After a very enjoyable trekking trip to Kilimanjaro - also lead by Eric Sneyd - in January 2004, I was hoping for more of the same but on a grander scale, as our team headed towards Gatwick and the first of 4 flights towards Mendoza, Argentina. Eric had put together a 12 strong team with a wide range of mountaineering experience. It included several people who had never been to altitude, so our target Aconcagua at 6962m the highest mountain outside of the Himalaya, was an ambitious one.

Nearly 24 hours later 11 knackered Matelots and 1 Royal Marine were very grateful to arrive at the salubrious hotel that was our base whilst in Mendoza. On our arrival we were introduced to Eduardo our Head Guide for the 2 weeks on the mountain. He was, I’m sure, an instant hit with the female members of our team: with a charming smile and Latin good looks, I couldn’t help wondering where all the good looking female mountaineering guides work? We had 2 days in Mendoza for rest and last minute admin, and after Eduardo’s check of our kit, most also took the opportunity for some last minute purchases at bargain prices. After 2 days of shopping however the alpine mountaineering mantra of “Move fast, travel light” was very much forgotten, as 24 very full rucksacks were loaded onto the vans. Still we had mules for the load carries; what did it matter if we had so much kit most of it was strapped to the roof? Well it mattered a great deal minutes later, when the heavens opened for a torrential thunder storm!

We had one overnight stop at a hostel in Penitentes (2580m) - where Iain Russell drew the short straw (or was it the long one?) and got the spare bunk in the girls room - and then the day had finally come for the off. Kit had dried nicely in the sun and had been divvied up for the mules to take to base camp, and the intermediary camp Confluencia. A short while up the road and our first view of Aconcagua the “Stone Sentinel” hove into view. The awesome north face was breath taking, and the perfect backdrop for our first team photo. By now everyone was chomping at the bit to get started, it had been 4 days since we left home and the reason we were here was finally in front of us.

At the park gate the sight of a casualty being treated after a helicopter evacuation was very sobering. Although technically just a trekking route, going to nearly 7000m was new territory for all of us, and everyone returning safely hopefully having had a great experience along the way was what this trip was all about. Confluencia (3400m) was reached relatively easily - albeit with some headaches - it was a large semi-permanent camp and our cooking and mess tents formed a big part of it. In our geodesic home we relaxed and started tucking into the food that awaited us. After olives, salami, cheese, biscuits and cake, those that were hoping this would be good way to lose some Christmas pounds soon realised that any activity at altitude needed every available calorie. Personally I just used the “high altitude” line as a thinly veiled excuse to be the greedy git I always wanted to be!

Most sore heads were much improved by a night’s rest and our day was to be used to acclimatise, we had our first casualty however; Pete Hollyfield was feeling very ill and needed to be within dashing distance of the toilet. Trekking past the Horcones Glacier to around 4000m we stopped for lunch and the best view yet of the North face.

Everyone knew that this day was going to be tough, we were to make the 16km leg to base camp in one day, gaining nearly 1000m of height. An enjoyable day out in Scotland, but at 4000m and with most people still a bit behind the curve in acclimatisation it was to prove to be the hardest day of the whole trip for many. Pete, despite advice to rest from the guides and Anna Proctor (the team Doc, who was feeling pretty rough herself!), made an incredible effort and rejoined the group.

The day was a true endurance test with almost everyone having to dig deep to keep going, except Iain who did a good Energiser Bunny impression and was soon lost in the distance. Our morale was briefly improved when Iain was seen having to double back after taking the wrong path, but after this set back the next time we saw him was as we stumbled into base camp after 8 gruelling hours. Before we could collapse however we had to be shown how to put up the tents, I wondered if the guides realised how close they had come to being vomited on by a dozen people.

A rest day followed, lazing around till the tents became too hot to sleep in; most people then felt a little better. Base camp was a permanent tented village, with showers, phones, Internet, and even a bar! About a 20 minute walk away - across what passed for a bridge in those parts - was what purports to be the highest hotel in the world. More of a hostel really, the isolated building offered showers at $10 a time, and most of the team exchanged the cash for 5 minutes of bliss! After a burger and coke/beer we headed back feeling like new people. That night things improved still further for the men in the team as Eduardo introduced his delightful girlfriend Tatiana. The next day was due to be our load carry to Camp I (4900m). So what had become a nightly ritual of blood O2 saturation checks seemed particularly important as we knew a low reading could mean we’d have to stay in base camp. We were all aware that a warm finger gave a higher reading on the Oxymeter, the only question then was where best to put it for warming up!

After breakfast and with the frost melting fast in the morning sun, food was shared into 5kg loads. Was it me or did some 5kgs feel lots lighter than others? Some opted to try their plastic boots for the first time, and the combination of loads, boots, altitude and steep ground combined to make the 3 hours to Camp I seem much longer. The huge scree runs made the descent more enjoyable, and by mid afternoon we are back in base camp.

Another rest day followed the load carry. The packing of rucksacks was a lot more carefully considered this time. I decided I would tear the first half off my book off, and it was finally time to dish out the 1kg bar of chocolate I had stashed on the flight out. I don’t recall ever being that popular with women before!

Then we were off! Our summit bid had started, 3 camps lay between us and Aconcagua. The weather was bright but a cold wind was just a taste of what waited above. Beki Nellist and Charlie Briggs made the difficult decision to stay behind, Charlie found the load carry took too much out of her, and Beki had sprained an ankle days before making walking in plastics too difficult. Slowly we ascended and at the half way mark (Conway Rock) the weather, which had been consistently poor in the afternoon came in. We were all relieved therefore to see that the porters had put our tents up for us, collapsing into them even the smallest task became a real effort. Our 3 guides, Eduardo, Mauricio, and Bernardo, were amazing and acted as doctors, morale officers, and cooks all rolled into one. The poor weather kept us pinned in our tents and Bernardo brought scran round to us all. An awful night followed, wind battered tents, headaches, nausea and sleep apnoea (an unpleasant condition where the suffer stops breathing briefly whilst asleep), combined to sap energy even further.

The weather had eased slightly and it had stopped snowing, so after a slow breakfast we prepared to move up again. We lost 3 more of the team at this point; Ellen Shepherd, Betch Betjemenn and John Greene were all unwell and had to go down. It was especially emotional for Ellen who made a fantastic effort to reach Camp I. The leg from Camp I to Camp II (5400m) was again very difficult, no one was properly acclimatised to this altitude and it was simply the promise of a rest day at Camp II that made us push ourselves that far. Many false summits later, we reached the camp. Morale was not improved by having to put our own tents up but this was done in the nick of time as once again the weather sent us scuttling inside. We learnt later that the gale force winds that screamed across the mountain were some of the worst for that time of year in a decade.

For the next 3 nights we were pinned there with no chance of climbing higher, yet reluctant to bail out and go down. All I can say to anyone who has not been stuck in a 2 man tent with 2 other people for 3 nights is choose your tent mates well! Pete, Rob and I really saw only each other for those few days but knew the other 4 would be suffering the same discomforts as us. The few occasions anyone ventured from the tent were usually accompanied by one of the numbered poo bags supplied from the park officials! The weather forecasts from base camp were not encouraging, and on day two Sarah, feeling unwell descended with a porter, leaving a space in Eric’s tent. I lost the game of paper-scissors-stone and was evicted to join Eric. It wasn’t Eric’s company that made me reluctant, but with so little energy it took a whole afternoon to move the kit 2 metres across into his tent.

The 3rd day at camp II dawned and it was decision time. The forecast was still poor, other groups had lost several tents at Camp II, and some people were evacuating Camp III (6000m). Eric took advice from the guides who by then thought our chances of summiting were poor, given the weather and the fact that 4 nights in very poor conditions was bound to have left us all very tired. A quick dash round the 2 other tents and the general consensus was that if we were not going up then another night here was too much. The decision was made, and with mixed feelings of disappointment and relief we began to up poles. Fortunately the weather had improved enough to enable us to break camp and I’m sure I was not the only one to wonder if we were heading in the right direction, but as we reached base camp the decision was vindicated as the heaviest snow yet began falling.

On the final day we awoke to several inches of snow at base camp, even those who worked there season after season were taking photos, such was the rarity of the conditions. Base camp to the road head was going to be a marathon day, but all down hill. The mountain now looked very white and much more impressive, but our focus had shifted elsewhere. With the whole team back together, talk was of the soft beds, good meals, and flushing toilets only a few hours away.

Having not summited it would have been easy to view the whole expedition as a failure. I didn’t however, for two reasons; Firstly as Eduardo had pointed out, and as we had seen ourselves, many people see the summit as their ultimate goal and give everything they have to reach it, often descending in a terrible state, being carried or dragged needing the assistance of others and medical attention. Our ultimate goal was returning to base camp safely and uninjured, with everyone achieving this under their own steam. Secondly as someone once said; “It is not where you climb, but who you climb with that is important.” I travelled to a fascinating country where everyone I met was very friendly, but most importantly those that I travelled with were all great team mates, and I would happily join any of them again for another adventure.