Milestone 5 Details
Milestone 5. Rarefied: The Summit Ascent
This is it: you have reached Nido, and are now within reach of Aconagua’s summit at 22,841ft! The summit is a very hard and slow 4,603 ft of ascent above Nido de Condores. Not many climbers attempt to summit from Nido (most choose to move up one more camp first in order to shorten their summit push by a few hours) but it is possible — so what are you waiting for? Let’s do this!
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EXTRA INFO ON MILESTONE #5
The final summit push on Aconcagua is often the hardest physical challenge of an Aconcagua first-timer’s life up until that point. Many say that it is harder than an Ironman and harder even than a 100 mile ultra marathon. For those daring few who choose (or are forced to) attempt a summit from Nido de Condores / Camp II, summit day typically starts between 2 and 3am. Climbers ascend the mountain by headlamp, passing through Camp III while it is still dark. As you climb above Camp III, the terrain gets steeper and steeper while the air gets thinner and thinner. The closer to the summit you get, the harder it gets to make upward progress. Most expedition climbers need ten+ hours to cover the 3 miles from Nido to the summit. After a short moment of elation and summit celebrations, the arduous descent then beings.
*Sunny's story about the Summit: At this point I have summited Aconcagua 5 times, and turned around close to the summit a few more times. Getting to the summit is amazing - but it is also only the halfway point. A safe and successful descent is even more important than getting to the top, and that’s the reason that I have turned around near the summit more than once. You have to be very reflected about your physical and mental limits, as well as honest about the conditions that you are facing, in order to make safe decisions in the mountains and make it home safely. After all, a summit is just that: a summit. What matters at the end of the day is coming home safe and sound.
