March 04, 2001
Argentina's Aconcagua
A world class peak for the rest of us
By Miles Blumhardt
The Coloradoan
    To many an avid mountaineer, it's the dump heap of South America whose only value is its designation as one of the world's seven summits.
    But to the masses of adventurous wannabes like you and me who only dare to read the exploits and

Here is Pat Rastall's recipe for getting from Fort Collins to the summit of Aconcagua. You can expect the trip to take three weeks and cost at least $3,000. Plan ahead, because Aconcagua's climbing season is December through February. n Apply for a passport. n Buy a ticket from Denver to Mendoza, Argentina. Cost is about $1,500. n Obtain a climbing permit in Mendoza. It requires a passport. Cost is $160. n Purchase food in Mendoza. Good choices include soup mixes, noodles, rice and beans, soup and noodles and soup and macaroni. Hint: Bring your own hot chocolate and dehydrated refried beans. The rest you can buy there. n Secure personal transportation from Mendoza to Puenta del Inca. Cost is $10 via bus, $150 via van. n At Puenta del Inca, arrange for mules to carry your supplies to base camp. Cost is $170 to $230 apiece. n Hike from base camp at 13,000 feet to Camp I (14,800 feet). n Hike from Camp I to Camp II (17,200 feet). n Hike from Camp II to Camp III (19,200 feet). n Hike from Camp III to summit (22,834 feet).

expeditions of National Geographic-type explorers, it's the highest peak we realistically can aspire to summit without drastically altering our lifestyles or draining our savings account.
    No peak in the world is higher outside of Asia than Argentina's Aconcagua. What's better is, with some gumption, good weather and a few thousand dollars, stiffs like you and me can make it all the way to the top - 22,834-freaking feet.
    If you've ever climbed one of Colorado's 14,000-foot peaks, you are a potential candidate for climbing Aconcagua. If you are a weekend warrior who likes to mess around with mountaineering, you have to try it. If you've cycled or run any endurance events or gone on multi-day backpacking trips, you can do it.
    If you haven't done any of the above, start getting fit and saving your money because you can do Aconcagua.
    "Aconcagua attracts people from the grossly inexperienced to the very experienced who want to bag peak," said Pat Rastall, who in January led a Fort Collins contingent to the summit of the peak. "It's a very popular peak with people because you get the experience of altitude, being on an expedition and going to an area for one objective - to summit."
    Just in case you think you can roll off the couch and summit Aconcagua, consider that of the roughly 2,000 people who annually attempt to summit, 38 percent make it. Another 1 percent not only don't summit, but they don't make it off the mountain. And if you hadn't considered death before you arrived at the peak, a cemetery harboring the mountain's dead will remind you to be careful.
    But it's that element of risk that helps make the trip exciting, right? It's like riding a roller coaster or bungee jumping. The percentages are great you're not going to die, but a few people do.
    "The problem is many people hear how non-technical the mountain is, and so they don't come prepared," said Rastall, who has summitted on all six attempts. "A lot of them get to the Canaleta near the top, where its tough because of the loose rock, and can't make it back out. If you're prepared you shouldn't die."
    While the overwhelming consensus of those who have attempted Aconcagua is that it's one of the ugliest high peaks, Rastall somewhat disagrees. He said it's true Aconcagua is stark compared to many other high peaks and that the main route is an unappealing highway of people and camps. But he said the route he and few others know results in a much more pleasing trip.
    Rastall said 90 percent of Aconcagua's climbers take the Rio Horconnes route because it is the fastest. Nearly all the rest take the Rio Vacas route, leaving only a handful for the long but lonesome Guanaco Valley route. Rastall said the most recent trip produced sightings of 31 guanacos, llama-like animals, and only four people.
    "Nobody wants to go our way because it's longer. But on the Rio Horconnes route, you may pass 150 people in a day, where I've been on our route and not seen anyone for eight days," Rastall said. "You see glaciers you don't see from the other routes. You don't see guanacos on the other routes because there are too many people. And after we get up higher, we don't even filter our water."
    Rastall said though higher than 20,320-foot Denali, Aconcagua is much easier to climb than the Alaskan peak because of its aridness and temperature. Where climbing Denali means snow and ice and treacherous crevasses and avalanches, you can climb Aconcagua without ever even pulling out ice axes and crampons in some years. And at every elevation, Aconcagua is 20 degrees to 30 degrees

Equipment     This isn't an entire list, just the essentials that Pat Rastall has found is the right combination of weight and comfort: n Tent - A very good, four-season one that can withstand extremely strong winds, and enough parachute cord to last a lifetime to tie your tent down n Stove - MSR XGK. It's the Volvo of stoves. Burns multifuel. White gas can be purchased in Mendoza. n Sleeping bag - Down or synthetic bag rated minus-10 degrees to minus-20 degrees. A lightweight bivouac also is a good idea for quick camping on the way in. n Boots - Double plastic mountaineering boots. n Ski poles - Lighweight telescoping poles. n Radios - Two-way radios ($50 Motorola). n Pack - Internal frame of up to 7,000 cubic inches. Dana Design makes a good one. n Camp chair - The place is all rocks so unless you can get comfy sitting on rocks, take a Crazy Creek chair. Not only will it allow you to gaze at the Southern Cross in comfort but combined with a three-quarters Thermarest inflatable mattress will serve as a sleeping pad. n Clothes - You have potential of hiking in weather from 80 degrees to below 0 so bring your layers.

warmer than Denali. In fact, the first few days of the week or so hike to the summit is done in temperatures as warm as 80 degrees.
    But what Aconcagua gives up in aridness and temperature, it gets back in altitude and viento blanco, the "white wind," which are the two largest obstacles to the top. Jim Choun, a 50-year-old biology instructor at Front Range Community College who summitted with Rastall, said the mountain's altitude was foremost on his mind, since he had never climbed higher than 14,500 feet.
    "Everybody reacts a little differently to altitude, and I had some minor symptoms of altitude sickness on some of the fourteeners I've climbed," said Choun, who has climbed half of Colorado's 54 fourteeners. "I was confident in the team and myself up to the point where I had control of things. After that, you have to see what happens."
    If there is something that Aconcagua is noted for more than its starkness, it is wind. This mountain's persistent and fierce wind that at times reaches in excess of 50 mph can blow climbers off the mountain.
    "The tents looked like marionettes because we had so many tie downs on them," said Rastall, who took 300 feet of parachute cord to secure the group's two tents. "We probably had 20 tie downs on each tent. You have to secure everything or your tent will get ripped apart."
    Make no mistake, this trip requires you to be in good physical shape. After all, it takes at least a week to hike from base camp at 12,000 feet to the summit 10,000 feet higher, where the thin air grossly exaggerates the effects of hiking. But Choun and fellow group member Greg Seabloom didn't hesitate when asked to name the most difficult part of the trip. At their 18,000-foot camp, Aconcagua unleashed a wicked wind storm that pinned the group down for a day.
    "After being on the trip that long and the expense of the trip, emotionally you are committed, but there you are lying in your tent wondering once it starts if it is going to last one day, five days or what?" Choun said. "The emotional uncertainty was even worse than how physically hard summit day was."
    But the group also experienced the redeeming quality of Aconcagua that makes it such a popular climb for the average adventurer. Temperature at the peak can reach below zero and the wind chill can dip dangerously lower . But on summit day for the Fort Collins contingent, Aconcagua revealed a cloudless, calm day with temperatures in the mid-30s.
    "Yeah, you're tired, and I had a little bit of a headache and you're not quite all there," said Seabloom, a 24-year-old Colorado State University student. "But what a feeling being up there. It was beautiful.''
    Though Seabloom wouldn't go so far as claiming summitting Aconcagua was life changing, he said it did result in a new perspective on life.
    "Aldo Leopold wrote that 'things hoped for have a higher value than things assured,' " Seabloom said. "I think we have a lot of hopes and dreams in our lives and have a chance to accomplish them, But it's rare to accomplish those things that are once in a lifetime, to see those things that you may never get a chance to see again. I did that on this trip."

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