12th – 13th – Coming home and afterthoughts

The trip home was without a hitch. We didn’t have a too early morning at the hotel before departure; the flight was on time so we had a few hours at Santiago before getting the plane that took us to Madrid. There we had almost 5 hours but Preben had access to a VIP lounge and bought us all access. So we had a few hours resting with free food, drinks and internet. I could really get used to that. From there we had only a few hours on the last stretch before finally coming home from a long and arduous trip.

Despite not reaching the summit the trip was a very enjoyable one. Part of that was the beautiful scenery we passed through, and part of it was the group itself. Big thanks to Bo (again? again!), Jesper, Preben, Ole, Jakup and Dina, and the guides Juan Carlos, Pablo, Gustavo and Jorge for being awesome company and making the trip extra memorable.

Being now, 5 weeks after returning from the trip I have had a bit of time to think things over. It’s the first climb I have been on where I haven’t reached the summit, and now, as time has passed, I’m not quite sure how to feel about it. The trip was amazing, and looking at the greater picture there was nothing to complain about. An important thing to remember when going on a climb is that the trip is the walk and/or climb, not the summit. The summit should be considered a bonus, not the goal. If you consider the summit being the all-compassing goal you ultimately risk getting hit by summit fever and willing to ignore even basic orders and safety rules in an attempt to reach the summit. Obviously, that didn’t happen to me on this trip (and I have yet to see anyone, either. With that said, it is likely more common on the higher climbs where you have spent weeks and months on getting where you start the summit push). It is no secret that I go on these climbs to reach the summit – reaching a high camp isn’t nearly as impressive or fun as reaching the summit – but I have yet to reach the point of obsession where I don’t still adhere to simple common sense.

Lying in the tent the morning of summit day I considered it the right decision to stay behind due to my condition. I knew then it was the right decision. Now, that I have gotten it all at a slight distance I begin… doubting? Maybe. But now, was it really that bad? What would have happened if I had given myself a kick in the ass and gotten myself out and up? How far would I have gotten? Would the headache have subsided and let me break my personal altitude record (which was (still is) 6153m on Stok Kangri, 200m and change above Camp Berlin)? Would it have gotten me further? Dare I speculate – to the summit? Would it have made a difference if I had been in better shape? If I had been more dedicated with my runs? I might not have any problems handling the previous 2-week trips (and shorter), but this one, being the first longer than that, tells me that my endurance might not be as good as I thought it was. I remember my thoughts and thought processes and from that I can conclude that I was in trouble and had to stay behind. Thinking of only how I felt I doubt, but I have to stop that. I know I remember correctly how I felt, I know I made the right decision, and I have to leave it at that. I have to stop thinking too much about it and realize that it was an amazing trip, but without a summit this time.

And some might ask me, but no; I am not planning on having my revenge on the mountain within the near future. I have plenty other things and countries I want to visit, so returning to Aconcagua won’t be within the next couple of years – if ever. Also, one needs to keep in mind that due to the dryness and temperatures getting water at the camps will only get more difficult which means that soon groups will have to bring their own water, either making the trips more expensive (hiring porters) or longer (spending time carrying water to the camps, likely going back and forth a couple of times carrying all water before coming back with personal equipment etc.). So for now, Aconcagua will stand undefeated.

GODDAMMIT!

*sigh*

Such are things.

And thus ends the account of this trip.

10th – 11th – Back in Mendoza

The two days in Mendoza were due to the buffer days on the mountain so we basically had two days to just kill time. The 10^th nothing had been planned so the day was simply spent on wandering around in the city and enjoying(?) the soreness from the long and fast walk the day before.

Dinner was had at a fancy place and since Preben had just been informed that he had received top marks on an assignment back home he decided he would pay for all of us. Well, if he insisted… We followed up on the dinner by going to a bar where some of us left early (early as at around 0200) while others were only just warning up.

The 11^th we were picked up at 1030 at the hotel for a full day 3-vineyard wine tour. After the late night last night only four of us showed up; no big surprise that it was the three that stayed behind at the bar who had difficulties getting up (or even remembering much from coming home a couple of hours earlier).

As the tour was set up we visited 3 vineyards and got to taste the goods at each place. The first stop was at Bodega Benegas where we were welcomed with a glass of rosé wine, and after the very nice tour we had ended up in a nice cool basement where we got to taste 4 very good wines; 1 white and 3 red. The tasting room was actually the vineyards old large wine tanks for storage. The second place the tour felt rushed and as just another group of tourists (as opposed to the first place that felt personal) but we had an absolutely amazing 3-course lunch, which included plenty of wine and a very, very tender steak. Looking back it didn’t matter much that the tour felt rushed, as their equipment was almost identical to the first place’s but newer, so it just felt like more of the same, really. From there we went to the last place, Bodega Cruzat, where they made champagne, or rather the local equivalent, and because they were in the middle of harvesting (which they do a couple of weeks earlier than for wines) we got to try to bottle and label a couple of bottles. And keep them. Bonus!

Coming back to the hotel we had a couple of hours before going out for the final dinner on the trip. Despite it not being possible to order the last simple, massive, Argentinian steak there were absolutely no complaints about the food in any way. 

Our three guides on Aconcagua; Pablo, Gustavo and Juan Carlos.

The cellar at Benegas.

The room where we did the tasting.

What a lovely sight. 

Warning: visiting a vineyard may cause excessive thirst and the urge to spend money.

9th – Back to civilization

Not having to mess around with any tents when getting up we had a gentle morning. After packing the rest of the bags and readying them for the mules, we departed BC at around 1030. The plan for the day was simple; to get all the way down, past Camp Confluencia and down to the bus that hopefully would be waiting for us. It would be a walk of almost 25km, but fortunately having mules at our disposal meant that we would only be carrying daypacks, and the route would either be going downwards or just be flat.

The walk was rather uneventful as we just wanted to get down as fast as possible. The only thing out of the ordinary and worth mentioning was the high winds, winds we luckily had in our backs. Quite fortunate, as the dry conditions enabled the wind to raise quite a lot of dust in the air. I did feel a bit bad for those going upwards, though, as they were having quite a struggle against the wind and dust. We just ended up having different colors on the front and backs.

A group of mules coming up with equipment to BC.

At the end of the walk that only took us 6:40 we arrived at the parking lot, and as if it had been planned the bus came around the corner just at the same time. The good timing didn’t last much longer, though, as the mules didn’t arrive for another 2-3 hours. We spent the time partially at a non-wind proof café having a drink and partially in the bus sleeping.

When we finally received our bags we were off and on the almost 3 hour drive back to the hotel we had dinner at the same place as when we were outbound; large steaks should never be missed should the opportunity rise!

The wine storage area at the restaurant.

8th – Back to Base Camp

We had originally planned to summit the 6^th or the 7^th due to the calm window in the otherwise windy weather. This was felt early last night where the wind started picking up again. Throughout the night it was hard to get some decent sleep due to the noise of the wind and it hammering the tents.

In the morning it was blowing relentlessly making it colder than yesterday, so when we with only few packed the tents and the rest of the camp we started the descent all the way back down to Base Camp. Only having a slight headache now after waking up it was relatively easy going. The painkillers from last night and early morning probably didn’t hurt, either.

The descent was swift and app. 2:40 after departure we arrived back at our slightly larger than necessary dining tent. Soon after lunch was served (I have rarely seen chicken burgers be devoured at such a speed) and the rest of the day we did as little as possible but also repacked our bags, readying for the long walk back down to the busses tomorrow.

In the afternoon a guide from a different Danish tour group came by to say hi to Bo. They have common interests and goals so they were equals in the climbing business. This resulted in nearly an hour of entertaining anecdotes between the two.

Dinner was super; the usual soup, a nice piece of beef with fancy potatoes and for dessert an amazing piece of chocolate cake. Three bottles of wine was drunk and to our joy we were presented with 3 bottles of champagne for dessert. No complaints were heard.

A helicopter crossed over us at one point. The other Danish group (of only 7 members, too) had not had an acclimatization like we had had in Vallecitos, instead they had gone directly up to BC with only a small detour. That had apparently been too much for one of the tourists so he had to be evacuated back down. Pulmonary edema is not a fun thing – but he got to fly in a helicopter!

Fun was had, and we were allowed to sleep in the dining tent so we didn’t have to worry about pitching our own tents and taking them down tomorrow. Happy about that decision, we were all pretty worn out and the winds wouldn’t have made it any easier.

7th – Summit day

Of the 7 people in the group, 5 made it to the summit. I was not one of the 5. As the only one in the group I unfortunately didn’t even manage to leave the tent in the morning. As I see it there were a couple of reasons for that.

Firstly, and most important, I had a thunderous headache with a side of slight nausea. “Every single movement shoots more daggers through my head”-headache. I hadn’t been good at drinking enough yesterday; they recommend 3 liters a day and one extra if you end the day higher than in the morning to ease acclimatization. Of course these are only general rules of thumbs, but still good to be mindful of during a day of climbing. I had, at most, drunk 1,5 liters during the day. Not because I didn’t want to, but exhaustion made it hard for me to keep up (and the horrible taste of the water from Cambio didn’t help). The lack of fluids resulted in a decent dehydration in the morning and combining that with an altitude of 5900m you’re in for a rough time.

Secondly, it didn’t help I have been focusing on how much I have been struggling the last couple of days, it doesn’t really strengthen your confidence when it is needed the most. Knowing that the previous days only have been a warm up to what laid ahead this morning did not improve my outlook on things. I realized, especially with a headache, that I would be lacking the strength and endurance to reach very far above the camp.

Lastly, when planning the trip I looked at the first two weeks as warm-up for Aconcagua, the main reason for coming here. When actually leaving Base Camp I realized that I felt like we already had had our trip and why are we still walking what is going on? No matter how hard I tried, it was difficult for me to keep up the enthusiasm similar to what it was just a couple of days before. This meant that I from Base Camp to Camp Berlin went from “Awesome – let’s climb one of the seven summits” to “Meh, I don’t mind if I don’t reach the summit as it is not of high importance for me even if it could be great”.

If it hadn’t been for the headache I would still have gone for it, but in my current condition I felt no need to try. Having the headache the extra issues just exacerbated my poor condition. I knew I would miss out on my only chance to summit Aconcagua but looking at the trip as a whole I did not feel I was missing out on much by not doing it.

I am very happy for the 5 who made it to the summit (congratulations to Jesper, Preben, Bo, Dina, Ole & Jakup) and while I do feel a tinge of jealousy for them doing it and not I, I still feel comfortable with my decision. Instead I spent the day in the tent trying to get some sleep and taking care of my head and stomach. While it doesn’t sound like quite a similar achievement my head still thanks me for doing so (but I’ll still pop an extra pain killer before going to sleep tonight).

I got kicked in the head by the mountain and I accept my defeat.

My view when going to the toilet. Yes, I did finish (and step away) before taking the photo.

6th – Camp Berlin (5900m)

Waking up I didn’t feel near as bad as yesterday though there was still some issues related to (lack of) energy and sleep. Slowly we all came out of our tents and at around 1030 everything was packed and we were ready to go.

The pace was fortunately slow but with the 20kg pack it did feel very heavy moving forward. Towards the end when nearing Camp Berlin at app. 5900m I had fallen quite far behind from the rest of the group, but finally made it to camp to some well-needed rest. Approaching the camp Jesper and Dina came down to greet me which gave me some much needed and very appreciated mental support , I don’t think they were aware of how grateful I was of such an otherwise simple gesture. On arrival I sat down (which probably was more like a controlled fall) and didn’t move for an entire hour.

The 600m ascent was done in app. 3:45.

It’s a great view from up here, I can only imagine how it will change the higher we get.

Now it’s just a matter of relaxing, gathering strength and mentally preparing for tonight/early morning. I’m still not eating much, exhausted after today’s climb. The next 24 hours will be interesting.

The view from Camp Berlin.

5th – Where Condors Dare

This morning there wasn’t so much waking up as there was realizing it was time to wake up. I hadn’t had much sleep and a lack of drinking when needed throughout the night (my water bottle in the tent had completely frozen during the night) and no real appetite resulted in me being absolutely mentally and physically exhausted in the morning. When the guides did their round when getting up and inquiring statuses of each of us I flat out told them that unless we were to stay an extra night at this location I would likely not be able to continue upwards. Staying an extra night would let me adjust to the altitude and rebuild strength, hopefully making it possible for me to continue in the right direction (that would be upwards, if there was any doubt).

It was soon decided that we would stay an extra night at Cambio as I was far from the only one with problems. Instead of relocating we had a short walk to Nido de Condores app. 200m above us for a gentle acclimatization. For those who were interested the guides added 30-40 minutes when arriving at the camp to gain a bit of extra altitude which in the end brought us up to 5670m, a small success in itself as we thereby had just passed the summit of Elbrus at 5642m.

Back down at Cambio we had snacks and otherwise relaxed with focus on drinking plenty of water, improving acclimatization and trying to avoid potential headache, and worse – serious AMS.

Reports are coming out of Nido de Condores; their water supply is a small lake, still water, only supplied by melted ice from further up (so these days not much). Apparently the water has been contaminated so diarrhea is a frequent occurrence in the camp. I am suddenly a bit happier about only having two camps until the summit and not the three as originally planned.

A helicopter passed us flying down from Nido de Condores – they had apparently picked someone up who had deceased there. I can’t say for sure what had happened, but a mix of not drinking enough, altitude sickness and diarrhea can’t have been good for you. This is not a mountain to underestimate.

Now it’s all about drinking enough water which here tastes horrible and waiting for dinner where I will try to wake up my usually very active appetite. While the rest of the walk up the mountain is nothing but a simple mental game where you ignore any problems you can’t do anything about anyway, I have to admit that I right now feel like I am on the losing side.

And being this close, it’s horribly frustrating.

Another view from Cambio. The plateau down to the left is where camp Canada is located.

Doing nothing and relaxing, and yet this is the view you get.

Sunset.

4th – Camp Cambio (5350m)

We departed BC at around 1030 as planned after having taken down our tents, had breakfast and packing the last small things into our bags. Apart from our own equipment we were also asked to take 3kg each of food necessary for the days we are above BC.

There isn’t much to say about today’s ascent; it was fairly long and steep (and it like felt longer and steeper than it actually was). At camp Canada we had our lunch break at it was easy to see why we decided to not stay here – no water to be seen anywhere. Departing Juan Carlos took hold of me and put me into the slower group together with one other which I didn’t mind at all, and app 5:15 after departing BC we arrived at Cambio.

Looking down on Base Camp after an hour into the walk. Our tent is easily spotted.

A couple of porters had been hired to bring up our tents to the camp which they had done at an experienced speed which meant that at our arrival they were mostly already set up for us.

It is getting windier after departing the secure conditions that is BC. Without the wind it is quite warm (relatively, of course, but there are no clouds and plenty of sun) but the wind is cold which puts a damper on it. Lying in the tent is comfortable when ignoring the noise from the wind and the wind’s effect on the tents’ fabric. But there is no wind in the tent which easily compensates.

I was surprised by realizing how much I was struggling today. We have been acclimatized to 5400m though we are now carrying 20+ kg each – but still; today’s walk felt really difficult, much more than expected even though I did expect it not to be an easy day. On top of that I realize that the next couple of days will only get much, much harder. I am mentally stressing myself with these thoughts and that is obviously not helping matters at all, it’s quite exhausting. Bo has said, though, that compared to the group he brought up back in 2008 we are almost racing up the mountain. Despite it feels good being told that, it doesn’t really help my current condition.

As a difference from the other camps dinner was today served in our tents instead of having to come out and gather around having our meal. The guides are aware of the pressure we are under, this is amazing service!

View from Camp Cambio.

Our camp. Not as impressive as BC.

One could almost forget the struggle to get here by just enjoying the view.

3rd – Up, up and away

Today being a day off we didn’t do much else than relax and… more relaxing. We had a relatively late breakfast at 0900 and 1030 we went to have our final medical checkup. 115/65, saturation 86 and a pulse in the 90’s, so nothing to worry about. I had expected my saturation to be higher, but it was still within the required limits so I didn’t worry too much. Also, the pulse was checked first and the medics said that just walking the 20m from outside and indoor which included climbing 3 steps to the door would be enough at this altitude to raise the pulse significantly more than one would otherwise expect, so the otherwise high resting pulse was nothing to worry about.

Lunch was had at 1400 and it was on par with the dinner last night. When finished we were briefed on the next couple of days. The summit is these days plagued by high winds but the forecasts indicate that in a couple of days there will be a window of 2 days where the winds will die down and stay at around 30-50km/h. The original plan was to spend the night at 3 different camps before initiating the summit push (Canadian Place, Nido de Condores and Camp Colera), but due to the timing to have the summit push during the weather window and Canadian Place has dried out the plan has been changed to only two camps. These two camps will be Cambio de Pendiente at app. 5300m and Camp Berlin at 5929m. From there we will push towards the summit, spending estimated 8-ish hours going up and half that coming back to Berlin. But the weather can change and all the way up our guides will be in radio contact with BC for updated forecasts.

The afternoon, apart from more relaxing, was spent on packing our bags and sorting our stuff into what to bring with us up and what to leave behind at BC. As the plans are right now we won’t be leaving until 1030 tomorrow so we won’t be suffering under a late departure.

After having been relaxing for more than 24 hours at BC and previously having walked some technically easy days, being told that we will be going for the summit in less than 3 days feels very overwhelming. Even if we’re just trotting around here at BC in our luxurious conditions it suddenly feels very real and it feels like it’s going very fast.

But let’s see how it goes.

Our guides have at least promised us a much slower pace than the last couple of days.

If you needed to go somewhere there's a sign to show you the way.

Yup, a gallery.

Highest in the world!

2nd – More up

We left the camp at around 0800 as we were having a long day ahead of us. Today’s goal was simple; we were to walk to BC (Plaza de Mulas) 17-18km away at 4230m, giving us a total ascent of 800m from Confluencia.

Apart from the fact that we had a long distance to travel the walk was rather uneventful. Right after leaving Confluencia we had quite a dip down when crossing a river, but after coming back up again the following distance, probably half of today’s walk, was completely flat. Reaching the end we came to the part of the day’s walk that had most of the altitude difference; the beginning had a lot of ups and downs but slowly the downs vanished and we were only going up and at times quite steeply, too. It was a long pull but when coming up an edge we suddenly had the entire camp in front of us.

Flat.

Completely flat.

Before the ascent with the Base Camp at the end. You can just barely see some tent structures where the BC is.

We are a group of 7 tourists and 3 guides, but yet we have access to a dining tent that is an at least 40m² dome tent, just for us. We were welcomed with 6 freshly baked pizzas that were all gone in less than half an hour, after which we went out to pitch the tents, followed by the usual relaxation. It is quite a bit windier here than at the other camps we have stayed at, but considering how many rocks we used to secure our tents we should be fine. Hopefully.

  

Left half of our tent.

Right half of our tent. Plenty of room.

Dinner was served together with 3 bottles of wine and a glorious chocolate cake for dessert. Tomorrow is a rest day so people seem a bit more relaxed than usual, despite now being much closer to our final goa than ever before.

On the way to BC we met another group, a quite large one of 12-16 people, who were descending from what had been quite a disastrous climb. They had turned around 200m from the summit due to high winds, but coming back to their camp they realized that their tents had disappeared – they hadn’t been secured properly so they had simply blown away. That meant that they had had no other choice than to continue down all the way back to BC – a total descent of almost 2600m in one day. I can’t imagine how tired they must have been when coming back down. Apparently the winds have been kicking it up a notch the last couple of days; weather forecasts indicate wind speeds of app. 80-90km/h at the summit.

The walk today was done in 6:45, compared to the estimated 8:00 it is clear that we are sticking to the high speed tactic. After the long walk today there did seem to be some agreement on that things ought to be slowing down a bit the next couple of days. 

1st – Up; the beginning

We had a late start today; our guides wanted our equipment for sending to Base Camp and keeping at the hotel at 1030 with departure at around 1100. This meant a gentle morning starting at 0800 with shower and breakfast before getting ready to leave. Enjoyed it a bit extra as this will likely be the last slow morning in a while.

The bags were loaded into a car that went straight to a pick-up point where the mules would collect them and bring them to Base Camp, while we drove out in a bus, passing by Puente del Inca which is a mineral/rock formation carved by a passing by river, which brought us to the check-in point for the Aconcagua National Park.

Puente del Inca.

From there we got out, grabbed our daypacks containing our equipment for the next two days, and commenced the relative short day to the first camp on the route, camp Confluencia located at 3409m, giving us a gentle 400m ascent on a app. 7km route. We left the gate at around 1145 and arrived at the camp 2 hours 45 minutes later.

The group. The look of happiness is because the photo was taken before it got tough.

Crossed a bridge on the way to Confluencia. If it looks recognizable it's probably because you have seen it in the movie 7 Years in Tibet.

On the way to camp with Aconcagua in our sights.

The camp is fairly large with a sign-in desk and doctor’s tent (test was successful; 110/70, saturation of 92, unknown pulse (but assuming acceptable value as I was still alive)), and while we were still sleeping in our own 2-man tents we had access to a dining tent with (plastic) furniture and real cutlery. Not what I had expected, but I could get used to this. And we have a real toilet, too!

The first couple of hours were spent on being introduced to how it all works after which we took a short stroll on a nearby hill where we could get an overview of the entire camp. The rest of the day was spent on… yes; relaxation.

Tomorrow we will attempt leaving at 0800 for BC, app 17km away by taking a route which is basically circling Aconcagua, bringing us app. 800m higher than we are now. It’s going to be a long day but rather uncomplicated, and we are still only carrying our small bags. BC is apparently like Confluencia, but 3-4 times bugger, with charging stations, internet, a gallery(!) and other convenient facilities. It will be a sad day leaving this to camp further up the mountain. Our guides would agree; they usually do the cooking when camping, but when staying at these camps there are established kitchens with personnel which means that they get time off.

We will have two nights at BC before beginning the “real” ascent, but ultimately it all depends on the weather forecasts. It is very warm here during the day though winds from Aconcagua cool down the air. Because it’s very dry in the area there is a lot of dust in the air – having a buff helps a lot and I am realizing that buying one as a last-moment idea before departure was probably the best thing I could have done.

Confluencia.