Posted: Jan 29, 2009 05:23 pm EST
(MountEverest.net) Following his 2008 Everest/Himalaya and K2/Karakoram Season's end chronicles; ExWeb's contributor, Brazilian writer and chronicler Rodrigo Granzotto Peron has now compiled a season's end report from Aconcagua - a favorite pre-Everest destination.

It's sobering reading; but not without highlights.

Aconcagua 2008/09 Season’s end Chronicle
by Rodrigo Granzotto Peron

In the summer season of the southern hemisphere, Aconcagua (6.965m) - the second highest of the Seven Summits - attracts a big crowd of climbers. This season was one of the busiest in the past few years, and also one of the most tragedy-struck.

Until now six climbers have perished on Aconcagua, double the usual annual fatality rate.

Fatalities on Aconcagua in the 2008-2009 season

- Stefan Jaromin (GER), 42 years old, was trying a solo ascent of Aconcagua but in his second attempt something went wrong. Jaromin was found dead on January 3rd.

- On January 6th the Aconcagua´s rescue team was alerted that four Italians and an Argentinean guide were missing on the “Glaciar de los Polacos” Route. According to later versions by the climbers involved, they summited via the classic route but lost their way in a sudden storm and mistakenly descended the technical Polish route.

Waiting for the storm to abate at 6700 m on “Cuello de la Botella” (Bottleneck), one of the clients (Elena Senin, 38) and the guide (Federico Campanini, 31) died in a fall. The others – Marco Afasio, Marina Acanazio and Mateo Refrigerato – were rescued by helicopter.

- On January 9th another casualty took place. British climber Michael Freemann, 42, was just a few meters from summiting when he collapsed and died of a heart attack.

- Pierre-Emeric Benteyn, 35, engineer for Red Bull´s Formula One team responsible for Mark Webber's car, disappeared on “Glaciar de los Polacos” early January in a solo attempt to summit. Rescue teams were unable to find the climber.

- On January 16th American climber Arthur Michel Lelisle, 51, suffered a fall on the regular route and died of his injuries.

All the tragedies brought together several groups and associations in Argentina in an effort to provide better equipment such as tents, ropes and sleeping bags to the rescue service in order to facilitate faster help to climbers. Several people also volunteered their knowledge and help to improve the services.

Aconcagua triumphs

But there were not only sad news.

- Four disabled military personnel – Cel Gabriel Cardona, Cb Juan Loaiza, Sd Edgar Cardona and Sd Bernard Prieto – who all lost a leg in mine explosions in their home country Colombia, spent three long years recovering from their wounds. Their hard training paid off in January when they summited Aconcagua.

- Italian climber Antonio Peretti (“Tom Perry”), took off his boots and bared his feet for 20 minutes in temperatures of -5ºC on the summit of Aconcagua as a tribute to his favorite Saint, Loreto´s Virgin.

- December 16th 2008, American child climber Matthew Moniz summited Aconcagua at 10 years old, the youngest person ever to get to the highest point of the Americas. Matthew hopes to become the youngest to finish the 7 Summits (Aconcagua was his third victory, after Elbrus and Kilimanjaro).

There is considerable evidence that the Incas climbed very high on the mountain. In 1947, a skeleton of guanaco, a wild relative of the llama, was found along the ridge between the North and South summit. Archaeologists doubt that this animal would have made it to this elevation on its own!

The most significant find occurred in 1985 where a mummy, preserved by cold dry air, was found at 5200m (17,060 ft) along the southwest ridge of Cerro Pyramidal, a sub peak of Aconcagua.

In 1883, the German Paul Gussfeldt was the first European to attempt the mighty mountain in "full Scottish conditions," with poor equipment, and very little information Gussfeldt didn't make the summit, but he made it to the 6500m mark.

The expedition was notable because it opened the route for future expeditions. On January, 14th 1897, the Swiss Mathias Zurbriggen was the first to reach the summit solo. (Text from Peak Freaks outfitters website.)

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