Wow, what a day! This one was several years in the making, as I've really been thinking about it since before my Ojos del Salado FKT in early 2020. So inspired by my idols Karl Egloff and Kilian Jornet and so grateful to be able to push myself on this route on this mountain. It capped off an incredible expedition with Rachel Boim (who set the women's Plaza de Mulas ascent record), Brian Reynolds (my friend and double-amputee athlete who bagged his second of the 7 Summits), and my long-time friend and climbing partner Scott Penfield, who got his first Aconcagua summit, after crewing me on the mountain last year as well.
Huge thanks to Scott and Rachel for their 6100m aid station where I changed from running into mountaineering mode. I was able to go from the start to 6100m (above Colera) in just the HOKA Mafate Speed shoe and then from 6100m to the summit in the HOKA Toa hiking boot w/ a CAMP semi-tech crampon, then back down in trail shoes with microspikes all the way to Mulas thanks to a lot of fresh/falling snow. Other gear: Black Diamond Carbon Z poles, Petzl Glacier LiteRide ice ax, Ultraspire Bryce XT pack. Fueling was Gu gels and stroop waffles, maurten drink mix, and some oreos and caffeinated gum. Full disclosure: I had financial support and free products from HOKA, Ultraspire, and Gu. Everything else, I bought.
Longer writeup to come!
Splits:
Where / Split / Total
Conflu 0:44:48 0:44:48
Big Rock 1:11:48 1:56:36
Mulas 0:59:32 2:56:08
Start steep (inc. break) 0:05:41 3:01:49
Canada 0:45:03 3:46:52
Nido 0:40:01 4:26:53
Colera 0:34:01 5:00:54
Break Spot 0:06:24 5:07:18
Break 0:13:30 5:20:48
Independencia 0:38:58 5:59:46
Cueva 0:42:44 6:42:30
Summit 0:38:44 7:21:14
Break 0:03:23 7:24:37
Cueva 0:16:43 7:41:20
Independencia 0:17 7:58:20
Colera 0:14:52 8:13:12
Break 0:07:23 8:20:35
Nido 0:09:06 8:29:41
Canada 0:09:33 8:39:14
Bottom steep 0:10:27 8:49:41
Break 0:01:28 8:51:09
Mulas 0:00:51 8:52:00
Big Rock 0:44:28 9:36:28
Break - rocks in shoes 0:03:04 9:39:32
Conflu 1:06:50 10:46:22
Fin 0:38:11 11:24:33
Comments
Bravo Tyler!