Berg

Hear Wally's Call from Aconcagua

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We got up at about 1:15am, got up early and Sal told me right off that due to a sore throat and not feeling very well in general, he was not going to climb today. Sal wanted the rest of us to go up, so Al Hanna, Mike and myself started out about 3:30. Beautiful, full-moon morning — you can't imagine how pretty it was as we climbed together out of Camp II. Al was working on a schedule [Unintelligible] a steady pace, without stopping much and pretty early in the morning, he asked me and Mike to work on that, and to get this Seven Summits business out of the way for me. So after this 'One Mountain at a Time' business, I have, in fact, taken care of that, and I've had the privilege, thanks to Al and the support of many others over the years, to be sitting up here on my seventh summit — I finally got Aconcagua, and I'm really pleased to be up here by myself.

I have a feeling there are going to be a lot more people here today. It's basically a beautiful day. As you might be able to tell, I'm hunkered down to keep the Iridium phone out of the wind. But after the full moon gave way to a sunrise, I enjoyed climbing through a beautiful, clear day, so I think you'll see a lot of people scaling Aconcagua today.

Al and Mike are probably still coming up, so I'm going to go down and give them some encouragement, and we'll make the best of the rest of this day. From the top of South America, from [Unintelligible] ...I have to say I thought it was going to be, 23,000ft. virtually, the highest peak outside of Central Asia, a very proud and satisfied Wally Berg giving you this report. I'm going back down to join my companions, and as the rest of this expedition continues, we'll continue to have you stay, and keep you updated.

—Alpine Ascents Guide Wally Berg, MountainZone.com Correspondent

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