Two Climbers Die After Storm On Aconcagua
January 12, 2009
A climber and his guide have both been killed while taking part in a recent climbing expedition on Aconcagua. Aconcagua is South America’s highest peak and represents one of the famed 7 summits. An Italian climber and his Argentine guide both perished after becoming trapped just below the summit of Aconcagua on January 9th. Three other climbers were successfully rescued. In total, six climbers became trapped near the summit of Aconcagua on Wednesday. Two died, three were rescued, and the sixth was able to successfully descend before the storm hit this past Friday. No names have been released pending family notification. To read more on this incident, I recommend you stopping by this article at the New York Times.
This week has been a tough one on the climbing community. News broke yesterday that famed British adventurer Rob Gauntlett died while climbing with a partner in the French Alps. Gauntlett was famous for summiting Mt. Everest at 19 years old, becoming the youngest Britain to ever do so. Let’s keep all four of these climbers, and their family and friends, in our thoughts and prayers.
Aconcagua, while being one of the famed seven summits, is thought to be a pretty safe climbing experience. It is a very rare occurance to hear about a death on that peak, but we all know that sometimes tragedy comes with risk. I am quite surprised to see this article picked up by the New York Times and Associated Press. Unless it is Everest or K2, climbing deaths are rarely reported from the major news sources. If I get more details, I will certainly post an update.
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Written by Jason A. Hendricks · Filed Under climbing accidents |
[...] death, once confirmed, will be the fifth death this month on South America’s highest peak. I reported on January 12th, that two climbers had been caught in a storm and died. Those two were an Argentine guide and an [...]