Author: Climbing the 7

The journey between each of my summits has been more difficult than the climbs themselves. The time in between has tested every part of me mentally, physically, and spiritually. It’s time to get this story completed and my journey back on track.

Feb 9,2018- We woke up to the same storm that we had bid farewell to the night before. Today was the big move to Camp #3 and we wasted no time. Yuki and I got up with the rest of the team to have a quick breakfast before breaking down camp. Yesterday my buff had been a huge issue. If I took it off my face was immediately assaulted by gale force winds and snow but if I left it up my breath would freeze over and make me feel like I was suffocating. My solution was to cut a small hole to expose only my mouth. Today would be different. Hopefully.

We were the only team pushing ahead to Camp #3 in this shit weather.  Moving up today meant we were betting that tomorrow would be pristine and we would have the summit to ourselves. The move to Camp #3 went the same as the carry the day before but this time the small hole I cut in my buff let me breathe! We arrived at Camp #3 in 50 mph gusts and began setting up tents. The temperature had dropped to zero if not below and we had to wear our clumsy heavy mittens to do anything. It took a team of four to set up each tent. Two people had to take their mittens off to assemble the tent poles while two people kept their mittens on and to hold the tent canopy in place. Because of how cold it was the assemblers and the holders would rotate as needed to warm their fingers. Once camp was set up we all crawled into our bags and settled in for dinner. We would be having instant mashed potatoes with dried bacon bits. The starches and fats would help us for summit day tomorrow and it was some of the last food we had after waiting out the storms at Camp #2. We ate dinner in our tents that night but Yuki and I had no desire to eat. We were now somewhere above 20,000ft and the altitude was taking its toll.

Feb 10, 2018- Today was the day! Sleeping was tough up at this altitude but I expected that and was so excited regardless. After a meager dinner we slept a few hours but were back up before the sun had a chance to rise. I crawled out of my tent into the darkness. I wandered over to the “bathroom” aka a cluster of rocks but before I could answer nature’s call the sun started to break the horizon in one of the most spectacular sunrises I have ever seen. The only other time I have witnessed something like this was from my vantage point atop Kilimanjaro just over a year ago. From my vantage point I could see the curvature of the earth with the blazing red and orange sun taking up more and more of the morning sky. This was one of those moments in life when you don’t bother to take a picture. The moment cannot be captured and to even try would ruin the experience. I stood there with smile from ear to ear with tears trickling down my cheeks that would run down to freeze in my beard. Absolutely stunning. This was the reason I came here.  

Another quick breakfast of oatmeal and then we set off. It was tough warming up but once we got moving the blood started flowing and we hit our stride. At our first break I was looking around and noticed Tom was nowhere to be seen. I had missed it but he had decided to stay back at Camp #3. Eight of us clients had started and now we were down to five.  We pushed forward and after 3 hours took a brief rest at Camp Indepencia. It wasn’t a camp just a dilapidated shack but it’s where we stopped for a break. At this point Blaine told the team that he wasn’t handling the altitude well and needed to turn back. Martin went down with him leaving just Luke, Jay and us four clients. We continued higher and higher traversing the mountain and gaining elevation but the summit still seemed miles away. This is the point where I  really started feeling the struggle. My entire body kept begging me to turn around and at times I wanted to give in but I focused on keeping my feet moving one after the other. Left foot. Right foot. Left foot. Right foot. After an hour of this we reached a feature called the cave. It was a massive overhang of rock that created a space for climbers to rest and regroup before entering the Canaletta and pushing on to the summit. The Canaletta is steep and one of the more hazardous sections of the mountain. Once through we would be up on a ridge leading to the top where glory waited for us. It should take another two to three hours to get there. I wanted to turn back for the safety and warmth of my sleeping bag but I had come this far though and couldn’t imagine getting this close without summiting. It was time to find out how deep I could dig yet again.

We started up the Canaletta with our ice axes in hand ready to self arrest. One mistake on this section would send us on a “slide for our life”. Exhaustion became an annoying companion. It was always there but I did everything I could to ignore it. Every movement felt herculean. Right foot. Breathe. Breathe again. Left foot. Breathe. Breathe again. This is how I made my way to the top. One step then two breaths. No amount of training physically or mentally had prepared me for this and yet I kept moving. I still have no idea how I did it. Everything in my body begged me to stop and yet there was some fire inside me. Some burning sadistic thing in there that wouldn’t let me quit. There was nothing but the summit. Nothing but a scorching desire to fight through the pain. I remember looking up and seeing the last few steps to the summit. I felt unstable and destroyed as I pushed my feet into the earth propelling myself to a height I’d never previously achieved. I had done it. Wait?! HOLY FUCK.. I HAD DONE IT! I was standing on top of the Stone Sentinel! Holy fucking balls! There were no words. Just tears and laughter. I was delirious and oxygen deprived but I was ecstatic.   

I looked around and found Anabel had beaten me to the top just moments prior. Yuki was on my heels and Dave was just bringing up the rear. The four of us plus Luke and Jay celebrated our summit success with pictures and a lot of hugs. There’s no way to explain what it feels like. I’m sure other athletes can relate but putting that single moment into words feels impossible. We basked in our glory until we realized something… we still had to get back down to camp. It took us a bit over 8 hours to reach the summit. I had spent everything i had to get there. Now it was time to see what I could do with my gas tank literally on empty.

I was a mess. I was toast. Pushing uphill had been easy compared to facing downhill and seeing the abyss waiting below. Somehow lowering myself down the mountain step by step had became more arduous then getting up it. I stumbled more than I want to admit but slowly made my way down the mountain. That morning we had been the only team at Camp #3 but after 4 hours of descending it came into view. All the other teams had moved up that morning and now it was a sea of tents and climbers eagerly looking towards the summit. In all this I stumbled into camp unable to even say my name let alone know what it was. I stumbled trying to find my camp when suddenly Tom and Blaine popped up and grabbed my arms supporting me and urging me towards my tent. Like a pair of Nascar pit crew members they stripped my gear off me then turned and dropped me perfectly into my tent. I had done it! I summited and made it back safely to camp!

 

Feb 9, 2018- Last night the storm continued and I was freezing again. I layered my down jacket and my parka over myself and wore my boot liners to stay warm. I thought my zero degree sleeping would be warm enough but I was wrong. Laying in that damp frigid tent had also left me with a respiratory infection. I was super congested and coughing a lot. Waking up to hear that today would be another rest day due to weather was good news but a bummer at the same time.

The team ate a quick breakfast and then prepared to lay around all day. I had some movies downloaded onto my phone and the kindle app so I had some distractions. Jay and I would also talk to pass the time and I couldn’t have had a better tent mate. We didn’t get on each others nerves and helped keep one another sane. At dinner we found out that tomorrow the storm was supposed to weaken a bit. We would plan to carry to Camp #3 tomorrow even if the weather was poor so we could move up the following day and be be positioned for the summit if the weather broke. Worst case we would end up digging in deeper at Camp #2 or hunker in at Camp #3. Either way we were going to be moving and out of our tents tomorrow! That evening the temps dipped again but I had perfected my “sleep system” at this point with all my extra layers strategically placed to keep me warm.  My tooth bugged me a bit and I realized I would run out of antibiotics in two days. If I missed a dose the thing ached like hell and I was hoping that when I finished them I’d at least be back at sea level. Maybe even with access to a dentist. But now there was nothing I could do except put it in the back of my head with all the other stuff out of my control.

Feb 10, 2018- Day #11 and finally we would get moving and carry to Camp #3! I had been stuck laying in my tent for the past three days and needed to get out. I left my nylon “cell” for breakfast and started hacking and coughing. I spit in the snow after my fit and saw bright red. It was blood. I had just coughed up blood at 18,000ft and immediately felt my stomach drop. WTF?! Coughing up blood is a symptom of High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE) so I didn’t want to mess around. I went and found Luke who immediately  put me at ease. First, he had heard me hacking up a lung in my tent for the past three days and reasoned that I had burst some blood vessels with my violent and persistent coughing. Second, if I was in a stage of HAPE where I was coughing blood I wouldn’t be able to get out of my tent and walk over to tell him about it. He said given my overall fitness and attitude he felt comfortable letting me continue up the mountain so long as we kept an eye on the cough. I agreed and got ready to do my carry up to Camp #3.

The day was gorgeous and clear but the winds were crazy. During the climb up to Camp #3 we encountered 50mph gusts. Hiking in that was insane and I had to keep my face covered with my buff the whole time. This created an issue because the moisture from my breath would get the buff wet and then immediately freeze in the wind. My respiratory infection already made it difficult to breathe and doing it through a frozen buff at 20,000ft felt like being water boarded. I would rip my buff down gasping for air and then get a full blast of wind to my face. It was a lose lose situation. When we finally made it to Camp #3 I was beat up. I had felt strong as hell all the previous moves up the mountain but after three days laying around and getting this cough/ infection I was worked. We stashed our gear and headed back down to Camp #2.

The day had worked me and with the respiratory infection I felt like maybe I wouldn’t make it. The toothache was something I could push through but not being able to get enough air into my lungs at high altitude was something different. As I sat near my tent thinking about it, one of my team mates Dave came by saying that he was headed down. When we were up climbing to Camp #3 he felt something in his chest. A kind of palpitation and tightness that scared him. He decided he would head down to base camp and arrange for the helicopter to take him out. The news came as a shock but his mind was made up and with that we said goodbye to another team member.

Seeing Dave call it while I was managing all my stuff made me pause. Was I letting this whole “pushing my limits” thing get out of hand? I felt like garbage but I also had this primal voice telling me to keep going. We were all up here looking for something inside ourselves and the current situation wasn’t enough to stop me. It sounds crazy but I had come this far.

With Dave’s departure we shuffled tents again and Jay moved back into the guide’s three-man tent with Luke and Martin. I would bunk up with a guy named Yuki for the balance of the trip. We settled in and got ready for the next few days. Even though tomorrow’s weather would be just as bad if not worse than today’s Luke was betting that the following day would be clear. He had been using a satellite phone to check in with his team in the states and there was a chance that the day after tomorrow would be perfect for a summit run. None of the other teams at Camp #2 were going ahead tomorrow so we would be solo at Camp #3. If the weather cleared up the day after then we would have a solo shot at the summit. The thought of having the summit to ourselves got the team pumped!

Have to start this post with a big apology for going MIA mid story. This whole endeavor has been about putting myself out there and taking risks. When I got back from this trip and went back to work something didn’t feel quite right. Taking the lessons I learned on Aconcagua I quit my job to throw the dice on new opportunities. My former employer was fantastic but there was something in me needing some change. I’m still sorting through the change and this has diverted my attention but I’m in a place again where I can focus back on climbing the 7 and keep this story going. Thank you for the patience.

Feb 7, 2018- The winter wonderland we woke up to yesterday had melted off through the night causing the commotion I wrote about in my previous post. Seriously though if you have time scroll down and see the picture from Day #7 compared to the one below.

Absolutely crazy how much snow melted off through the day and night leaving the hill exposed. We packed up camp and began the move to Camp #2. The hike was uneventful since we had done it the day prior lugging our supplies to Camp #2. When we arrived at Camp #2 I was told that Jay, one of the guides, would be bunking up with me since Mike had gone down the mountain due to altitude sickness. We set up and then had some down time to chill out. Two of the other climbers, Tom and Annabel, plus myself hung out rummaging through our food sharing snacks and trying to eat what we could to cut down the weight we would carry up to Camp #3. The three of us had a great time acting like elementary school kids trading snacks at recess. After a bit it was time for dinner where the team would review the “loose” plan for continuing up the mountain. I say “loose” because no matter how well you plan the mountain always has something else in mind. Tomorrow morning (Day #9) we would carry to Camp #3 and then rest the day after (Day #10) before moving to Camp #3 (Day #11) and then starting early the following morning for the summit (Day #12). After the team dinner and briefing we all settled into our tents prepping to go higher on the mountain. That night as soon as I got settled into my sleeping bag I realized that of course I had to pee. It was still light enough out that I decided to go out and use the restroom proper in stead of peeing in a bottle. Yes, we all peed into our own bottles at night when nature called so we didn’t have to leave our tents. Gross for sure especially with another team mate inches from you but trust me you would do it too given how cold it got at night. Moving on, I went outside to use the “restroom” and witnessed one of the most awe inspiring sunsets I have and probably will ever see in my lifetime.

Seriously the picture doesn’t begin to do it justice and I can’t begin to describe what it was like to be there in that moment while I may have been answering the call of nature. After a bit it was too cold to stand any longer and I slid back into my tent. I went to sleep that evening pumped for the day ahead. We would be continuing our assault up the mountain and the next camp at approx. 20,000ft would be the highest I had ever been on a mountain.

Feb 8, 2018- At some point in the early morning I woke up freezing cold while having severe tooth pain. I had forgotten to take my antibiotics and the infection came back with a vengeance. I threw down four ibuprofen along with the missed antibiotics and laid in my sleeping bag trying to get warm. There was a storm raging outside and the tent was flapping all over the place. I could see snow flakes accumulating on the tent walls weighing them down as the storm continued. I was laying on my back trying to get comfortable and get a little more sleep before we had to get up. As I exhaled a deep breath I felt snowflakes hitting my face. I opened my eyes trying to search for a hole in the tent but couldn’t see anything. I laid down again and exhaled thinking it was a fluke to only feel snow on my face again. Perplexed I laid still looking all about trying to find the source of the snow. As I exhaled again I immediately saw the source, it was me! It was so cold that my breath would condense above me and fall back onto my face as snow! I had never experienced anything like this before but being as cold as I was in my sleeping bag it made sense. After marveling at this for a second I rolled onto my side and passed out forgetting about the tooth ache, the cold, and the human powered snow storm in my tent.

At breakfast that morning the storm was still going and we were told that instead of carrying to Camp #3 today and resting tomorrow we would swap the days and have a day of rest. We all piled back into our tents to get out of the winds laying around all day in our sleeping bags only getting out occasionally during a brief lull in the storm to stretch our legs. That evening for dinner we all met at the guides tent and heard that things would be changing again. The forecast was looking worse and like a move tomorrow wouldn’t be possible. Instead we would be hunkering down at Camp #2 for the next two days (Days #10 &11) hoping that things would get better. This meant that in addition to the rest day today we would be in our tents waiting for two more days! I was already bored out of my mind from one day in the tent and after three I figured I’d definitely loose my mind.

Stayed tuned to find out how long the storm raged and if I lost my mind or not…

Feb 6, 2018- Last night as the storm was raging around us I was in my sleeping bag listening to the thunder and watching the tent walls bow inward with each gust of wind. I loved it!! My tent mate Mike unfortunately wasn’t feeling well due to the altitude and had a much rougher night than I. After a very stormy night we awoke to a winter wonderland. Everything that had been dirt and rocks the prior day was now dusted in snow.

Today we would be hiking up to the ridge in the picture above and traversing a few hours around the mountain to Camp #2. It was a carry day meaning we would be bringing future supplies up to the camp leaving them there and then returning to Camp #1 for the night. After breakfast Mike came to me saying he was suffering pretty bad from the altitude and he needed to go down to base camp. I was extremely sad to have my tent buddy and fellow San Franciscan leaving the expedition. One of the guides would take him back down to base camp where he would arrange a helicopter ride to get Mike off the mountain and back into Mendoza. Hopefully with the decent and lower elevation Mike would start feeling better. The rest of the team got ready for another carry day and this time I was a bit more careful with loading my bag trying to make sure today I’d be carrying the bulk of my weight so that tomorrow would be easier.

We set off to Camp #2 and while the climb up the ridge didn’t look so terrible from Camp #1 it ended up being a steep climb. After a few hours of making our way to the ridge we got to the top and the views were incredible. The day was partly cloudy but it felt very warm during our ascent.

We eventually made our way into Camp #2. After a brief rest along with water and a snack we unloaded our supplies and piled them up for the night with some rocks on top of them to make sure they didn’t blow away. Camp #2 is around 18,000ft and we were more concerned with the wind distributing our supplies all over the mountain than we were with animals getting into them. Aside from a few birds and the occasional fox there isn’t too much wild life up that high.  

The view from the Camp #2 “bathroom” above was ridiculous. I’ve already said the views were incredible on this mountain and I’ll probably say it a million more times before I’m finished writing about the trip. There’s just something incredible about how wild and untouched it is up there. After stashing supplies and a “bathroom” break the team started down back to Camp #1. Since the day had been pretty sunny and warm when we got back to the ridge we had climbed earlier we were very surprised to find that almost all the snow had melted off. What had been a winter wonderland of snow this morning was now an alpine desert of rock and snow. We made our way down a hill of scree avoiding the switchbacks we had climbed earlier opting for a direct route straight down to camp. The team had dinner and then we all settled in early to our tents. Tomorrow we would be moving to Camp #2 and sleeping up there for the first time so everyone was eager to get some rest. Since Mike had left I had the tent to myself for the evening. I was in in there reading when I heard a commotion from a neighboring camp and out of curiosity I peaked me head out to see what was up. It turns out that all the melted snow needed a place to go and it decided to run right through camp. The team next to us had tents which were in the way of the new stream. I popped out and began helping them move their tents away from the water and using whatever tools we could find to try and cut a channel to direct the runoff away from the rest of camp. After everyone had been relocated I looked at the stream which was 4-5’ away from my tent and decided that while it was still light out I would also move. I didn’t want to get woken up by water coming into my tent in the middle of the night so I grabbed two of my teammates, Tom and Annabel to help me move. Once I was out of dodge  I got back into my tent thinking about all the days events. We were only 7 days into the trip and already we had lost one teammate to the altitude, had a river pop up and dislodge camp, I had a raging toothache, and we had hiked through a snow/ thunderstorm. I guessed that by the rough schedule we had that there were still 7-8 days left in the trip making today our halfway point. This left a lot of opportunity for more potential “excitement” on the mountain which I was sure we would get soon enough.

Feb 5, 2018- Move to Camp #1- After our carry to camp #1 we had settled in for the night but of course right as I was getting comfortable my tooth began throbbing. I took some ibuprofen and got a few hours of sleep. Luke had been checking in with me about it because there was concern that it would only get worse with the altitude but I wanted to keep pushing and find that limit. In the morning we packed up our remaining gear including tents and sleeping bags. Turns out I had underestimated the amount of stuff I would have to carry and my bag was heavier than yesterday. After breakfast we set out for camp #1 and this time we would be sleeping up there at 16,000ft. I made sure to save everything I had for “Hell Hill” which came again all too soon. We took a quick break at the base of the climb when suddenly it started snowing with thunder and lightning. Growing up in California I’m very accustomed to snow storms (at least California snow storms) but I had never experienced one with thunder and lightning!

We hauled ass up the scree and I tapped into my inner beast again to get the last section behind me. Immediately we begin setting our tents up in the storm. In hindsight I’m not sure we should have been holding metal tent poles in a thunderstorm but our options were extremely limited. We slid into our tents and let the storm rage around us. Hearing the thunder was awesome! We ate dinner in our tents that night and got out from time to time to clear the accumulating snow from our tents. This was my first bit of crazy weather on Aconcagua and it would only get worse from here. We finally went to sleep with the tent flapping all around us. Tomorrow we would carry loads to camp #2 and it was supposed to storm again. As crazy as it may sound I was excited for all of this. The hiking with heavy loads, the weather, the exhaustion… it was why I came here!

Getting back into the grind has been tough after being on the road for a month. My next posts until summit day will be dealing with carrying and moving up the mountain. From base camp at 14,000ft the plan was to head to 3 camps each higher than the last to get us staged and ready for a summit attempt. In order to do this, we would be double carrying our gear up the mountain. One day we “carry” half our gear (mostly food and misc. gear) up to our next camp stashing it there before heading back down to our previous camp for the night. The next day we “move” our tents and the balance of our gear up to our next camp. All my time on the high mountain would be broken up into these two day cycles of “carrying” to a higher camp one day and then “moving” to that camp the next day. These cycles not only broke up our loads but also gave our bodies a chance to acclimate to the altitude. Our “carry” days would expose our bodies to the higher elevation but we would head lower that evening letting our bodies catch up while we slept. The “carry” days were always a bit rougher than the “move” days since each “carry” day we exposed ourselves to higher and higher altitudes.

Feb 4, 2018- Carry to Camp #1- Finally today was it, my first chance to carry a load at elevation and see if I trained the right way. I woke up feeling great and my tooth didn’t bother me too much over the night so I was feeling good. After breakfast we divvied up the group gear and packed it up with our personal stuff. I felt my pack compared to others in the team and have no idea what I’m not carrying today but my pack feels light! I’ll find out tomorrow when I carry the rest of my gear if I over or under shot today.

We left base camp and I felt strong! Looking up at the mountain the summit looked a million miles away and our goal of getting to camp #1 didn’t look any closer. We kept on hiking and at one point came to an area with rock fall potential so we strapped on our helmets. Halfway through the rock fall zone my head suddenly started pounding and my tooth started screaming. The pain that washed over me was so sudden and unexpected it caught me completely off guard. I continued hiking trying to make sense of the splitting headache wondering if I was experiencing High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE) or if maybe I was super dehydrated. The tooth ache was expected although nothing I wanted to deal with but the headache was searing. I climbed higher with the team wondering if I needed to grab our guide Luke and tell him that I was miserable and question if this was HACE setting in? After battling for a little over an hour with the headache, the toothache, and myself we came to a break outside the rock fall zone and took our helmets off. As soon as I popped my helmet off the headache disappeared and my tooth ache mellowed out. I always wear the same Pacific Iron Works hat on my climbs and have worn it many many times with my helmet over it having never experienced an issue. For whatever reason today the combo didn’t work but thank goodness it wasn’t anything bigger. For the rest of my time on Aconcagua I would never wear the hat and helmet combo again. The experience of fighting the headache and toothache while hiking brought up thoughts again about how far was I willing to take this? If the toothache got really bad would I be at a point on the mountain where I could turn around or would even want to turn around? How would it feel to go home early because of a toothache? Would I recognize HAPE or HACE and turn myself around or would the guides have to do it? I’m great at overthinking things so I decided to chill out and let it all play out for now. What is meant to be is meant to be. If I’m forced off the mountain with HAPE, HACE, or for a toothache then that would be something I would have to deal with but for now I had a whole mountain in front of me.

(Not even close to the summit, Camp #1 is right of the spire)

After some lunch we pushed further towards Camp #1. We came to the last section of climbing before the camp and it was appropriately named “Hell Hill”. The guides warned us the next section was one of the worst on the entire mountain and it did not disappoint. Rising 500ft or so the hill is all scree and gravel which feels like hiking on ball bearings. We would take one step up and slide two back. This along with carrying 60lbs made for a helluva climb. We kept our heads down and trudged up the hill but somehow it just got worse as we went higher. The last section before summiting to Camp #1 was the worst. At this point I was super exhausted and pretty pissed off from feeling like I was going nowhere fast on this mountain of marbles. I dug deep and went Incredible Hulk on the last 50ft ditching all thoughts of going slow and saving my strength. I went full beast mode and arrived at Camp #1 huffing and puffing thankful it was over. As I’ve pushed myself harder and harder in the mountains I’ve learned to tap into this “inner beast”. It’s one of the greatest things I’ve found within myself and a force to be reckoned with but I’ll write more about this later.

(The view from Camp #1)

Arriving at Camp #1 we took a brief rest and then began stashing our gear. Nothing fancy, just heavy duty trash bags tied up with rocks placed on top of them. I had brought up most of my food and some gear like my down parka and down pants that I wouldn’t need until we were higher. After the stashing and a quick snack, we headed down to base camp. During the descent down “Hell Hill” I realized I would have to hike that thing again tomorrow. The thought of doing it all again loomed over all of us on the team that night at base camp.

Feb 02-03, 2018- Today we woke up ready to ascend to base camp and gain some elevation. Our hike would take us from roughly 11,000ft to 14,000ft giving us our first taste of altitude on this trip. We packed up all our gear and then had to cross the Rio Vacas. We could have waded barefoot across the river but instead rode mules across two by two with an Arriero leading the way.

Here’s my team mate Annabel and I waiting to cross the river. Having grown up riding horses this felt no different and wasn’t too difficult. The mules know the deal and exactly what they’re doing. We just held on for the ride.

Once the whole team had made the crossing we started heading up into the mountains. The landscape continued to be absolutely gorgeous as we left the desert valley below and made our way up into the colder alpine climate above.

We arrived at Plaza Argentina aka base camp and I was surprised to see how large an operation it was. There were multiple companies running their own operations within base camp. We were using the largest and oldest of the companies called Grajales Expeditions. They were the ones that organized our mule teams and handled our logistics between base camp and the real world.

Our camp was the yellow and white domes in the bottom right hand corner of the picture below. Grajales was housing three teams including mine so the camp was busy. The cluster of domes is where we would eat, relax, and prepare our gear for the high mountain. The Grajales base camp even had beer for sale and wi-fi, although it was extremely slow.

We got settled into our tents and then explored the other camps a bit before dinner. After dinner we had a team meeting in one of the domes to talk about going higher up on the mountain. We talked about the two main risks of ascending higher, High Altitude Pulmonary Edema (HAPE) and High Altitude Cerebral Edema (HACE). I won’t go into each of these deeply but both are caused by the body failing to acclimate while ascending to a higher altitude. Both HAPE and HACE have similar onset symptoms as Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) which we would all get at some point during our climb. Getting AMS is expected and boils down to feeling like you’re hungover (headache, dehydration, insomnia, loss of appetite) and the best thing to do is to drink lots of water and ascend slowly. With HAPE and HACE having similar onset symptoms to AMS (which we knew we would get) it meant we would have to pay attention to one another but also ourselves. HAPE and HACE are fatal if not caught and treated quickly. The only treatment is rapidly descending so we would need to be honest with ourselves and our guides making sure to not let “summit fever” cloud our judgement. Our guides advised us not to worry too much as the odds were low and no amount of worrying will prevent them anyways. No need to fuss over something you can’t control. After our team meeting we made our way to the tents. Tomorrow was a rest day at base camp literally meaning we would do nothing. The day would give our bodies a chance to acclimate to 14,000ft thus helping us as we ascended higher.

Rest day (Feb 3, 2018) was one of the most boring days ever. Hence why I am not making a specific rest day blog post. We seriously did nothing all day. I spent most of my time in one of the domes reading Eiger Dreams by Jon Krakauer and watching movies I had downloaded to my phone. My tooth had been acting up through the night and now today. I wondered if it was getting worse due to altitude or if I was only noticing it more due to boredom? I had been keeping up my antibiotics but the tooth would start throbbing from time to time. I spent a lot of time wondering if it was going to get better or worse? If it did get worse how bad could it get and how far would I push through? I told myself if I went down because of my tooth it had better be so bad that getting it pulled in Argentina was the only option. Sounds crazy but I guess you have to be to do this stuff.

The park requires all persons climbing Aconcagua to be checked and cleared by the base camp doctor to ascend higher up the mountain.  We all went over to the doctor’s “office” (really just a shack) and waited for our turns to get checked. He did the basics like temperature and blood pressure but also listened to our lungs for fluid which is a classic symptom of HAPE. During my check up the doctor found no issues so I was cleared to go higher. In fact everyone on the team got cleared to ascend so we were all excited. Tomorrow would be our first carry up to camp #1. There were no more mules from this point on so now I would be carrying everything. I trained especially hard for this so tomorrow was where I’d see if I was on point or off course.

Feb 01, 2018- A few years back in a bike accident I cracked one of my molars. It was repaired with a root canal but suddenly before leaving for South America it wanted to start acting up. I got into the dentist before leaving and they said the tooth would need work which of course they couldn’t do since I was leaving so soon. In lieu of calling off the trip I was prescribed antibiotics with the hope that they would alleviate the issue long enough to let me climb and get back home. Altitude has a tendency to make toothaches worse so the dentist gave me a second round of even stronger antibiotics as a backup adding that “worst case Argentina has decent enough medical facilities and you could have it pulled.” Not inspiring but options were limited. Obviously I threw the dice.

Now fast forward to Feb 01, 2018 around 4am and suddenly that tooth decides it’s not happy. I’m woken by throbbing pain in my tent and slightly disoriented given its my first night on the trail. I had my medicine bag near me so I grabbed some advil. In my panicked haze I decided that if it’s hurting now I should just up the ante and take the strong antibiotics. I started those and 800mg of ibuprofen. After a bit the pain meds kicked in and I went back to sleep. When I woke up I started thinking if my tooth hurt down here what would it be like as we got higher? I figured I had to find out since I’d come this far. It would have to be one hell of a toothache to get me to turn back.

We had a quick breakfast and then started up on the trail. Today at the tail end of our hike we would get our first glimpse of Aconcagua. It was HOT again but the scenery was amazing! I ended up not being able to get a shot of Aconcagua because of clouds however I was able to get a sense of how massive it is. Hint… it’s huge!

Part of the reason I love hiking, climbing, backpacking, and mountaineering is that solitude and contemplation are built into them. The real world drowns out and you get to leave the bills and responsibilities behind you (temporarily). I always have some of my best and clearest moments out on the trail. Something about the landscape and moving forward up a mountain just makes me introspective. Getting lost in your thoughts can really make the time fly by as well.

After 5-6 hours of hiking we rolled into our second camp called Casa Piedras.  Mike I and threw our tent up like pros and we all relaxed for a couple hours. My tooth had held up well during the hike but was starting to throb again. I would become religious about taking my antibiotics at specific intervals taking zero chances with this opportunity. In the back of my mind I was wondering how far I would be willing to push this.

Dinner that evening was cooked by our Argentinian guide Martin whom everyone calls Tincho. The meal was fantastic and spirits were high! Tomorrow we would climb almost 3,000ft up to base camp. The past two days of hiking had been good but the elevation gain was gradual. Finally we would be heading up higher on the mountain and closer to our goal.

Jan 31, 2018- Today we finally started. The months of training and prep were over and now it would start. In so many days time I would be testing myself on the summit and seeing yet again how deep I could dig. That time would come but today was day #01 on the mountain.

We started at a place called Punta de Vacas and followed the Rio Vacas towards its source high on Aconcagua. Following the river gave us a secure source for water but we would have to treat everything we drank. I used iodine tablets because they’re easy to use and I don’t mind the taste. Hiking through the valley there was zero shade so it was super hot. We had been hiking for about two hours when our mule teams caught up to us. We waved to the mule drivers called Arrieros as they continued on their way.

After three more hours of hiking we rolled into camp and got set up. I was paired up to be tent-mates with Mike Tancer whom I had met up with in Santiago, Chile at the start of my trip. We got our tent up and then it was time for dinner. Tonight the Arrieros were cooking. No clue what cut of beef they grilled but it was incredible. We also had a bottle or two of some Malbec we had packed in our supplies. We would be roughing it soon enough on the mountain so why not enjoy ourselves now?

Since the amazing dinner wasn’t enough we had also had a gorgeous sunset to go with it.

We still haven’t seen Aconcagua but we are told that tomorrow we will be able to have our first look at it. We all headed to bed ready and excited for day #02. 

On Feb 12,2018 at approx 3:13pm I summited Aconcagua. It took 8 hours and 13 minutes but I fought my way up 22,841ft of mountain to stand on the highest point of South America. The view was incredible but the sense of accomplishment was even greater.

 Aconcagua is not only the highest mountain in South America but it’s also the highest in the world outside of the Himalayas. There were no teams summiting in the Himalayas on Feb 12 so for a moment I was the highest man on earth.

Now that I’m back home I’ll be sharing my experiences on the mountain and what it took to get to the top…