Full Senderismo
ACONCAGUA
At 22,837 ft. (6,960m)
Mt. Aconcagua
(pronounced: ah-cone-kah-gwah) is the tallest mountain in the Americas
and the tallest outside of the Himalaya/Karakoram in Central Asia. Mt.
Aconcagua is the second highest of the “Seven Summits” (the tallest
mountain on each continent) and stands only behind Mt Everest.
Groups normally take 10-15 days to reach the summit from the
trail-head which sits at just over 8,000 ft. (2438m) above sea level.
HOKA pro runner and
Chaski Founder,
Tyler Andrews, will attempt to make the round-trip journey in just 11 hours to
break one of the most competitive records in the extreme sport of
mountain running.
The current record - 11 hours 52 minutes - was set by the world’s best
speed-climber, Swiss-Ecuadorian
Karl Egloff, who holds records on Kilimanjaro, Denali, Mt. Elbrus, and, as of
this writing, currently pursuing the record for Mt. Everest. Before
him, the record belonged to Spanish trail-runner
Kilian Jornet, often cited as the greatest Mountain/Ultra/Trail runner of all
time. The route that any record-setter must complete covers
approximately 45 miles (72 km) with almost 15,000 ft (4,800m) of
climbing and descent.
The Mt. Aconcagua attempt will mark the end of Tyler’s year-long
“Los 10” project
to set 10 mountain speed-records in the Andes of South America, which
began with his record on the 2nd tallest mountain in the Americas,
Ojos del Salado
(22,614 ft. 6,893m), back in February, 2021.
Follow along here for updates from Ty and his team as they prepare for
the record and make a bid at history in late January, 2022.