When I'm in a mountainous area I want to climb all peaks close by. I arrive on a summit and see a new interesting target. I go there, climb it and see yet another one and so on. It's nice in many ways, but sometimes it leaves me with the feeling that I don't get anywhere and I miss out on other interesting areas because I never get there.
In 2005 I climbed the four highest peaks in Los Andes, plus half a dozen other quite high summits. The year after I summited four more of the highest in the range.
Nadine, my climbing mate on the summit of Aconcagua.
I had a look at the list of the peaks over 6000 meters in Los Andes. I then realized I had climbed nine of the highest mountains in South America. I had a look at the top 25. They were spread all over the continent and were of various difficulty and appearance. Some difficult, some easy, some snow climbs, some on rock. To climb all of them you had to visit almost all the sub-ranges of Los Andes.
A plan started to take shape.
It would be a very interesting mission to climb them all! If I went for it I had to visit the five most mountainous countries on the continent. I would see a lot of interesting places along the way and I would not "get stuck" in one place too long as I had a long term plan to follow.
Normally I don't like tick lists, but this one had other dimensions and it wasn't for the reason to tick off a list and collect trophies I would do it. It was basically a very interesting way to get from point A to point B and at the same time get the best of what the world's longest range has to offer.
A fall storm approaching on the Puna.
Normally I don't like tick lists, but this one had other dimensions and it wasn't for the reason to tick off a list and collect trophies I would do it. It was basically a very interesting way to get from point A to point B and at the same time get the best of what the world's longest range has to offer.
Mercedario massif: Looking down from Paso Ancho.
In early 2005 I summited:
- 1. Aconcagua - 6959
- 4. Bonete Chico - 6893
- 3. Pissis + Pissis East - 6795
- 12. Incahuasi - 6621
- 2. Ojos del Salado ("Argentinian summit") - 6893
Highlight: The long walks in eerie desolation on The Puna are very found memories.
In the 2005/2006 season I summited:
- 25. Ramada - 6384
- 8. Mercedario - 6700
- 16. El Muerto - 6488
- 9. Cazadero - 6658
Highlight: The adventure of climbing Mercedario and Ramada. Quite dramatic at times.
"When the climbing is the easy part".
"When the climbing is the easy part".
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