Mountaineering, 'White Sentinel Tiger', Aconcagua,
Andes, Jan 2011, ID 1009
655
Sqn AAC (V)
Measuring 6962 meters Aconcagua is the
highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere and the second highest of the fabled
‘7 Summits’ (the highest peaks on each continent), and is a mountain that
demands the utmost respect and caution for all who dare to ascend its perilous
slopes.
My love hate relationship with this 4.3 mile high summit
started in 2007 whilst still serving as a regular Army Air Corps soldier, 5
years later as a Territorial Army Air Corps soldier and full time mountain guide
this pile of ancient rock, scree, ice and snow is still testing and challenging
me, and even after 4 ascents it still has the ability to test me at every
opportunity, and to destroy anyone it chooses with regular frequency.
After successfully guiding 156 clients to the summit of
Kilimanjaro in 2010 I was looking forward to the anticipated challenge that I
knew Aconcagua would bring, and was also suitably acclimatised and experienced
to deal with the anticipated problems that inevitably occur at such extreme high
altitudes as Aconcagua.
Assisting me on this climb was my close friend and trusted
colleague Phil ‘Darby’ Allen, an ex Royal Marine pilot and former 655 Sqn
AAC veteran, now working with myself in the outdoors industry as freelance
Mountain Guides.
After over a year of planning, fund raising and training;
including an Alpine Proficiency course and numerous ‘closer to home’
training trips, the 4-man team from 657 Sqn Army Air Corps along with Darby and
myself arrived in Mendoza, Argentina, a lovely town on the edge of the Aconcagua
National Park, and apparently the 7th wine capital of the world with
a population of approximately 1.7 million.
After a manic day spent purchasing costly park permits and
other essential consumables in Mendoza the team departed for their ‘adventure
of a lifetime’ which began with a stunning bus ride up the Rio Grande valley
to Puenta del Inca and the start of the long approach to Aconcagua.
After a couple of nights at Puenta del Inca (the park
entrance) to acclimatise to the thinning oxygen levels the team was soon on its
way. The first objective on the ‘approach trek’ was the halfway point of
Confluencia Camp, it is here that most teams, including ourselves conduct their
acclimatisation training by spending 2 nights and a day trek up to 4000 meters,
and the South-Face viewpoint of Aconcagua; ‘a spectacular vista of Aconcagua’s
gargantuan 3km high ice-clad South Face, one of the hardest climbing challenges
in the world’.
After completing the following days gruelling 16km walk to
Plaza de Mulas Base Camp in the somewhat oppressive heat and dust the team spent
a well-earned rest day preparing their equipment and provisions for the long
climb ahead.
The initial climb and ‘gear cache’ to Camp Canada 5000m
was conducted with relative ease, and after depositing the ‘high mountain’
stores, food, gas, cookers, crampons, axes etc the team erected their high
altitude tents and descended back down to the thicker oxygen levels at Base Camp
4400m where they would sleep the night, before ascending back to Camp Canada the
following morning after their acclimatisation had caught up with their height
gains.
The team acclimatised well, and after a mandatory check up by
the Base Camp Doctor were given the ‘green light’ to start their ascent. The
climb back up to Camp Canada was a relatively slow affair, carrying heavy packs
in expedition style ‘triple layer boots’ up a relentless scree slope in
searing heat was not one of the highlights of the trip, and after several hours
all were pleased to be safely at Camp Canada and the safety of their 4-season
tents, which had fortunately survived the night without them.
The following morning everyone was woken by the sun beating
down on their frozen tents and after a quick freeze-dried meal were soon toiling
up the continued scree slope towards their next destination; Nido de Condores,
the second intermediate camp at over 5500 meters.
During the ascent to Nido it became apparent that the
assistant guide; Darby was not firing on all 4 cylinders and was suffering from
a lingering winter chest cold, and was most definitely not finding the dusty
thin air conducive to high altitude mountaineering.
After eventually arriving at Nido de Condores, 5000m, it was
not long before Darby was to succumb to the effects of altitude, and struggling
with low oxygen saturation levels and continued breathing difficulties, along
with the initial signs of suspected Pulmonary Oedema, it was with a heavy heart
that Darby was assisted back to Base Camp by the Park Rangers and subsequently
choppered out of the park where he was to make a full recovery once safely back
in Mendoza’s oxygen rich environment.
The following morning after checking the short range weather
forecast it was decided to capitalize on the next few days expected good
weather, and with continued good health and acclimatisation it was decided that
the team would skip their planned rest day and head further up the mountain to
their final high camp of Camp Colera at 6000 meters to hopefully push for the
summit in two days time and hopefully beat the expected poor weather that was
forecast for the near future.
During the ascent to Camp Colera another team member, Graham
was to find the altitude, coupled with a lingering bout of diarrhoea and
vomiting too much to continue, and after a brief rest at Colera descended back
down to Nido to wait for the team to return the following day after their
planned summit attempt.
Summit day arrived with anticipated good weather, and as all
shivered their way out of their tents at 0630hrs they were eager to get underway
for their summit push, and the opportunity to get the blood flowing again and to
warm their chilled bones.
The going was laboriously slow and difficult, with everyone’s
bodies struggling to adapt to the ridiculously thin air, and the relentless
scree slopes that typify Aconcagua. After 5 hours of heavy breathing and sucking
in the precious available air, the team finally arrived at the infamous
Canaletta summit gulley. (250 meters of steep rock, snow and scree, which
delivers successful parties to the summit of Aconcagua)
After a further 2 hours of seriously hard work and lung
burning effort the team arrived at the summit of Aconcagua, exhausted, elated
and triumphant. A fantastic achievement for a relatively novice team of
mountaineers, and one to be rightly proud of.
After three hours of descent and a short break to collapse the
tents at Colera the team arrived back at Nido and a recovering Graham, where
they spent a further night before making the short descent to Base camp and the
long walk out back to Puente del Inca and the welcome bus journey back to
Mendoza, and eventually onwards to Buenos Aires for some well earned R&R
before flying back to England.
For myself, R&R in Mendoza was short lived and I was soon
back on Aconcagua with a commercial group of paying clients approaching from the
opposite side of the mountain to my Army expedition. Only this time things did
not quite go to plan.
With less than perfect weather and deep snow on summit day, 5
climbers, including one of my own clients, perished on the slopes of Aconcagua
in a single night, and over a dozen climbers were to suffer the agony of severe
frostbite resulting in numerous amputations. Aconcagua has the record for the
most number of seasonal deaths of any mountain in the world and should not be
underestimated.
Aconcagua is a fantastic objective for military expeditions,
but only with the very best of clothing, equipment and experienced leadership
should it be attempted.
Damon (Boris) Blackband
Thanks to
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