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The
following pages are a summary of some past climbing exploits,
starting with Mount Aconcagua. This mountain stands at nearly
23,000 feet. It is the highest mountain outside of the Himalayas
and Is often attempted by climbers in preparation for a
Mount Everest bid. I climbed it in February 2000 .
My
Aconcagua expedition was a tremendous experience and I would
like to share some of the highlights of my 3 week trip here.
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Before
the trip
About
2 weeks before leaving for Aconcagua, my car was stolen.
The theft was all the more serious for me because I happened
to have my climbing pack in the trunk with every single
piece of gear I was to bring to Argentina...
(Full story
and pictures)
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ACONCAGUA;
The approach, Day One
I traveled
for 34 hours by plane and automobile from my home in Montreal
to be standing at the foot of Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina.
This was the beginning of the next two weeks of my life...
(Full story
and pictures) |
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Base
Camp, Day Four
As
we approached base camp, looking up the valley, we had a fantastic
view of Aconcagua and its summit. It towers the surrounding
mountain peaks. You can see the normal cloud movements obstructed
by this great mountain; smashing into its face and rolling
over the top....
(Full story and
pictures) |
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The
First Carry, Day Six
Yesterday's
rest day was quite uneventful, which was just how we wanted
it. We relaxed, read, ate well, drank a lot of fluids, and
checked out our gear once again. We would drink on average
4 to 5 litres of water a day...
(Full story
and pictures) |
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First
Move, Day Eight
We
took our second rest day yesterday, after carrying our load
up to camp 1 the day before. It was very important to plan
enough time to acclimatize during the expedition. About 4,000
people attempt Aconcagua each year, but less than 25% reach
it's summit...
(Full story
and pictures) |
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Carrying
back to back, Day Nine
Well
today, we felt strong and the weather was again just right.
So as planned, we skipped our rest day and carried our gear
up to camp 2. We climbed the 3,000 feet in under four hours,
a very good time. I had to fight off a headache however
that started about one hour into the climb...
(Full story
and pictures)
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Moving
up, Day Eleven
We
were very fortunate in our timing because yesterdays rest
day fell on bad weather. We woke up to high winds, clouds
and eight inches of fresh snow. We rested comfortably in our
tent all day...
(Full story and
pictures) |
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The
Traverse, Day Twelve
This
was the tough day! We had moved up from 16,000 to 19,000 feet
yesterday, and did the traverse today to 19,500 ft. We packed
all of our gear for the traverse, since we weren't coming
back this way...
(Full story
and pictures) |
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Going
for the Top! Day Thirteen
Today
was the day... we woke up at 3 a.m. and started checking the
weather. It was very cloudy and windy. I thought our luck
had finally run out. I would always have this fear inside
that after all the preparations, effort and time spent on
the mountain; the weather would ultimately decide our fate
and not our own abilities...
(Full story and
pictures) |
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Aconcagua
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