Our view from one of the higher camps on Aconcagua.
Aconcagua was our first foray into mountain climbing and I knew it was going to be a huge undertaking. We had never climbed like this before so we decided to sign up for an AAI Denali Prep Course in April 2012 (on Mt. Rainier) to see where we stood with our physical preparation. Let me begin my saying that the Denali Prep was probably the most miserable 8 days I have ever spent on a mountain, predominantly due to the terrible weather conditions. By the 6th day of the course, I could hardly get any of my clothes dry. Putting on wet clothes in the cold is really not any fun at all. The course was designed to teach you how to climb and survive in poor weather conditions which is one of the reasons it is done in the April timeframe. The course curriculum included learning a whole list of skills such as crevasse rescue, knot tying, roped travel, ascending and descending in deep snow, navigation, etc. We also had to cook all our food ourselves which involved melting snow for water and setting up a stove in our vestibule. That was probably the biggest pain to have to deal with and definitely my least favorite part of the course. My pack was loaded down as I was not experienced with knowing how to minimize what to bring and how to pack. It was a tough course but I learned a lot of skills, including self-management. I also knew that I had a lot of training to do. I told the guides we were trying to climb the seven summits and asked them about preparing for Denali. The advice from our lead guide, Jonathon Spitzer, was to “Be prepared to be in the best shape of your life." Having now done Denali (twice), I can honestly say there is no truer statement than that.
We had our gear list for Aconcagua and it was long. The plethora of gear out there was mindboggling. I discovered so many websites with all kinds of gear and many of them had different categories. What was the difference between trekking, climbing, mountaineering, backpacking and hiking? This was going to be an interesting task but I was up to the challenge. I did a ton of research online determined to find the best gear. I found an awesome pack – an Arcteryx Bora 95. I still use it today. I checked everything off the list, I trained hard for months and I was ready to go….or so I thought.
The 3-day trek into base camp was great. It was just like Kili. So far so good. We even took showers in the Daniel Lopez base camp tent for a small fee. Then it came time to don our heavy 65lb+ packs for our first carry up to Camp 1. I still debate in my head if that first carry was truly the hardest thing I had ever done in my life or if it was Denali. I consider it a toss-up.
Aconcagua is known for its high winds and is filled with scree. A severe wind storm tore through base camp and obliterated many tents and gear promptly ending the expedition for many climbers. However, based on the quick thinking of our lead guide, Michael Horst, we sustained minimal damage so were able to continue our climb. As a group, we opted to just sleep in the meal tent that night rather than set up our tents. It was very dry up on the mountain and Brian’s fingers were cracking so much he had to use a liquid skin product. Lakpa was having the same problem.
The rest of the climb is what you would expect with carrying heavy packs on scree at altitude in often windy conditions: it was pretty darn hard. The wind actually knocked me down a couple of times during our carries/moves. But of course it was all worth it when we reached the summit. Unfortunately for Brian, he actually tore his calf when he stepped onto the summit. That’s why you see us sitting down in our summit photo. Nobody was going to carry him down off the mountain so he had no choice but to suck it up and descend injured all the way back to high camp, down to base camp and then out to the trailhead. It was a 17-mile hike out from base camp to the trailhead done all in one day.
They say people tend to underestimate the difficulty of this mountain. I don’t believe I underestimated it but it was obvious I could have prepared better, mentally and physically. So what did I learn from this experience? I had better learn how to train harder and smarter if I was going to be successful on Denali.
