Facts About Cerro Aconcagua
- Cerro Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the Americas at 6,962 m (22,841 ft), and the highest mountain outside Asia.
- It is located in the Andes mountain range, in the Argentine province of Mendoza.
- Aconcagua is bounded by the Valle de las Vacas to the north and east and the Valle de los Horcones Inferior to the West and South.
- Aconcagua is one of the Seven Summits.
- Cerro Aconcagua generates its own weather. Between late Nov and late Feb there is a wide range of temperatures, from warm days to freezing nights; snow and winds (some strong) is the usual on Aconcagua. The humidity is extremely low.
- Aconcagua is pronounced as ɑːkəŋˈkɑːɡwə in English and akoŋˈkaɣwa in Spanish.
- Mount Aconcagua is some 160 kilometers from the Pacific Ocean (which it is possible to be seen from the summit in sunny days). Humid winds blowing from the sea generate most of the bad weather of Aconcagua.
- Cerro Aconcagua is the highest point in the Andes, the world's longest mountain range.
- The origin of the name is contested, it is either from the Arauca Aconca-Hue, which refers to the Aconcagua River and means 'comes from the other side', the Quechua Ackon Cahuak, meaning 'Sentinel of Stone', or Quechua Anco Cahuac, 'White Sentinel'.
- Cerro Aconcagua is not a volcano.
- The first known ascent of Aconcagua was during an expedition led by Edward Fitz Gerald in the summer of 1897.
- The first female ascent was by Adrienne Bance from France on March 7, 1940 with members of the Andinist Club of Mendoza.
- In March, 2008, Francois Bon made a speed-flying descent of Aconcagua's 9,000-foot-high South Face in 4 minutes and 50 seconds.
- Over 135 climbers have died on Cerro Aconcagua, most by complications of altitude sickness as well as by falls, heart attacks, and hypothermia.
