La Routa de las polacos
At nearly 23,000 feet high, Aconcagua is the highest peak in the Western Hemisphere, actually the highest peak outside of Asia, but by most measures and approaches is an unaesthetic slagheap. There are two options for real adventure on Aconcagua though, the treacherous South Face with its infamously loose rock and complex route finding, and the Polish Glacier forming the southwest aspect to the massive mountain with it’s beautiful hanging glacier overlooking the Vacas Valley. We wisely chose the later and with a break in the weather, which mitigated for some bad decision-making on our part, we were able to successfully summit Aconcogua and enjoy the very aesthetic summit day climb from our final camp at 20,000 feet. This success led us to the rather cheeky conclusion that we were now ready for the Himalaya.
La Routa de las Polacos is now used by international guides as a shakedown for Everest, the biggest and most insane adventure concession in the world. As a result, every summer at Plaza Argentinas the basecamp is jammed with hundreds of tents, over-ambitious climbers, a hamburger stand and even a cigarette and beer vendor. When my small team of four made our climb in 1989 we were entirely alone for the better part of a month. Something happens to the way you perceive reality when you are denied access to the artificial world of human culture – when rock and wind and sun are your only companions. The natural world soon reveals itself as animate and alive, acting with intention, volition and purpose. To survive and flourish in that revealed world is just about the most exhilarating thing I have ever experienced. This would never happen on a mountain choked with wealthy, trophy hunting tourists paying for the right to claim a status they could never earn without a grossly disproportionate leveraging of privilege and wealth.
