Mt. Aconcagua holds all sorts of records, though most norteamericanos don’t know the peak exists. At 22,841 feet, it is not only the loftiest spot in either of the two Americas, but the highest mountain in the world outside of the Himalayas.
Photo Credit: himalman.wordpress.com
It’s also known as “The Highest Hike in the World,” though not by the route we’re taking. If one takes the highly-trafficked Normal Route, it is possible to climb from base to summit without ever setting foot on ice or snow.
Our party will follow what is known as the Polish Glacier Route, named for the four Polish mountaineers who pioneered it in 1934. It is a longer, lonelier and more scenic path. In the last 3,000 feet we will pull out our crampons and ice axes to scale the Polish Glacier, on a slope of about 30 to 35 degrees. (No bottled oxygen is needed to climb Aconcagua.)
Well before, from 9,000 to 11,000 feet, we will wend our way through semi-arid forest. Above that point, we enter an alpine desert where not a thing grows – no trees, no bushes, not a tuft of grass. Just the glaciers rising above and, if the reports are true, an unending wind.
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