The climbing season on the highest mountain outside the Himalayas has just begun and the first death has already occurred. American climber, shop Michel Miniesll died during his descent.
The 39 year-old climber had attempted the summit twice and on his third attempt was returning via the Polish Glacier, there normally a technical route. He is reported to have become lost in a snowstorm. Already this season nine climbers have been evacuated for various physical reasons.
Aconcagua is located in Argentina near the border with Chile. It is the highest mountain in South America at 22, 841′ and one of the 7 Summits. It is not part of the Andes Mountain range but on an adjacent range thus stands out prominently above the surrounding peaks. It is notorious for extreme weather especially harsh temperatures and extreme winds. Even though Aconcagua is considered an “easy’ high altitude climb and a precursor to Everest; every year there are rescues, frostbite and worse.
Five climbers died in January, 2009 alone: 2 were caught in a storm at 22,000′, another died from a fall while descending solo on the Polish Glacier, the third of a heart attack near the summit (however an eyewitness reports a hard fall where the victim hit his head so it may not have been a heart attack)and finally a solo climber died from a fall at 16,200′. In 2000 four climbers died on the Polish Direct when one climber fell taking the others down with him to their deaths.
