Summiting Aconcagua!
O.C.O are incredibly proud to be supporting The Last Ride Project as they aim to climb and ski down the highest mountain on each of the 7 continents of the globe and we are delighted to announce that they have been successful in reaching the summit and skiing a portion of their 4th mountain. They reached 6961M on Aconcagua, the highest point in South America.
The original dream of skiing the Polish Glacier was not possible with the poor condition of ice and the narrow weather window forecast.
Ed Salisbury tells us “Our over-riding memory of the mountain will be the winds nearly constantly in excess of 100kph. The 10th allowed an approximately 14 hour window to climb, ski and descend the mountain but was unfortunately 2 days ahead of our preferred date to allow appropriate acclimatisation to the near 7000m altitude. There would be no other date appropriate and the decision was made to commit and climb the normal route to the summit.”
Team member Brian would return from 6100m with High-Altitude Pulminary Edema and an O2 saturation of 37%, nearly twice as low as we have ever seen a pulse oximeter result. He would descend to Base Camp at 4200m and make a full recovery.
Ed and Will continued to the summit as Jon helped Brian descend. They would summit at 3pm in the afternoon and ski a small portion of the summit ridge. During descent and upon reaching 6900m Ed developed High Altitude Cerebral Edema and would loose most of his coordination and ability to talk. We were successful in administering dexamethasone and descending quickly with Ed on a short rope. Reaching camp before nightfall enduring another night of 100kph winds. We descended to Base Camp the following day with Ed no longer showing any signs of the condition.
Ed said “In short the most challenging mountain to date has been a success. We are very proud of the footage we have logged and have learned a lot. Perhaps we flew a little close to the edge with acclimatisation but the team adapted to the dangerous situation and ensured everyone returned from the mountain without sustaining any harm.
Thanks again for helping us to achieve our dream’s. 4/7 we are more than halfway there.”
