In January 2012 after leaving South Georgia by ship I will fly from the Falklands to Argentina to climb Aconcaqua. At 6958m the mountain is located in the central Andes near the border with Chile. It is one of the 7 summits and is the highest mountain in the western and southern hemispheres. I will be climbing the mountain as part of a 24 day High Altitude Guiding Course with International Mountain Leadership School.

 

As there are no porters we will be double carrying loads of 25kg (lighter than my winter pack here in South Georgia - thank goodness) up the mountain hopefully summiting on day 15. Load carrying days will be up to 8 hours and include 700m of ascent. High on the mountain temperatures can drop to -25. Summit day can last up to 12 hours and begins at 5:00am. We climb the North Ridge , traverse the West Face and climb into the Canaleta a couloir leading to the Guanaco ridge and traverse to the summit. All around are the Andes mountains several peaks just over 6500. To the west lies the Pacific Ocean and the east the plains of Argentina.

 

Above 5500m is considered to be Extreme Altitude above that is the Death Zone. What this means is that as we go higher up the mountain there is less oxygen for our bodies which is of course required to keep your body alive. Therefore there is plenty of time in the climbing schedule for acclimatization allowing our bodies to adapt to lower oxygen by making more red blood cells to carry more oxygen. However, no matter how much acclimatization the altitude will make things a lot harder.

 

In order to succeed in this challenge I started training when I arrived in South Georgia in October 2010. My regular training means I do 16 sessions of exercise a week - 5 morning runs or rowing sessions, 5 weights sessions and 6 long runs or load carrying sessions a week (this winter I have been skinning instead!). As a result I had to extend my ski boots to fit my calves which were weedy as befitting of a sailor! See pictures for my very white legs which haven't seen the sun in 12 months - 1st person to donate 50 quid I will remove the offensive picture :-)

 

The Ellen Macarthur Trust is a great charity set up by a friend of mine to take kids with Cancer Sailing. Check out their website at www.ellenmacarthurtrust.org

What will the money you donate do?

£20 covers the cost of one young person’s victuals for one trip

£50 will provide a UV-resistant T-shirt and cap to protect the young person from the sun

£500 allows us to take one young person sailing on a four-day trip