Huh? Acon-what???? What is it?
Cerro Aconcagua (9682 m or 22,841 feet) is the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere.
Located in the Andes, it is popular with mountaineers due to its ranking as one of the Seven Summits.
In the mid 1990's, I decided to embark on an adventure to celebrate a milestone birthday.
I’d recently discovered my passion for hiking and my love for alpine terrain. I loved and craved the physical efforts involved in getting to a summit and found it wonderfully cathartic. Being a single mother, at the time, I enjoyed any moment I could get to go to the mountains and recharge my emotional batteries. I loved meditating on a mountaintop, no matter the weather. I loved introducing my friends and family members to my newfound passion for the outdoors.
I decided to positively and purposefully
pursue passion.
How? I decided to climb the highest mountain in the Americas: Mt. Aconcagua, 22,841 ft, located in Argentina.
Why the highest? Why not? It didn’t matter to me that I’d only done mostly day hikes up till then. I had life by the balls and was going to dream big and make that dream happen.
I’d always been intrigued by mountaineers. I’d occasionally go to their post expedition slide shows and listen to their experiences thinking about how bizarre, how weird, how gutsy they were. How crazy, it seemed to me, to go from one mountain to the next, living in small tents, surviving extreme conditions and craving for more. I realized then, that their passion was a lot like mine…just on a bigger scale.
I realized that while I’d grown and changed as a person by life’s experiences up until then, I needed to experience a challenge greater than everyday life routines. I wanted to get outside of my comfort zone and challenge myself to something so big, so far-fetched that it would definitely be beyond my usual personal boundaries.
I dared myself to make this happen. I decided to risk adventure and learn from all of the experiences I could be exposed to throughout the journey. Totally uncertain of what may unfold, I accepted that my life would change with that decision.
I proceeded to making a plan of action to make my dream come true, knowing that each tentative baby step would bring me closer to making my dream come true. It took five years of planning, saving and preparing for the journey to the roof of the Americas.
The journey to get there was filled with lessons of success and failure, of doors mostly being opened and occasional doors being shut in my face. I hadn’t expected it to come easily, but was surprised with all of the wonderful things that happened along the way.
ANNE JEANNET
at Camp 3
19,500 ft.
Are you curious as to the outcome of this adventure? Hear about the thrills and terrors of mountaineering at 22,841 feet and see slides of the expedition by attending one of my motivational presentations. Let me show you how to tap into your potential and reach extraordinary goals that may initially seem unttainable by applying simple step by step approach to success.
In the meantime feel free to enjoy these poems which I wrote shortly before leaving and upon my return from this life-changing expedition:
"Journey to the roof of the Americas"
In addition, feel free to find out more about this incredible journey, our sponsors and our goals on our bilingual Aconcagua Dreamquest expedition webpage and selected online expedition photos. Thank you.