with some winds and bad incoming weather, and finally turned around at close to 6900m. They were so close to the summit, about 45min - 1h away, but everyone was very drained as well. They took another few hours to descend, totaling a 12h summit attempt. I skipped dinner that night and slept all the way.

31-Dec: Those of us who attempted the summit were still tired. We were supposed to break camp and pack up to go down to Plaza de Mulas (the basecamp of the normal route). I was very slow and unfocused in the morning. The descent took about 4h, and the first hour was through thick snow that was very tiring. I woke up late and did not get breakfast again. That, coupled with the no-dinner last night, meant that I was moving along uninspired and at a subsistence pace. Plaza de Mulas was a HUGE campsite at 4200m, totally commercialized because there were so many groups there, each with their own set of dining support, camping grounds, shower/ toilets and other support facilities. We used the facilities offered by Grajales. It was NY's eve and apparently there would be some bonfire and celebrations around the campsite. But I was too tired. Dawn and I were given two free bunk beds in one of the B&B tents, we promptly fell asleep. The rest of our team was snuggled together in the big dining tent.

1-Jan-2010: The first day of the year!! But we were to spend 8h walking on a dried river bed and trekking through an endless valley to get to Penitentes. It was utterly boring because after 2h, the surrounding sights seemed the same. Just a long never-ending walk with no end in sight. We stopped a few times for very quick drinks and plodded on. Everyone was stretched (mentally) by the trek out. It was not tough, given that we were dropping altitude. It was just too long. We finally got to the Park entrance and waited for our van, and arrived at Penitentes close to 8pm. Whew! That marked the end of our Aconcagua expedition - the physically demanding segment was over, almost too soon. We all headed for a well-deserved hot shower.