PART 2: MT ACONCAGUA, February 2017
After climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, Piedmont resident Bill Baringer was ready for more. He set his sights on the South American apex, Peru’s treacherous Mt. Aconcagua at 22,840 feet.
The mountain is big and unruly; local guides estimate only 30 percent of the hikers reach the top. Only 80 miles from the Pacific Ocean, high winds and storms pummel Aconcagua. The wind chill can drop to -80 degrees Fahrenheit.
Baringer was well aware it would be no Sunday stroll.
His climbing group consisted of an experienced guide and three other climbers, all 15-20 years younger than him and extremely fit. Two were physical trainers and the third a kickboxer.
“I felt that I had not prepared nearly well enough for trekking and climbing compared to my three teammates,” he recalled, but he was fully committed to the challenge.
The trek spans 18 days, beginning in the warm, beautiful Peruvian plateaus. They crossed rivers on mules or on foot and enjoyed the views of wild guanacos and condors. Soon he would trade his river sandals for bulky double boots with crampons.
The first high base camp was at 16,200 feet. A 160/90 blood pressure reading put his journey into jeopardy, but the camp doctor eliminated salts and caffeine from his diet and cleared him to continue two days later.
Unlike other high-altitude climbs, the ascent of Aconcagua doesn’t rely on porters. Hikers must carry their own gear up to higher camps in multiple trips, then return to lower altitudes to sleep. After two “carry” trips to Camp 1 they settled in. From there they made more day trips hauling gear to Camp 2, but before moving to Camp 2 a storm derailed their plans.
The wind, snow and cold forced them in tents for three days. When sitting out a storm Baringer said he asked himself, “What are the things I can do something about?”
During the three-day period members of the group played card games, did sudoku puzzles and listened to music.
Finally, they were able to continue, but now they had a tight schedule with time lost due to the storm. Once at Camp 2 they had to hire porters and head to Camp 3 the next day with little time to acclimate to the new elevation.
After setting up their final camp at 19,300 feet, they got a brief rest before beginning the summit attempt at 4 a.m.
Final climb to the top
On the summit day it was freezing but clear. Everyone was moving slowly, and his group was the last to leave Camp 3. An unexpected stop frazzled everyone’s nerves. One of their members, Kat, an experienced mountaineer, became too cold during the stop and was turned around to return to a lower elevation.
The remaining three hikers and guides continued.
At a sheltered rest the guides pointed out a frozen hiker who died three days earlier before from high altitude Cerebral Edema. Mountain rangers would later make a special trip to retrieve the body.
Rather than be discouraged, Baringer gave himself a pep talk.
“I attempted to use this event to heighten my awareness and get my head in the game for all that lay above us,” he said.
At 22,000 feet the lack of oxygen reduced the pace to four steps then eight deep breathes. A fellow climber was lagging behind, requiring the aid of the assistant guide, Gustavo Caselli, from Argentina.
Baringer’s group was the last up the mountain and they had to wait at a narrow ice crossing for downward groups to pass.
With clouds mounting and daylight waning, he led the way up the last 840 feet of elevation. And finally, at 22,840 feet, Baringer and his band of climbers stood at the summit of the highest peak in the world outside of the Himalayas.
But The journey was not over, however. A climber named Ray barely made it to the summit before collapsing, so the descent turned into a rescue trip to get their hiking colleague down the mountain. He was given an emergency oxygen tank and the lead guide, Ariel, led him down.
Baringer followed Gustavo, the assistant guide, avoiding sharp rocks with no margin for error.
“You know you can’t make any mistakes on the way down, but that’s when all the accidents happen. You can’t drift off to thinking ‘wow, it was a great summit’.”
He arrived back at Camp 3 at 7 p.m. after a grueling 15-hour day of climbing. Three hours later Ariel and Iveta returned with Ray, who had severely frostbitten fingers, which resulted in his evacuation by a helicopter and ultimately and a partial finger amputation.
The next morning the weather turned nasty, with winds that swept away the tents and gear of another climbing group. A sleeping mat whirled upward in a tornado vortex. Everyone knew it was time to leave.
On that day only two of the 32 hikers waiting to climb to the top succeeded in summiting.
After returning to base camp, Baringer took an extra day of rest, had a sip of champagne to celebrate the achievement, and took a few hot showers.
“The physical and mental challenges during the ascent led us to wonder why we were actually subjecting ourselves to this,” he wrote in his journal. “But soon afterwards the view in retrospect was that it wasn’t really that bad at all. We might even consider revisiting the beast,” he added with a touch of wry.
NEXT WEEK:Part 3 of Bill Baringer’s quest to climb the world’s highest peaks. In May 2017 he attempted to summit the highest point on the European continent, Mt. Elbrus in Russia, at 18,510 feet.
