The blog is back! I have just had a day of pontificating, deliberating, and just wishing that I had my next challenge mapped out. For some time now I have been contemplating where I would go next, and it was always really going to be Denali or Aconcagua. Why those? Well, they are both members of The Seven Summits, both are higher than I have ever climbed before, and both are achievable, if requiring of a lot of very hard work if I want them enough. And the long and short of it is, I do want them, and want them both.

Then today I was just contemplating what I should do next, and I came across a great picture of Aconcagua on the net. I thus posted a link to it (from Wikipedia I think), onto my Facebook page, which said something like “Aconcagua, it just has to be done”. Within a few minutes a post came in as a reply from one of my oldest friends Steven Cooper, which said simply “always wanted to do that, time and money never added up – do it man!”. So what could I do, apart from go to find a booking site, and get on with it! I am impulsive after all you know! And to Steven, I thank you, you pushed me into realising that I so wanted to do it, and so that is exactly what I am going to (try to) do.

So to cut a long story short, after a few trawls I was booked!

So briefly here are some facts:

Aconcagua is the tallest mountain in the Southern and Western Hemispheres, the second tallest of the Seven Summits, and at a whisker under 7,000m and 23,000 feet, the tallest mountain outside of Asia. It is in the Andes, in the Mendoza province of Argentina, and close to the border with Chile. I will regardless of outcome be attaining so many firsts on this trip, and I can’t wait already. It is going to be a very exciting year, and the prospect of getting to (a gnat’s breath under) 7,000m is dreamy stuff indeed.

I go in December.

Bring it on!