Next mountain: Aconcagua!
Having successfully summitted two mountains in her 7 Summits quest, Deshun's focus is now on Aconcagua, S America's highest peak. Situated in the Mendoza region of Argentina, and at 6962m above sea level, "Ac" is the 2nd highest of the 7 Summits.
Its position, general terrain and weather all combine to make conditions extremely uncomfortable and difficult with he average day being very windy, very dusty and very cold. Not at all a pretty mountain, Ac is an enormous lump of stone, gravel, scree, some snow and ice and is well known for the treacherous storms that appear suddenly and send climbers scrambling for safety.
In 2002 Deshun was part of a team which was forced to turn back just 500 vertical metres from the summit. The wind was so strong that the climbers couldn't stay upright and couldn't see where they were going. With wind chill the temperature was around -15 to -20oC so it was extremely fortunate that the whole team got back down safely. With visas and money running out they were forced to return to South Africa without having another go to reach the summit.
