Aconcagua

In mountains as high as the Aconcagua, the usual difficulties are accompanied by other, rarer ones, caused by the weather, such as low temperatures and the wind. Such suffering makes it impossible for any human being to reach the summit. If luck is not on your side when you climb the Aconcagua, you will never achieve your goal.
Paul Güssfeldt

Born in Berlin in 1840, Paul Güssfeldt was a scientist and an experienced explorer of Africa and Arabia. In 1882 he travels to South America to explore the Central Andes. In 1883, he ascends Volcán Maipú (5,100m) and on the first days of February of that very year, he goes on an expedition to the Aconcagua. Güssfeldt had almost no information about the mountain, which meant he had to do it all. He almost had to find it. Preparations started in Chile with the help of a group of guasos, Chilean muleteers, among whom was Jilberte Zalazar, who would later accompany Güssfeldt until the end of his summit attempt.

He decided to approach the summit up the northern mountain-side, which he thought was free from ice and snow, due to its exposure to sunlight.

Güssfeldt started his journey on February 14th, 1883, and wrote: “The gear was packed on mules at Vicuña farmhouse and then taken to Ramos farmhouse, from where the journey started in the early morning of the 15th. The expedition included Rafael Zalazar, five guasos, 15 animals and me.” Then, they followed Río Putaendo route, the very same used by San Martín in the opposite direction 67 years before.

Over ten days of hard trekking started on the Putaendo riverside to reach Valle Hermoso. Then, they travelled south along Volcán valley, which he called Penitente. Río del Volcán was the name actually given to it by the people who, from the north-west, first saw massif Aconcagua, with its pyramid-like shape and fumarole on its summit: a visual effect caused by whirls of snow forming up the southern wall. Güssfeldt followed this route up to 3,600m, the limit to vegetation and the place where they based their camp, 16 km away from and in line with the Aconcagua.

Here is his first challenge: to sort out the wall which divides Valle Volcán and the Aconcagua.

After several unsuccessful attempts, Güssfeldt is afraid he might have lost his way, but he finally finds the track at 5,000m.

On February 20th, Güssfeldt tries the newly discovered path, reaching it with horses and, from there, he starts a journey along the glacier which will later be named after him. He reaches Nido de Cóndores and continues his ascent. His style is really amazing: carrying no tents, no camping gear and very little food, he attempts a non-stop ascent, together with Jilberte Salazar and Vicente Pereira, the latter deserting at approximately 6,200m.

Güssfeldt and Zalazar go ahead for another 300m, but then decide to climb back down, since they are exhausted and it started snowing heavily. The journey from and back to the base camp took as many as 31 hours.

This is Güssfeldt`s description of the last stages of his attempt:
“At 12:30, we reached 6,500m at the foot of a white rock, in the middle of grey and brown rubble. From there, the stones of the summit could be seen among warm shades of red. The rest of the world was at our feet. Through the snow, the route was easily seen past a reddish rock and turning right toward a narrow gorge which seemed to present few difficulties, some 250m or 300m above us. I doubted we could make it there before dusk. Between 1: and 2:p.m. the sky became clouded and there was a hailstorm. We feared something worse. We even thought about spending the night outdoors. No blankets, no oil and badly fed. Jilberte agreed to stay with me, but the storm made our conversation come to an end and forced us to make a decision: to have a sure death up there or to try to escape it climbing down. We immediately started our journey back. He makes a new attempt on the first days of March, but must come back again at an altitude of 6,000m, due to bad weather. Thus, his expedition comes to an end and he returns to Vicuña farmhouse on March 11, 1883.

Güssfeldt’s personal equipment: silk and wooden shirts, two pairs of underpants, two pairs of woolen socks (up to his knees), a pair of pants, leg warmers, a woolen, knitted jacket, a vest closed at the neck, a short jacket of a strong material, two pairs of wooden cuffs, woolen gloves and a bandana.