The Valley of Tears, where the tragedy of the Uruguayan plane occurred, has become a sanctuary at an altitude of 4,000 meters, in the Andes Mountains. The site generates devotion and fanaticism for the amazing story of survival, told in the Netflix film The Snow Society.
It was 51 years since the plane crash on October 13, 1972, and the anguishing 72 days, isolated from civilization, until the survivors Fernando Parrado and Roberto Canessa managed to cross the mountain range.
Since then, travelers from different countries have come on expeditions to Sosneado, Malargüe, in the south of Mendoza. Most of them cry, pray, and get emotional in front of the cross, the buried remains of some of the victims and the metal monolith that makes up the memorial, which is engraved with the names of the 29 dead.
Of the 45 people on the flight, only 16 survived. The obsession to know more details of the accident led some guides to explore the area and try to replicate the same escape route to Chile on foot.
Replicate the same path
Those who have tried the route of the rugby players of the Old Christians Club say that it was a real feat that surprises for the mental and physical strength that allowed them to survive.
With no equipment or knowledge of the mountains, Canessa and Parrado crossed the mountain range on foot for nine days. They climbed rocks, jumped over crevasses, descended ledges and buried themselves a meter in the snow to reach the Chilean valley, where they were found on the tenth day by the muleteer Sergio Catalán.
Many passenger artifacts and even pieces of the Uruguayan Air Force's Fairchild 571 aircraft are on display at the Museum of the Andes, which remembers the tragedy, in Montevideo, Uruguay.
They were pieces collected by the Armed Forces of Chile and Uruguay, in the forensic forensics after the discovery of the survivors. And other objects that were carried by survivors and relatives of the victims on subsequent expeditions are also on display.
A part of the fuselage was burned in the mountain range, after the rescue, and the remains of rusty iron can still be seen.
But the largest part of the fuselage of the Uruguayan Air Force's Fairchild F-227, which served as a refuge for the survivors for 72 days, could not be taken by the military and the expedition members who have arrived at the crash site. That structure gradually buried itself in the ice of the glacier, until it disappeared.
The Fairchild F-227 of the Uruguayan Air Force, in a 1972 photo. In half a century, it was buried in the ice until it disappeared. Photo: Archive
"In 1993, the survivors felt the need to return to the scene of the accident. When we arrived, we discovered that a part of the plane's fuselage was sticking out of the glacier. He let himself be seen that time, it was a sign and again he disappeared," Eduardo Strauch, one of the survivors, told Clarín.
The climber who knows best what has been left at the site of the plane crash is Ricardo Peña, a Mexican guide who is an expert in history.
Peña is one of the few who has managed to make the same route to the O'Higgins region in Chile. In his repeated ascents to the site of the tragedy, he has found several belongings of the Uruguayans and also of the aircraft, such as the propeller, parts of the landing gear and engine, and even a blazer with an intact wallet.
"The plane hit at an altitude of 4,300 meters above sea level, on the ridge of the mountain and went down a channel, through which avalanches descend, 800 meters below. That saved them because they had descended as if on a natural slide. At an altitude of 3,750 meters is where the survivors were left with part of the fuselage, they had lost the tail and wings of the plane," Peña details.
The Mexican guide has strengthened a friendship with Eduardo Strauch, who is the survivor who has been to the Valley of Tears the most times: he was there on 20 occasions.
Together, Peña and Strauch guide athletes and tourists with a passion for history, known as the Miracle of the Andes, to the site of the tragedy.
This is the place where the plane was buried under the ice today. Photo: Courtesy of Ricardo Peña
"I was a fan of history since I was a kid, I grew up in Mexico and I saw the film of the survivors of the Andes. I'm talking about a Mexican film, very bad, but it told such a powerful story, and it made a big impression on me. Then, I read the books Live and The Snow Society. And then, as a professional guide, once I went to the summit of Aconcagua, I decided to stay in Mendoza to go to the Valley of Tears, to get to know the place out of personal curiosity," says Peña.
The Blazer That Appeared 33 Years Later
On that first visit, in 2005 to the Valley of Tears, the Mexican guide found Eduardo Strauch's blazer. "Very high up, 4,200 meters high, near the place of impact with the mountain, I found the sack buried in the snow and he had his wallet with dollars and his passport," he said.
Peña toured the area in the company of Argentinian guide Mario Pérez, from San Rafael. "He took me to the cross and we decided to explore up the mountain from where they had been for the 72 days. Then we found the sack. It was very exciting," Peña recalls.
Eduardo Strauch, with the blazer he brought back 33 years later. Photo: Courtesy of Ricardo Peña
Strauch himself asked Peña to go back to the mountain to get his blazer. And years later, on the third attempt, he was able to do it because the snow and ice were an impediment to access.
"Since then, Eduardo and I have gone almost every year. And we bring people from all over the world who are curious about history," explains the Mexican.
The guide highlights how impressive and transformative the expedition to the site of the tragedy is: "It inspires a lot of people who have problems in life, who feel that this story helps them deal with them. They feel that if the survivors were able to get through all of that, I can deal with my problems too."
And he describes that, when he arrives at the place, seeing the plane parts, the cross, the graves of the deceased, and listening to Eduardo tell details of the days of survival, is a very powerful experience. "It hits those who go. But in a very positive way. We've taken more than 200 people to that place," Peña says.
The historic image of the rescue of the Uruguayan rugby players who survived in the Andes.
Strauch reveals that among the people he has taken to Malargüe he was struck by the story of a girl who had been the victim of a gang rape and who was able to heal her pain after learning about the adversities experienced by the young people who survived the tragedy of the Andes.
The Mexican guide is one of the privileged few who has experienced the intimacy and fraternity of the group of survivors, based on his fascination with the history and site of the tragedy.
Peña recounts: "I was invited to share the meeting on December 22 (the date on which they were saved), the 40th anniversary of the accident, in 2012. It was something very special, a great honor. I had the opportunity to take a picture with Nando and Roberto. Which is one of my most treasured photos and it's on my wall. I have another photo with Eduardo, at the wedding of his daughter, who also invited me. I have very fond memories of the survivors."
What's Left at the Scene of the Accident
Peña and Pérez's expedition to Chile was published in National Geographic Adventure Magazine in March 2006.
Guide Ricardo Peña, a scholar of the Miracle of the Andes.
At the site of the accident, the expedition members found--and it still remains at the site--a landing gear with two wheels; part of the seats, an armrest, the seat covers with which they covered themselves, some clothing, such as trousers, rugby socks and shirts.
The support where the Collins antenna used to go, which allowed him to get information when picking up signals from Chilean radios, has also remained.
Up the mountain, where the impact was, some pieces of the fuselage, the front landing gear, part of the windows, and the propeller remained, near the edge of the mountain where the plane hit.
Why They Survived
The Mexican guide says that being a close-knit group was key to survival. "They had a lot in common, the same roots, a good heart, they wanted to help each other, and they came together to save each other. To this day they are family, they love each other like brothers," Peña says.
He clarifies that not all of them were members of the rugby team (only 19 of the 40 passengers, and there were also 5 crew members), but there were ties of friendship and belonging to the same religious school among all of them.
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They created the snow society, they had to come together, they had to coordinate, they had to work together. They were young, they were strong, they were in good physical condition," Peña describes.
And he highlights an aspect of personality: "The survivors, such as Eduardo Strauch, Fito Strauch, Roberto Canessa and Nando Parrado, are people with mental strength, very realistic, who accepted reality as it was, did their best under the circumstances. At first they had a lot of faith that they were going to be rescued and that they would get out soon, but the reality was very cruel, no one was coming to save them, and they had to hold on to reality and get out on their own," he says.
United. The survivors today formed almost a family.
With his experience in the mountains, Peña adds to his analysis that the Uruguayan survivors had a share of luck. "There were critical moments, but good luck. The fact that the plane hit a hillside and slid down the glacier 800 meters like a sled is what allowed the blow to be cushioned," he observes.
On the escape route, the Mexican guide says that Nando and Roberto were lucky to have good sunny days, no storm, no wind to be able to move forward because otherwise they would have frozen.
What it was like filming at the scene of the tragedy
The filmmaker from Mendoza, Alejandro Fadel, participated in the film and was in charge of recording the images in the Valley of Tears. In the film, his brother Ezequiel Fadel also participates, who without being a professional actor was selected to play the Chilean muleteer, who ends up saving their lives.
The director Juan Antonio Bayona had seen Fadel's films, due to his friendship with a Spanish film critic, and suggested that it be the Mendoza native who made the images of the backgrounds.
They stayed 15 days in the middle of the mountain range. "Together with a team of mountaineers and filmmakers, we had to record all the light and configuration of the valley in winter. It was the first time that a camp was set up for so many days, to record all the hours of daylight, the faces of the hill," explains Fadel.
"We didn't have snow, as we wanted, so we went back to the valley the following winter, during 2021. It was an amazing experience to be able to be at the same site of the accident, on the same date where it happened and to experience a big snowstorm on the same day as the anniversary of the accident," he describes.
On how the place has changed, the filmmaker comments: "The glacier was bigger when, 51 years ago, the tragedy happened. Now you can't see the fuselage."
Canessa, after being found by the Chilean muleteer. Photo: Archive
He insists that it is difficult to understand how they spent 72 days, without technical equipment or experience in the mountains, enduring the cold in a desolate place. And how Parrado and Canessa managed to make the route to Chile.
The Argentinian filmmaker who worked for three months on the Netflix film describes that, unlike the Disney film, Viven, which is more focused on the characters of Parrado and Canessa, "The Snow Society is deeper and tries to narrate the experience of each of the survivors."
On a technical level, Fadel explains why the film achieves a very immersive issue, "it makes you feel like you're there with the characters, it's more of a sensory film than a narrative one." And he reveals that Bayona has material to make 10 films, because many more scenes were recorded, with the ambition of telling everything that happened.
Mendoza. Correspondent
ACE