A new victim claimed Mount Aconcagua (6,969 meters above sea level) in the Andes mountain range, in Mendoza.
The
climber of Slovak origin Peter Knapo
, 39, died while descending from the summit of the highest mountain in America.
It happened late on Saturday in the La Canaleta area, 6,730 meters above sea level.
The Ministry of Security of Mendoza confirmed this Sunday the death of the European climber who, on a solitary expedition, something unusual,
had decided to undertake the path without the company
of a guide and other climbers.
"The Slovak climber went out on Saturday, February 17, to the summit of Cerro Aconcagua, alone, and until after midnight he had not returned to the Nido de Cóndores camp where he had his tent," detailed the report from the police rescue patrol.
Immediately, in the middle of the night, a rescue team of police and park rangers began searching for him.
First they spoke with a group of Chilean mountain climbers who had also gone to the summit to find out if they had crossed it.
The Chilean climbers said that they crossed the climber for the last time when they saw him descending through the area known as
"guanaco edge"
, at 6,900 meters high.
The Rescue Patrol left at 3 in the morning in search of the climber.
In the Canaleta area they found him dead.
The climber's body was lying on the rocks
and ice with no vital signs.
When the rescue patrol personnel reached the body and confirmed the death, they requested instructions from fiscal office 15 by satellite phone.
Prosecutor Maturano ordered that criminal investigations be carried out prior to the removal of the body, to determine if the death was a fall or some pathology related to excessive effort and lack of oxygen at altitude.
With the participation of four climbers, the transfer of the body to the base camp began.
In the next few hours he will arrive in the city of Mendoza to perform an autopsy at the forensic medical team and determine the cause of death.
A critical season
The Slovakian Knapo
is the fifth victim of the season
that started in November 2023 and ends in March 2024.
Reaching the top this season represented a real challenge.
The highest summit in America is facing one of the most difficult climate contingencies in recent decades.
A combination of extreme cold (temperatures of up to 30 degrees below zero), winds of 80 kilometers per hour and melting glaciers, which have formed lagoons, forced some routes to the summit to be closed.
The previous death occurred on January 30.
The American doctor Skeete Kshamata, 49, suffered a heart attack at 6,060 meters above sea level, while descending from the summit, in the Piedras Blancas area.
On January 25, a Romanian mountaineer, Mihaela Gabi Ianosi, 56, died.
The athlete died after fainting after reaching the summit of Mount Aconcagua.
The other two victims of the season were also foreigners.
On December 30, Raúl Alexander Tartera, a 30-year-old American mountaineer, died.
And on January 3, the Russian Minaev Andrei, 33, died, who was found dead inside his tent in Plaza de Mulas.