| Jan. 16, 2009 |
| Aconcagua |
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SUMMIT DAY! After a completely sleepless night of waiting for the alarm, it finally rang and I was able to joyously raise Willie from his sleep. We melted some snow for tea and ate a couple of cliff bars. We then got fully dressed and headed out. We started off and looked up seeing about 15 other headlamps bobbing in the blackness. We walked at a very fast pace, earning Camp 3 only 1 hour after we set off, doing the distance in 1 hour instead of the usual 3. We breezed past all the other groups until we reached Plaza de Independencia. There we put on our crampons and got out our ice axes--the exciting part is beginning! We set off on the Traverse across the Camilleta, a huge steep scree slope stretching from just below the summit to almost 6,000 ft below. We were still passing people until we reached The Cave, a shelter in the rocks once you cross the Traverse. From there we began our nearly straight upward climb hugging the cliffs on the side of the Camilleta. The summit spire had been in view for quite some time now, but so large that it never seemed to be any closer. We passed one last French man, and tiring with each step, reached the Guanaco ridge. This ridge is at the top of the south face so we looked down, and the face is completely vertical--so hard to believe that people climb up it. The summit was now within 100 meters and breathing hard with each and every step we started the last push. We reached the summit, it came just in time, and I overflowed with joy to finally reach my destination. We had reached the summit in 5 hours 7 minutes from Camp 2, the usual time is 10-12 hours or more. Completely blown away by this, Willie and I stood looking at the gorgeous views of the Andes Mountains. I still could not believe that I was standing on the highest mountain outside of the Himalaya. We spent an hour on top then began the descent down, passing nearly 100 people, today is the perfect day to summit and we were the first to stand up there! We practically ran down, shoved the tent into our packs, and reached Base Camp 24 hours after we had left it the day before. Then we decided that exhausted as we were to run out today, a 20 mile journey. I am not completely sure what was going through our heads. We jury rigged some baggies into awkward fanny packs, said our last goodbyes to the staff at Base Camp, and ran off down the valley. We reached Confluencia thirsty and tired. Veronica, the chef, was overjoyed to see us again. She gave us a Coke and fruit, then we started off on the last leg of our run. Finally we reached Horcones, the pavement. I was completely tired, sore, and sunburned. It felt so good to look up at Aconcagua and know that I had been there that very same day.
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