The Mountain

Here, courtesy the good folks at Wikipedia, is a brief outline of Aconcagua. I have included the complete description so as to answer in advance the many predictable questions I might otherwise receive regarding tectonic plate subduction.

At 6,962 metres (22,841 ft), Cerro Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the Americas, and the highest mountain outside Asia. It is located in the Andes mountain range, in the Argentine province of Mendoza. The summit is located about 5 kilometres from San Juan Province and 15 kilometres from the international border with Chile. It lies 112 kilometres (70 mi) west by north of the city of Mendoza. Aconcagua is the highest peak in both the Western and Southern Hemispheres. It is one of the Seven Summits.
Aconcagua is bounded by the Valle de las Vacas to the north and east and the Valle de los Horcones Inferior to the West and South. The mountain and its surroundings are part of the Aconcagua Provincial Park. The mountain has a number of glaciers. The largest glacier is the Ventisquero Horcones Inferior at about 10km long which descends from the south face to about 3600m altitude near the Confluencia camp^[2]. Two other large glacier systems are the Ventisquero de las Vacas Sur and Glaciar Este/Ventisquero Relinchos system at about 5km long. However the most well-known is the north-eastern or Polish Glacier, a common route of ascent.
The mountain was created by the subduction of the Nazca Plate beneath the South American plate during the geologically recent Andean orogeny; however, it is not a volcano.^[3] The origin of the name is contested, it is either from the Arauca Aconca-Hue, which refers to the Aconcagua River and means 'comes from the other side',^{[citation needed]} the Quechua Ackon Cahuak, meaning 'Sentinel of Stone',^{[citation needed]} or Quechua Anco Cahuac, 'White Sentinel'.<sup>[4]


For those readers uncomfortable with the above reference to "orogeny", it should be noted this is a Greek word meaning "mountain creating." It bears no relation to the Andean "summer of love" event held in 1969.</sup> 

This time for real.

The first time the idea of climbing Aconcagua came up was on June 15th 2007. Our Team had sumitted Denali (Mt McKinley) two days prior and we were working our way down the mountain. We stopped to hydrate and snip misshapen pieces of moleskin to be adhered to the many places on our feet which had quit us. "Hey, what do you guys say we climb Aconcagua next" one voice queried. "Yeah, we could do it this coming January," another affirmed. Each member chimed in enthusiastically. I said nothing. I was wiped. Hurting. I was not sure I would ever be interested in climbing another mountain. "What do you say, D" someone asked. I had come to be named "D" which was short for "Tenacious D", short for "Tenacious Dave." Mark would later comment in reference to myself "there were sooooo many times I thought this guy is done. He is gased. His climb is over." In the course of a climb to which I brought very few climbing skills, I had come to be recognized for a tenacity that made up for part of the deficit.

"I don't know, guys" I answered. "I just want to feel good about this one for awhile. Then maybe talk about something else."

As January of 2008 neared, it became apparent there would be no Aconcagua climb. One team member had changed jobs and couldn't get the time off. Life had gotten in the way. This was a relief to me. I still wasn't entirely sold on the idea. Instead, I had decided to climb Kilimanjaro in January of 2008.

Kilimanjaro would, by all accounts, be an easier climb than Denali had been or Aconcagua would be. Yet it would give me another trip into thin air to test what I thought I had learned on Denali. I summitted Kili on January 27, 2008, and came away invigorated to climb again.
Soon after that I started discussing the idea of climbing Aconcagua with my Brother in-law, Ty Hardt. We would make our attempt in January of 2009. It looked as though we might put together part of our Denali Team for the attempt on South America's high summit. But later that year a home sale/purchase forced Ty to scratch.

I decided to press on without Ty, booking a place on a Guided Expedition through the American Alpine Institute. I was a month into training for the climb when the collapse hit world economies. As a Financial Planner entrusted to watch over the investment interests of many Clients, I didn't feel right about being away. Still three months away from the scheduled January 2009 departure, I called to cancel. The people at the American Alpine Institute expressed their regrets and reminded me that my $500 deposit would not be returned. I asked if it could be applied as a credit toward some other climb with them. They said it could not. I took my appeal all the way to the company's owner, pointing out that I was not only a local climber residing in the same town as his company (give one up for the home team!), but a guy who planned to climb several more mountains (did you know that these companies get $30,000 a person for an attempt on Vinson Masiff?) and it might be a good idea from a business perspective to show some flexibility on this issue. There was nothing he would do for me. That $500 was his now. Later that year, after things had improved a bit with the economic outlook, I booked a place with a guided climb of Elbrus (see Elbrus Attempt 2009 blog). Instead of driving a few miles to the offices of the American Alpine Institute and securing my arrangements, I made a point of booking directly with their business partner Adventure Consultants in New Zealand. It was considerably more trouble, but my stilted sense of justice celebrated the favor returned.

Once a climber has wound himself up psychologically to take on a climb it is hard to back away. In February of 2009, before I decided to climb Elbrus, I sat nursing a Manhattan at the bar of Bellingham's Cliffhouse Restaurant. I had not gone to Argentina for all the right reasons, but it gnawed at me to not have Aconcagua somewhere in my future. I sent a text message to Ty in Alaska. It read "Are you down for Aconcagua in January 2010?" "Absolutely," he shot back. That was it. We didn't speak about it again until October.

This climb will be just the two of us. We plan to self-guide and have already made the necessary arrangements with Muleteers, Airlines, , etc. I look forward to climbing with Ty. He is a smart climber, a strong climber, a safe climber. I trust him.