As we were getting geared up, we could hear the howling wind smashing against the windows of the mountain shelter. The whole structure started trembling, and for a minute I considered getting back into my sleeping bag and forgetting the whole ordeal. “Let’s go out and face the music” Sensei said, “It´s time”.
We left t around 2:00am. As we exited the shelter the wind hit me right in the face, it was cold as hell and burned my face like fire. “Here we go”, I said to myself. The climb was painful, every step forward was followed by two steps backwards, the winds were shoving me from side to side, there were times we had to walk on very narrow ledges, and the thought of falling off the mountain was constantly on my mind. I drew my ice-axe out like a sword, digging it deep into the snow, looking for support, an anchor of some sort, “just put one foot in front of the other”, I though silently, but the truth of the matter was that gaining a foothold required so much strength and focus, my stomach was tied up like a knot, one step then another.
That night seventeen people took of f for the summit. The climbers were from all over the world, an expedition from Romania, another from Australia, a lone American Climber, Mexican teams and among us all was Yuri Contreras, one of Mexico´s top climbers who has battled the peaks of the Himalaya, including Everest on more the one occasion.
One by one the teams started turning back. It was not worth the risk, 60mph winds were just not safe, especially on the glaciered peak, the most exposed part of the climb. “Let´s go a little further, let´s face the elements”, Sensei said. So we kept going, I could only watch in silence as ALL the teams turned back, even the Everest veterans. At around 6:00am we reached the glacier, the final and most complicated part of the climb. “We´re going to turn around now”, Sensei ordered, “There is no way we are going to bag the summit this morning, the wind will simply blow us off the mountain, let´s return and fight another day”, with this indication for the our team leader we initiated the retreat. We reached the shelter around 8 am, we were the last team off the mountain. The wind had forced seventeen people to descend; no one would summit the day…
I had never faced such vicious winds before; it went right through me, burned my face and really tested my resolve. I am glad just to be back here, writing you all. On a positive note we really did put the Klymit gear to the test. We were really impressed by the Klymit Kinetic System, the base layer kept us dry, the Vest kept our cores warm and the Olympus Shell protected us against nature´s elements. The gear passed the test with flying colors, it´s the real deal.
We will be departing for South America tomorrow, everything is set and we hope the Aconcagua Expedition will be a success. My next transmission will be from Argentina. All is ready, the adventure begins…
Stay tuned…
