This is the exact transcription of Tom’s journal he was writing during our expedition. Nothing has been edited, it’s written how he had captured it during our time up there.
Day 1: Puente del Inca 2800m ->Confluencia 3400m
It’s 9:00 AM and we’re heading toward the Aconcagua National park. Everything would be perfect if we didn’t have to carry our duffle bags loaded with gear and food (around 30kg each) to the Mula pickup point which was about 2km away from where we were. From there the duffle bags would be transported to the base camp (Plaza del Mulas).
After getting rid of our duffels, we enter the park, show our permits to the rangers, listen to the valuable advice about acclimatization and proper hydration. Before we hit the road and start our walk to the first camp, Confluencia, there was one family who wants to take a picture with us. They must be thinking that a picture with two fully loaded fools, who have no idea what they are getting into, would be pretty cool. 😀
During our walk, we meet a guy from Macedonia, about 30 years old. He attempted to summit the Beast one day earlier. Unfortunately, he said, “I had to turn around about 100 meters before the top, I was having terrible, strong altitude sickness and I was dizzy.“ I’m just thinking, it’s not surprising when he tried to do it in 6 days. He said he had been acclimatized from other 6 thousand peeks he had climbed a couple of weeks before, but one can never know. Nevertheless, respect belongs to him even though he wasn’t able to succeed. He also mentioned that an expedition got stuck up there because of the bad weather a day before and a rescue team had got to go for them. He didn’t know any more details but was sure that it might have some consequences. Hmm, not such good news for our beginning.
When we got to Confluencia, we show our permits to the rangers and talked with them for about 15 minutes, pretty nice people. After our check-in, we meet two other Czech guys who just came back from an acclimatization trek to Plaza de Francia. They were leaving to the base camp the next morning so we wished good luck to each other and went to prepare something to eat. Sun is setting; we have some bread with cheese and salami, some cookies and jump into our sleeping bags to get some rest.
Day 2: . Confluencia 3400m -> Plaza de Francia 4200m and back
Our alarm was set for 6 AM, however, because it’s still dark we stay in our tent until 7 AM. I make a luxurious breakfast, which consisted of quick oats with dried fruits, cookies and a cup of coffee. After breakfast, we prepare our backpacks and set off for an acclimatization trek to “Plaza de Francia”. Everything is going smooth, the road is pleasant and I’m looking forward to some challenge. About 4 hours later I found one ridge that I would like to climb to, I just want to know what is on the other side. I try to convince Simon to go with me saying that it’s going to take us half an hour, max one hour. He doesn’t agree to say: “Man, I’m not going anywhere, this will take you at least 2 hours one way.“ I set off anyway; he stays and focuses on taking some pictures. About 1.5 hours later, I’m roughly 70% and am sure Simon is swearing up and down like a sailor because he’s waiting for me. It would take me at least another hour so I decide to go down. Simon will be mentioning this little recklessness for some time, that’s for sure. Besides that, there were falling rocks every now and then and that could destroy the whole expedition.
We reach the Plaza de Francia but because of the bad weather, we can’t see much. With good weather, we would have been able to see the highest slope in the whole world, about 2.5km high. Our walk back is accompanied by snow but even though we take our time. When we reach the camp we went to an obligatory medical check-in. Simon’s blood pressure is 130/90 and his blood saturation is 88 whereas mine is 140/80 and 91. The doctor says we’re in perfect shape and our conditions are great and that we shouldn’t have any trouble summiting. We were followed by a group of climbers from Romania and they are not getting the same feedback. The doctor recommends that one climber not go because he was measuring 180/110 and 80. Anyway, it is just a recommendation and therefore everybody’s choice. I start to have a little headache right before I fell to sleep, but that was because of our quick descent from “Plaza de Francia”.
Day 3: Confluencia 3400m -> Plaza de Mulas 4300 m (Base Camp)
It’s 7:00 AM and I’m awakened by falling water from our tent, which was hitting my head and the rest of my sleeping bag. I’m mad! It’s interesting that Simon was dry and had no problem of this kind. Nevertheless, breakfast, cookies and a cup of coffee make me feel better.
We started our trek at about 9:00 AM. The first 6 hours were pleasant with the small gradient, it’s pretty smooth (like Simon says: “It’s Rock n‘ Roll“ :D). The weather was getting worse with the raising altitude and from starting +15°C and no wind turned to negative degrees Celsius and strong wind. Freezing weather accompanies us for the next 2 hours until we reach the base camp. In the last 2 hours, there was the biggest change in altitude and we were struggling. As usual, my heels are getting worse and worse, and I’m pretty sure the blisters will cover my feet. I wouldn’t be surprised if this didn’t happen; it seems like it’s always like this! However, like Simon’s dad says: “You guys wanted to go to the mountains, it was your choice so stop complaining.“ Even though I’m having this trouble, I’m still excited and thrilled. Our pace is great and we pass one expedition after others. Surprised by the sudden change of weather we remember that there were a couple of people in camp Confluencia, who were planning on summiting in very simple boots, more like hiking boots than special duplex boots. As our feet are getting colder and colder, we have pretty good hiking boots, we cannot stop thinking about those people who could be regretting this irresponsibility.
After about 8 hours of walking, we finally reach the base camp Plaza del Mulas (later just B.C.). From our research on the internet, we expected temperatures around 0°C but it’s negative 20, snowing and 30cm of snow. We get our duffels from a tent of “Juan Herrera” which was the company that provided us with their services and took our stuff to the B.C. We prepare our lunch; as usual, we have tuna with some bread, cookies plus a cup of hot chocolate. We also meet a German girl who’s been stuck in the base camp for 3 days. She told us more info about the stuck expedition that we’d heard about from our Macedonian friend the other day. She said that one of the guys got really bad frostbite on his hands and toes and the other one died from exhaustion. This was the point that we realized that there is no room for recklessness and we need to be super cautious. This German woman got fed up with the bad weather and because of the bad weather forecast for the next day as well. We also met a guy from Argentina, Jorge. He couldn’t speak any English and so the communication is in Spanish thanks to Simon. He said that he’s a soldier and had been preparing for the ascent for a year. His plan was to leave the B.C. in two days, spend one night at about 5400m in “Nido de Condores” and start his summit push at 1:00 AM from there. It’s about 1600m altitudes, which is insane! Our German friend also mentioned that starting before sunrise is suicide. We went to bed with a full head of thoughts.
Day 4: Healing of my injured heel, Simon’s hike to camp Canada 5000m and back to B.C.
It’s -20 outside and in a sleeping bag which is supposed to be used in temperatures up to -25°C in extreme situations, it is pretty freezing. Like I mentioned before, in the morning I wake up with water falling into my face. We get up at 9:00 AM and the sky is clear, without any sign of clouds. We finally get a chance to see the snowy peaks surrounding B.C. for the first time, it’s breathtaking! We put sunscreen on our faces and enjoy our preparation of breakfast outside our tent. After breakfast, we get stuff ready that Simon will carry to camp Canada. We need to do it like this because we would not be able to take all the necessities with us at once. When he leaves, I sort out our gear, charge all our batteries and try to take care of my heel.
Note. The toilet is very special here. It’s a hole in the ground, but there is a wall and door at least. 😀 Better than nothing.
Simon comes back at about 5:00 PM and very amazed by the views from camp Canada. He’s got some news from the rangers that there should be good weather for the next 4 – 5 days but that there’s going to be very strong winds. They don’t recommend going up. As we don’t have any trouble with the altitude and felt full of energy we decide to try to summit in 4 days. We go to see the doctor again, he says that we are in perfect shape and therefore there is nothing to hold us back from going higher.
Note. Those who paid for a guided expedition were always eating feasts, but to be honest I would expect something like this if I had paid 4000 euros. However, they were grilling huge pieces of meat, ribs and the whole B.C. smelled amazing. The only problem was that it wasn’t for sale 😀 and so we’re stuck with beans, bread, cups of hot chocolate and cookies.
Day 5: Plaza de Mulas 4300m->Nido de Condores 5400m -> camp Canada 5000m
We got up at 9:00 AM, have a huge breakfast and also a chance to wash our hair after 4 days. Jorge went by himself to camp Canada early in the morning with half of his stuff and was planning to descend to B.C. for the night. We pack and set off to camp Canada with about 35kg of load on our backs. About halfway there, the strap of my backpack is breaking down under the weight of the load. We have no other option than to strap my smaller 8kg summit bag to Simon’s bag. I’m motivating Simon for the rest of the journey to camp Canada. He’s got about 40kg on his back and about 300 altitude meters still to reach Canada. He’s struggling a bit, but we finally reach camp Canada 2.5 hours later. Like I say: “He’s like a soldier.”
After we catch our breath we set up our tent and decide to carry our summit bags loaded with the food and gear for the following days to the higher camp, “Nido del Condores” and save some kilograms for the next day. I’m noticing that Simon is pretty exhausted from carrying the extra weight to camp Canada. The altitude is taking its toll and we were slowing down. The walk takes about 3 hours. I get there about 15 minutes earlier than Simon and explore the area a little bit. I get to a ridge where you can see the whole Andes from above. It’s breathtaking and probably the nicest view of the mountains I have ever seen. We hide our backpacks in “Nido del Condores” and our way back to camp Canada is followed by headaches. However, it doesn’t stop us from taking some shots of the mesmerizing sunset.
We’re back in camp Canada all excited to make a big dinner for ourselves and we realize that we had forgotten gas bombs in the summit bags that are at the higher camp. You know what Simon’s dad says: “You wanted to go to the mountains so stop complaining.“ :D. Instead of hot soup and chocolate we get a can of frozen beans and cookies. It wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen, but we can’t melt snow to have drinking water and staying hydrated in this altitude is the most important.
When in our tent, we talk about summiting. Because of the good weather, I think we should try to summit whereas Simon thinks it would be better to descend back and acclimatize properly. In the end, we decide we will try and see how it goes at higher altitude. I listen to a couple of songs before I fell asleep.
Day 6: Camp Canada 5000m ->Nido de Condores 5400m
The alarm is set for 8:00 AM and we start our hike to “Nido de Condores”. The walk is pretty hard, we have to stop every 15 minutes to catch our breath. We can feel the oxygen deficit a lot (above 5500m the oxygen pressure is about 50% lower than normal pressure). We struggle with setting up our tent, it takes us about 30 minutes more than usual. Simon has a headache and stomach ache, I only have a headache. As soon as we are able, we started melting snow for water and try to get as much as we can because of the previous day. To melt 3 liters of water it takes us about 40 minutes. We have only 3 small gas bombs and with the weather forecast, we aren’t sure if it will be enough. Cezar (a Polish climber) tells us that he uses one gas bomb a day, but he’s alone. We’re thinking if we should go down to B.C. and buy more gas or if we should try to summit. I can’t sleep for the whole night and try to come up with solutions.
One can plan for something in front of the computer at home, how everything will go smoothly, how he or she will take a picture at the summit with great weather and go back down, but the reality is usually different. The agony which accompanies the way up to 5400m with all the gear, the unpredictable weather, altitude sickness, not enough supplies and demotivating factors such as the news about the stuck expedition and dead people are things one needs to always think about and has to make decisions accordingly. It’s clear to anyone that it’s dangerous, but when this is happening all around you, it’s a completely different feeling.
Day 7: What are we going to do next? – moving to camp Colera 6000m
Note. When being in high altitudes, there is much less amount of oxygen in your blood and therefore your extremities such as fingers, nose, etc. are the first things that can get frostbite and even though you have many layers it can take a long time to get them warm.
It’s 9:00AM and we get out of our sleeping bags. We slept pretty well even though we were in high altitude, about 4 hours. We met a couple Czech climbers and they said that they would try to summit from “Nido de Condores” next morning. It’s about 1600 altitude meters, which is a lot. The weather forecast is still good and the weather should stay stable for the next day.
We leave the camp at about 4:00 PM and head up to camp Colera. When we get there, the wind is so strong that we have trouble setting up our tent. We manage to do it but are a little bit afraid that our tent could break down under the pressure of the strong wind. I can’t stop thinking, what would happen if something like that happens during the night when it is negative 35°C. Simon still has a headache, stomach ache and he’s still thinking about descending to B.C. for more gas and to have more time to acclimatize. That would mean another 3-4 days of hard work. I’m going to talk to other people in Colera and meet a guide who has a radio and communicating with lower camps. He tells me that the wind should decrease during the night and that the weather should start changing the next day in the evening. We agree with Simon that we’ll wake up at 6:00AM and depending on conditions and weather we’ll make a decision. I’m melting snow and trying to get Simon ready.
It’s important to mention that we’re not acclimatized properly. It’s been 7 days and, honestly, that’s not enough for almost 7000m. Nevertheless, the weather forecast did not give us another option and we have decided to try.
Day 8: Summit day 6960m
There is someone trying to get into our tent at 3:00AM, it’s one of the Polish climbers. He’s telling us that they are descending down and will try it next time. One of their people was shaking and his conditions didn’t look good. According to the weather, it’s really cold. My guess is -35°C and it’s still very windy. It would be suicide to go up in this weather and so we stay in the tent till sunrise.
The first rays of the sun touch our tent at 7:00 AM, the wind is a little bit weaker. Simon is ready to try the summit push. We eat some granola bars, caffeine boosters and drink lots of water to start. We put a few energy gels, caffeine bars, water, GoPro and Czech flag into our backpacks and at 7:30 AM, having 6 layers and three pairs of gloves, start our walk toward the highest peak of Americas. After 5 minutes Simon tells me his fingers are freezing. We switch our gloves (mine are much better). After a couple of minutes, we get into a great pace and it seems like nothing can stop us. We pass a guide with two girls who departed Colera at 6:00 AM. We feel great, stopping every 30 minutes to get some water and energy bars and continue loaded with adrenaline. About 200m below the peak I’m starting to have a weird feeling (I don’t have a headache or a stomach ache). I can’t describe the feeling, it’s not uncomfortable, it’s just weird. As we move toward the summit I notice Simon’s moving a bit unstable on a pretty straight path. I thought, he’s just tired but I notice the same thing about myself. I was losing stability a bit and walking straight takes some effort. At this moment I realize, from all the material I have read before about the altitude sickness, that we’re having a “brain Eden”. It is like being drunk. It seems like our pushing took its price. As the summit is only 20 minutes from us, we leave our backpacks there, taking only our flag and GoPro and go for it. At 14:35 AM, we stand at the highest place in Southern hemisphere. We stay at the top for about 10 minutes, taking some pictures, enjoying the view of the Andes and head down to lower altitude as fast as we can. It takes us about 2 hours to get back to camp Colera. When we get there, we pack our stuff and move lower to camp Nido de Condores. Our conditions get better with the descending altitude and with the great feeling jump into our sleeping bags.
Day 9: Nido de Condores 5400 m ->Confluencia 3400m
It’s 8:00 AM and because we brought enough food for at least 4 days we prepare a huge breakfast. We leave the rest of our food in the camp for the Polish climber Cezar.
At 9:00 AM we’re on our way back to B.C. (Plaza del Mulas). We sort out our stuff at Juan Herrera’s tent and meet an Argentinian guy David. He works with the government and fights for human rights in Argentina, an interesting person. When the people who work in the B.C. notice we’re trying to organize our stuff they try to convince us to sell our gear, they want everything, cameras, sleeping bags, tent, etc. We’re not selling anything because they were gifts from our partners. We say good-bye to the B.C. and the next 5 hours is almost like a walk through hell. It’s a nightmare because my toes are swollen and I cannot put them into the hiking boots that I have. Therefore, I need to use duplex boots, which are not meant to be used for long-distance walking. After about 30 minutes, my feet are covered with blisters and the ripped backpack’s not helping either. Simon’s walking at a very fast pace, he sees I’m fighting a little bit. We switch our backpacks to make the trek easier for me and he also tried to make me walk faster so that we can get to camp Confluencia before dark. When we arrive, Simon takes care of me and we went to sleep.
Day 11: Confluencia 3400 m-> Puente del Inca 2800m
It’s 6:00 AM and we set off without breakfast to finish this adventure. When we check out one of the rangers asks us whether we summited or not. I’m looking at Simon, he’s looking at me and we’re answering: “Of course, we’re boys from the Czech Republic, haha.” She congratulates us and wishes us luck on our next adventures. On our walk to the nearest village, we manage to stop a driver with a van. He basically saved us; we’re almost at zero levels of energy. When we get there, we eat a hamburger with a Coca Cola and it seems like there is nothing more in the world we need to be happy.
-Tom
