Aconcagua: expedition under way

The Epic Challenge continues as I’ve arrived in Mendoza Argentina to start my climb of South America’s highest peak. Cerro Aconcagua is the highest mountain outside of Asia at 6,962 m (22,841 feet), which also makes it the 2nd highest of the Seven Summits (Highest mountains on each of the seven continents, second only to Everest). It is also the highest peak in both the Western and Southern Hemispheres.

Aconcagua aerial view.

Aconcagua, which means “The Stone Sentinel” in Aymara and “The White Sentinel” in Quechua belongs to the Andes mountain range and is located in Argentina, about 112 Km (70 miles) from the city of Mendoza and just 15 km (9 miles) from the border with Chile.

Another very little known fact, Aconcagua is the 2nd highest peak in the world by prominence, only Everest ranks higher. The prominence of a peak is the minimum height of climb to the summit on any route from a higher peak, or from sea level if there is no higher peak. The lowest point on that route is the col.

Cerro Aconcagua.

It’s very windy and raining here in Mendoza. I’m now waiting for my bags to show up and they didn’t make it on my last flight connection. They’re supposedly on the next flight from Santiago later this afternoon.

After over 20 hours of flying, today’s plan is to relax at the hotel for a few hours and then head out for a nice steak dinner and some Malbec wine. Mendoza is known to produce the world’s best and largest volume of Malbec wine.

Let’s just hope for some good weather over the next few weeks as I’m climbing this mountain very early in the season.