Image ©FernandaMaciel – The North Face, Red Bull, Compressport

Fernanda Maciel (The North Face, Red Bull, Compressport) reached the summit of Aconcagua – ascent and descent time of Aconcagua, Argentina (6962m) in 14 hours, 20 minutes.

Following in the footsteps of Kilian Jornet (here) and Karl Egloff (here), Fernanda has gone on to say:

I left the Base Camp at 5am to the summit. The dawn plenty of stars and moon was inspiring me, the mountain was all white because it had snowed a lot the day before my intent. I felt motivated and grateful to have such a beautiful night on the mountain. When I reached 5,500m (Nido de Condores) my toes were frozen, I had to stop and warm up them for a few minutes on the fire of a jetboil. Then I kept strong with good feelings towards the summit, but I was very slow in each sections because there was too much snow. Impossible to run or walk fast because I had to open tracks until the ascent. The Travesia (6.200m) was a long section having snow covering my knee. One of my crampons’s broken there. When I arrived in Canaleta (6.700m) the sky was dark, the snow storm started and I could not see anything ahead. I went up with difficulty but lucky to have good feelings in so high altitud. After 9h50min I reached the summit (around 3pm) and I felt like a bird, exhausted but with wings to fly free. A sensation of being in a vacuum, without tears, without smiles, just observing my breath and my passion for the mountains from my heart. I loved being there with a calm soul. I’ve been in Aconcagua summit with a blue sky before, but now everything was White. – Fernanda Maciel

I caught up with Fernanda yesterday, Sunday 8th Feb just as she returned back to her hotel to recover. You can hear the interview HERE and in the next episode of Talk Ultra.

Fernanda Maciel ©iancorless.com

Listen directly below: