Climbing Aconcagua Part 4: Summit Day

Head Guide Martin carrying to Camp 3

Independencia Hut at 21,000 feet is the highest man made structure in the world

Laura struggles at 21,000 feet

by Rick Hoffman

The alarm went off as expected, and we moaned and groaned getting out of the bags and dressing. At this altitude putting on boots and other gear was time consuming and exhausting. I was out of breath just putting on the plastic boots and all my other equipment. We ate something, drank tea, and made last minute preparations. No sooner than we prepared to emerge from the tent, Martin called to us, “Go back to sleep. The weather is bad. We go tomorrow.” This was not good since at this altitude we only had enough fuel to melt ice for drinking water for another day, so it was tomorrow or nothing.

We slept a while and finally had to emerge from the tent since the sun was coming up, and we were roasting in the tent. We heard of Everest climbers who virtually cooked in the Western Cum as they moved up the great peak in the daytime sun. It was like being on the moon: frying during the day and freezing at night. The other strange phenomena was although it was snowing gently, the light was so intense we had wear our sunglasses with goggles over them. Despite these measures we were squinting and getting a headache from the brilliant light. We would enter the tent to escape the sun only to exit to escape its intense heat. It was a strange day. At dusk we did not have to worry about being hot. As the temperature plummeted, we were again confined to the tent with parkas zipped up and bundled in our minus 40F sleeping bags. We gained acclimatization by spending an extra day at this elevation, but became weaker from exposure to heat, cold, altitude, and dehydration. It was time to try for the summit.

Day 11 came with Martin calling to us, “Get ready, we are climbing!” Again we slowly got dressed and put on our climbing gear. At dawn we emerged from the tent. Mark and Martin headed out and I tried to keep up. I was absolutely breathless and ready to collapse in a short distance. I told Martin I could not hope to keep up and would have to return to the tent. He said, “We are just going up here to get a good photo.” I had expended my reserves for a photo shoot but was glad that was not the required pace. Allie led us up the moderate slope kicking steps in the fresh snow and moving slowly up the mountain. We passed some climbers who were out if it and did not know where they were. It was becoming clear that Frank was not going to keep up and Laura was also falling behind. Martin went back down to talk to Frank, and soon we saw them returning to Camp 3. Now we were 3 climbers and one guide who had not been all the way to the summit. Things were going downhill.

After several hours of slow progress we reached the Independencia Hut, a tiny structure at 21,000 feet or 6400 meters, which is about 600 meters below the summit. This is the highest man made structure in the world. Mark and I felt great but Laura was well behind us. We waited a long time for her, and there were signs of the weather going downhill. We need to get moving and quickly. Laura arrived at 21,000 feet and did not look well. We asked her name but she did not respond. Same answer for what mountain we were on, our names, and why she was there. It was over for her, and she had to go down immediately. But how, since we had only one guide? It was clear having her remain here in her state was not an option.

At the same time two climbers approached from higher up the peak. They reported waste deep, impassable snow. “No one will summit today, its impossible,” they said. It also started snowing and was clear our attempt on Aconcagua was ending 600 meters short. We took pictures and resolved that it was over. Disappointing but that’s the way it goes in climbing. We had tried but were out of fuel, time, and we had a sick climber to get to a lower altitude. We started down with Laura in tow. Allie and I had her by each arm with our ice axes in the other hand to stop a slide if we fell. We had only gone down a hundred meters when we saw Martin climbing strongly toward us. He had secured Frank in his tent and climbed back to the hut. When he reached us we discussed what to do. He asked Mark if he wanted to check out the deep snow and the conditions just beyond the hut. “Yes, of course,” he responded. Then Martin asked if I would help Allie get Laura down the peak. I agreed to do this, since I could not keep up with Mark and Martin in the conditions, and Allie needed help with Laura. Besides who could climb in waste deep snow at over 21,000 feet? A bird? Superman?