- Summit Day -

Journal:

"January 24, 2000 - Day 13 - Summit Attempt - I do not sleep well, anticipating the "go" call.  At midnight the night is calm and cold, I hear Keith and Bruce step outside to check the weather, then I hear them fire up the stoves, which tells me it's a "go". - though they won't wake people for another 2 hours - which makes me more antsy.
    At 2am the wakeup call comes and we throw our packs together.  The stoves were heating water for a final warm drink and to top off our water containers to prevent them from freezing.
    At 3:15am we throw on our crampons and start to walk along the rock to the ice field that starts our journey.  Dave has a few problems with his crampons along the way - and I am relieved that it is not me holding up the group.  We start across the icefield and Dave has to deal with his crampons again - Bruce is obviously frustrated, though Dave couldn't see it.  A few minutes later Dave is complaining of illness - he decides to turn back,  This really brought down the morale of the team, we had been 100% together all the way to Camp 2, to lose someone on summit day was a blow - and a warning to the rest of us on how our bodies might go downhill sending us back to the tents as well.  Since we were close enough to camp, Dave went back on his own and the rest of us moved on.
    We finished crossing the first icefield and started hiking diagonally upward across a scree field to the next icefield.  During the second icefield I started feeling a bit tired - we had been hiking over an hour and had not taken a break.  As we started crossing the next rock field I started falling a bit behind, but not too far.  When we came to the third icefield my predicament was exacerbated, we had not been on the trail and we are likely 200 vertical feet below it.  While Bruce and Keith looked for the trail, Simon, Pat, Pumps, and I started ascending the ice field.  Now I did not have a headlamp (the bulb had burned out) which was already making me slower because I had to count on moonlight (thank goodness it was nearly a full moon), but the vertical ascent and my tired legs were just killing me.
    Bruce finally found the trail and the others had started traversing the icefield to it.  I had not yet made it to the traverse point.  Noticing my lagging, Bruce told Keith to take the others on and he gave me a choice: I could head back now, or I could travel with him to see what height we could reach (which according to Bruce would probably not be the summit).  I chose option 2, and I was going to make the summit.
    I didn't fully understand Bruce's pressure for a faster pace - we were ahead of other groups and the weather was good - perhaps it was because he dresses for a certain pace and gets cold going slower - I on the other hand was dressed very warmly and could rest without fear of freezing immediately.  In any case, we crossed the last icefield and climbed some rocks for a while.  We had caught up with the others and Simon was having some problems with cold hands and feet.  Bruce worked with Simon while I continued hiking along the rocks, passing Pat, Pumps, and Keith who were waiting for Simon.  Bruce told Keith to take those three onward while he worked with Simon and they eventually caught up with me and passed me.
    The sun was starting to rise as we reached the end of the rock passage and entered the "falso" - the connecting trail between the Polish Route (which we were on) and the Normal Route (which we would use to head to the summit).
    There were two tents where we emerged from the rocks at the base of a tall hill full of switchbacks.  Bruce and Simon decided to catch up and continue their warming exercises by the tents while the rest of us continued up the switchbacks.  At first I was always only one switchback behind the others, but as the hill grew steeper I grew slower and lost sight of them.  Bruce and Simon caught up with me and Bruce had us take a separate trail from the one I had been following - in truth, I couldn't see a trail, only rocks, but along the way I did see some markers so it was a trail - albeit harder seeming that the trail I had been on.
    After struggling for a while we reached the top of the switchbacks, and Independencia, a small A-frame shack.  Just above was another hill of switchback and I could see Keith, Pumps, and Pat working their way  up, not very far ahead.  Bruce, Simon, and I took a short break and Bruce encouraged Simon to push ahead and join the others since they were more likely to reach the summit - talk about lack of motivation for me.
    Bruce and I finished our break and started up the switchbacks.  At the top was a fantastic view, straight ahead and to the right the mountain fell away at a fairly steep angle for 1000s of feet, to the left going upward was the ridge that topped the drop-off and part-way up that ridge was a trail that traversed along the face of the drop-off - our trail.  The wind came at us hard from the open air of the drop-off and you had to fight to stay upright.  200 yards ahead on the traverse, at the only place where there is a protective rock on the outside of the trail, were Keith, Simon, Pat, and Pumps huddled together hiding from the wind.  Bruce and I followed the traverse over to them, walking sideways so that tour packs took the brunt of the wind.  When we reached them Bruce told them to press on wile I pulled out my balaclava (face mask) for more protection from the wind.  As I was about to pull it over my head, another pair of climbers came by and the lead of the two encouraged me to remove the 1/2" icicle that had formed on my nose - I was no numb I hadn't even felt it.  I flicked it off and pulled my balaclava on.  In doing so an exhale wetted my left lens of my glasses which immediately froze into a solid sheet of ice - I could not even wipe it off.
    Bruce and I set off again and at first I kept my glasses n, then the lack of depth perception forced me to take them off - fortunately there was little snow so the lack of glasses was only dangerous with direct sunlight.  Bruce and I finished the traverse which put us at the base of the Candeletta.
    The Candeletta is a 1200' steep hill of rock and scree, an obstacle that alone would be intimidating but was made much worse since we had already ascended 2400' over the prior 10 hours.  Working my way up it was atrocious, trying to find footholds that did not slide as weight was applied.  It was very slow going and Bruce was getting frustrated with me - though I could see the others not too far above, and we were still ahead of the other groups.
    After an hour of climbing we were only halfway up.  Simon had been having some problems and we caught up with him.  Bruce had us both take off our packs, since we shouldn't need them now, and he put our water in his pack.  Bruce dislodged a boulder about 2-feet across that nearly smashed me.
    We hiked slowly upwards some more until Simon said he had to turn back, he just couldn't make it - another loss.  Bruce, frustrated with my speed told me that I had 30 minutes more, wherever I was at that time would be my summit - which based upon my pace would be several hundred feet shy of the true summit.
    I just kept hiking and hiking, slipping and recovering as I went.  I kept no track of time but simply desired to keep moving.  Eventually I had to stop and rest, a good 150 vertical feet shy of the summit.  Bruce told me to wait 5 minutes while he went to check on the others - I knew that plan if the others were cold or not feeling well (common on a summit) they would start coming down and pick me up along the way.  I gave myself 1 minute of rest then continued on.  It was slow and painful, heel-to-toe, heel-to-toe all the way.  I looked up and saw Pat looking down, then he went away, then Bruce appeared at the summit ridge and yelled "Come on Johnny." Next Pumps appeared and yelled the same.  I couldn't go faster, but I could keep going, and eventually, after crossing some more sow, I rounded a rock bend and stepped upon the summit.
    The summit was slightly slanted but fairly large (about 100'in diameter).  There were several other groups present, including the 3 climbers (Greg and 2 Swedes)  who had survived the night and summited the same afternoon.
    I just sat on a rock, smiling and listening but not wanting to move.  Eventually I did stand up to take a good look at the distant peaks and the steep wall of Aconcagua's south face, and to take a picture with Pumps by the cross placed on the summit to mark the peak.  A few more pictures with the whole group and we were ready to go down - it was 3:30pm.
    Bruce had questioned me a number of times on the way up about whether or not  had the energy to get back down.  Each time I assured him I did and now I demonstrated it, moving in the same methodical manner, not fast, but continuous, with sufficient speed provided by the downhill assistance.  i felt pretty good, only feeling the muscles when forced to react quickly due to a slide or slip.
    We moved reasonably quickly back to the bags we had left below, and where Simon had decided to wait.  Keith and Simon paired up and moved ahead faster to take Simon down while Bruce, Pat, Pumps, and I paced our descent.
    We were ahead of most groups, which was great on the ascent but now dangerous on the decent.  The many groups above us dislodged scree and rocks that came shooting downhill at us.  At one point, when we were on the traverse at the base of the Candeletta moving across its base, we looked up just in time to see a boulder slightly larger than a bowling ball come shooting down at us - splitting through the gap between Pat and Pumps.  It clearly would have broken a bone, or even killed one of us if it had hit one of us directly.  We moved as quickly as possible across the traverse to avoid and further falling rock encounters.
    We finished the traverse fairly quickly, and the switchbacks as well, then took a break at Independencia.
    The rest of the descent moved even faster.  We took nearly straight downhill paths instead of the switchbacks at the Falso, scurried across the rocks, and, after placing crampons back on, worked our way across the icefields.
    At around 7pm, 16 hours after we started the ascent, we arrived back at Camp 2.  I felt pretty good hiking all the way in, but as soon as I stopped and sat down, a wave of tiredness swept over me and showed me how little energy I had left.  Keith tried to feed me some masked potatoes, but after a warm drink I was in my tent and fast asleep."

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