The body of a Slovak mountaineer was rescued this Sunday morning in the surroundings of Mount Aconcagua, the highest in America, and one of the most important tourist attractions in the Argentine province of Mendoza.
The 39-year-old man had gone out alone this Saturday to summit the mountain and his remains were found a day later, when rescuers were alerted that he had not returned to his base camp.
He is the fifth person to die this season while climbing the 6,962-meter Andean mountain nicknamed the roof of America.
Between November and March, the warm months of the Southern Hemisphere, thousands of tourists visit Aconcagua Provincial Park, in western Argentina, which is home to the highest mountain in the world outside of Asia at the southern end of the Andes mountain range.
Up to 2,000 people choose to climb it every year, and the price of park access and permits can cost a foreign tourist up to $1,500.
There are still no official figures on the amount of income for this season, but it was a complicated one: in October, local authorities stated that they had sold about 860 promotions – almost half of the total registration for the 2022-2023 season – but by December only 40 expeditions had reached the summit.
There were more rescues.
According to Marcos Páez, head of the Mendoza Police Rescue Patrol in Aconcagua, his team has already carried out 48 operations so far this season.
According to officer Páez, the most common accidents occur due to lack of physical preparation, lack of acclimatization to the altitude, dehydration or the prevailing cold on an excursion of up to 76 kilometers that can take about two weeks at a time. average of 15 degrees below zero.
The man who died this week, according to what local media have reconstructed, had arrived at one of the last camps before the summit, the Nido de Cóndores camp, at 5,350 meters above sea level, and disappeared after leaving on Saturday in the tomorrow alone.
The rescue team found him early Sunday morning in an area called La Canaleta, at 6,700 meters, on one of the rock and ice roads that reach the top of the mountain.
The climber had managed to reach the summit, but could not make the way back, as Páez reported to the TN news channel.
“He could not get down, probably due to fatigue, and he stayed to rest and ended up dying at the scene,” the head of the Mountain Assistance Rescue Patrol of the Mendoza Police stated this Monday.
The man is the mountain's fifth victim this season.
On December 30, a 30-year-old American tourist died after decompensating on the way back and could not be revived by the guides who took him to the summit.
On January 3, a 30-year-old Russian mountain climber died in the Plaza de las Mulas camp, where he is preparing his ascent to the mountain.
On January 25, a 56-year-old Romanian woman died after fainting at the summit, and five days later, another woman, a 49-year-old American, suffered a heart attack while descending from Aconcagua Peak.
This season's deaths have already surpassed the previous one, which saw three deaths in February 2023.
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