Personal Narrative: My Trip To Mount Aconcagua

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In my early twenties I heard a friend who had climbed Mount Aconcagua say that, from the summit, if there are not clouds, you could see the sunset over the Pacific Ocean. I was very impressed and I promised myself I would go to Aconcagua some day; and I kept that “picture” of the sunset over the Pacific Ocean imprinted on my mind.

Several years went by, life went on: university, work, girlfriends, marriage, mortgage, children…but my dream was always still there, waiting for the time when it would come true.

Finally, thirty years later, in 2010, I planned my expedition to Mount Aconcagua. As you can probably guess, my only aim was to reach the summit, whatever the cost. Professional climbers call it “Summit Fever”.

I met my expedition group at Mendoza city and we started our adventure. On the first day, we reached the first camp at Confluencia (11,150 feet above sea level).

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Finally, after four days and 60 miles of walking and climbing with a huge rucksack on our backs, we arrived at base camp Plaza de Mulas (14,230 feet above sea level).

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I was exhausted, bearing the effects of low oxygen levels and extremely low humidity, with temperatures way below zero degrees Celsius. I was having a really hard time, but I continued suffering from “Summit Fever”.

The idea was to stay at Plaza de Mulas for three or four days to get used to the lack of oxygen, walking around several trails and climbing some glaciers.

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Plaza de Mulas was like a parallel world, with its own rules, codes and inhabitants, including a community of climbers from all over the world, all telling amazing stories about remote mountains and a bunch of other

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