Cerro Aconcagua

Using state-of-the-art GPS technology and scientific software, students of the Vienna University of Technology were able to determine the exact height of the Aconcagua in 2005 and thus obtained the above-mentioned value. Due to its location on the continental margin, the height of the Aconcagua is subject to fluctuations. Strong tectonic movements can make it grow or shrink.

The Aconcague was successfully climed in 1898 by Matthias Zurbriggen and his Swiss expedition team. However, they should not be the only ones trying on the Aconcagua. Today, the routes leading up to the summit are almost uncountable.

Every year thousands of mountaineers make their pilgrimage to Argentina to climb the top of the Andes, but only a small part of them actually reaches the desired destination. Even though the "normal route" over the north-west ridge is described as "easy", the strict climate at Aconcagua should not be underestimated. Due to accidents or bad preparation, between one and two people die each year attempting to climb the Aconcagua. They find their final resting place in the "cemetery of the Andinists", which was once created at the foot of the mountain and has now become a kind of pilgrimage site for the mountaineers.

How the Aconcagua got its name, could not be clarified to this day. It is possibly derived from the Indian word "Aconca-Hue". So the Chilean Indians called the "Aconcagua River", which rises at the foot of the mountain. The other theory is based on the Native American word "Ackon Cahuak", which in Quecha, the Inca language, means "guardian of stone".