Getting ready for Aconcagua

In a few more days I am off to Aconcagua.

Mt. Plata (5960 mt) and Mt. Rincon (5380mt) offer the perfect training setting. They are placed only within one hour by car from the western city of Mendoza. I was born here, I grew up here, and every time I come back to Argentina I fall in love again with the Andes I shared seven days with Juan in these two mountains. My friend has made it nineteen times to the top of Aconcagua working as a guide. During those days, we both agreed that climbing on our own to the summits was a retrospective experience. Nobody else but foxes, guanacos and condors were hour daily companions.

The only competition going on between Juan and me was to check which Suunto will give us the most accurate reading when we reached the summit. I had the X10, he had the Vector. He got the exact reading, I got to connect the X10 GPS and was only 2 meters below the suggested altitude. The view from the top was so magnificent, that we didn’t dare to discuss who the winner was.

Aconcagua is the next higher step. But I will certainly miss Juan, the solitude and the guanacos.