Lorca climber Manuel Paco manages to reach America’s highest peak as part of the first Spanish expedition to reach it in the last two years
For months, the carabiners, ropes, harnesses, rope bags and climbing shoes that were kept at home have been looked at. Lorca’s Manuel Paco (Zarzadilla de Totana, 50 years old) climbed the walls, more precisely, because of the interruption due to the pandemic, which left athletes confined at home.
In his case, he made a trip to Tanzania in September last year to try to climb the highest peak of the African continent, Mount Kilimanjaro (5,895 meters), especially to test his physical and mental state after so many months of inactivity. for two years without the possibility of making expeditions to this African mountain,” says Paco, who already had the opportunity last January in Murcia to go one step further and join a group with the goal of Aconcagua, in what would become one of the first Spanish expeditions to America’s highest mountain since the start of the pandemic.
His African escapade served Manuel Paco to verify that he was prepared to brave one of the highest peaks in the world, Aconcagua (6,962 meters), the highest mountain in the Americas and the highest on Earth after that of the Himalayan system.
He prepared thoroughly in the Sagra and Sierra Nevada. In the middle of the month, the moment of truth arrived and Manuel Paco traveled to Mendoza (Argentina) as a member of an expedition completed by Miguel Ángel Arellano, from Castrobol (Valladolid); Rodrigo Zapatero, from Cisneros (Palencia); Enric Deckler (hospital); Aida Herrera, from Tucumán (Argentina); Carlos Martín (Bilbao) and Toni López, from La Garriga (Barcelona).
“After many Covid checks, before and after traveling to Mendoza, we took advantage of the short time we had to stock up on food for the high altitude camps. On January 12, we left for a two-day hike to Plaza de Mulas base camp (4,300 meters) to settle in and from there to start with everything involved in climbing a mountain as impressive as Aconcagua,” explains the mountaineer from Murcia.
Rested and well fed at base camp, it was time to work on altitude acclimatization, which these climbers achieved by climbing Cerro Bonete (5,030 meters) and returning to base camp. “The next day we faced the first slopes and carried equipment to Camp 1 [Nido de Cóndores, a 5.550 metros] and we leave a deposit with the tents and food,” he says.
In these two days of ascents above 5,000 meters “Toni López began to suffer from hypoxia [escasez de oxígeno], problems caused by altitude. He suffered two major relapses and after a visit to base camp medical services he had to be evacuated by helicopter to a hospital in Mendoza. After a few days he recovered and was discharged,” says Paco.
With one less, Manuel Paco and the rest of the expedition discovered another problem. In this case due to bad weather. “The reports predicted winds of more than 100 kilometers at the summit. Between day 15 and day 23, no expedition could attempt the ascent due to heavy snowfall and strong winds,” he says.
After several days of carrying equipment and food, and already in base camp 2 [6.000 metros], fortunes changed for the expedition members. The weather reports predicted a period of good weather at the summit for January 25, with wind speeds between 20 and 60 km/h.
“It was our only chance to try the summit, the days we had were running out and we had to try, yes or yes.” At 6,000 meters, and with everything ready for the final rush, the alarm light went on again. Another mountaineer, Carlos Martín, threw in the towel due to stomach problems that weakened him.
In the early morning of the 25th, at 6,000 meters, «we woke up in our tents at 2:30 am, we started melting snow, drinking hot soup and filling thermos flasks. Two hours later we started the climb to the top, with a thermal feeling of -30 degrees, wind speeds of 40 k/h and a temperature that according to our thermometers was around -15 and -20 degrees,” says Manuel Paco, who adds: “After 8 hours we managed to get to the top of Aconcagua. Thus I was able to carry out a personal project that I had long dreamed of, in addition to being part of the first Spanish expedition to reach the highest point of the American continent in the last two years.
Returning to Murcia and recovering from the effort, Manuel Paco is currently participating in an international orienteering event to be held this weekend in Zarzadilla de Totana.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
