LOCALadk Magazine
Issue link: https://localadkmagazine.uberflip.com/i/1133887
62 Summer 2019 LOCALadk Magazine LOCALadk Our adventure as a team of seven began in the Atlanta air- port on Valentine's Day. Our mission: Aconcagua. At 22,841 feet, Aconcagua is the highest mountain in South America, making it one of the Seven Summits. In the past twenty years the quest for the Seven Summits, climbing the highest moun- tain on each continent, has gained popularity. The number of climbers attempting Aconcagua has increased to about four thousand a year. Roughly 30 percent reach the summit. Many expert mountaineers do not consider Aconcagua to be a technical mountain. Most of the time, your mountaineering boots are walking upon loose rock, though, the mountain is not to be underestimated, and the majority of climbers are turned around because of complications with the altitude and extreme winds. Tim Hor vath, 48, our team leader, had been to the summit three times. His high mountain experience was impressive, with successful summits on Everest, Denali, and Kanchen- junga, the world's third highest peak. He was the youngest American to ascend it. Over the past few months, Tim had connected our group via emails regarding logistics, gear, and food. Now we were putting names with faces. Paul Tirrell and Jason were the first to arrive in Atlanta, and were sitting comfortably at an airport pub with beer and plates of food while the rest of us staggered in. Recently retired from prac- ticing medicine, Paul, 64, jumped up, introduced himself, and pulled me aside for an updated medical histor y. A wander- lust millennial with a reddish mop of hair and scruff y beard, Jason, 26, resided in Bend, Oregon, and was the only team member from the West Coast. Spence, 27, and Justin, 46, both had militar y backgrounds and hit it off quickly, laughing and joking while maintaining rigid body posture. Our young- est team member, Henr y Hor vath —Tim's thirteen-year-old son—was excited to be going on a high altitude expedition, and his climbing resume (which included the Grand Tetons, the John Muir Trail, and Mount Whitney) fit right in with our pack of mountain-loving adventurers.