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Fernando: Yes, you may put my e-mails on your web site. And thank you for asking. I have had two instances where guys writing guide books for this part of the Andes asked me for information, posing as climbers themselves. In each case, I supplied them with 3-4 page Word documents, loaded with information. Both of these guys used that information in their books, without even asking my permission. Ed Darack (Wild Winds) was NOT one of them. They were both from South America. I won't tell you their names, because I don't carry a grudge, just disappointment. A couple of other matters. The picture from Bonete looking north. One more item. As I mentioned before, the peak in the distance just to the left of the Pissis summit is Tres Cruces. The peak farther to the left is Puntiagudo. Be sure to take a good map out there. You don't want to get disoriented. Another little item about Greg Horne. On that particular trip, I had negotiated with Magellan Inc., a GPS technology firm here in the US, for the loan of GPS equipment so we could measure the height of Pissis. They gave us two GPS units, including a base receiver. This receiver, they told us, we could use to link up with their station in Santiago when we were on the summit. It wasn't a heavy unit, about 3 pounds. Still, that is a lot of extra weight at altitude. The Santiago unit was supposed to receive transmission from our summit unit and triangulate with a sattelite so that an ultra fine measurement of the summit could be obtained. The trick was, though, to coordinate the link up between our unit on the summit and the Santiago mother unit. Greg and I were confident before we left that we could be reasonably certain when we would gain the Pissis summit. So, we passed that date and time (we had a 2 hour window)on to Magellan, who passed it on to Santiago. Well, as I mentioned before, we cancelled out of Pissis and went on to Tres Cruces. Thus, we missed the date with Santiago. And there was no way out there to contact Magellan. But, after our Tres Cruces climb, as I said, I left for the States and Greg and friend stayed in Copiapo to prep for Pissis/Bonete. I left him with the Magellan equipment. Before I left, we called Magellan, and we gave them the approximate dates that Greg would summit both peaks. Well, Greg lugged that receiver up Pissis, but got to the summit before the transmission time agreed upon with Santiago. But, he carried it over to Bonete and hit that summit on time. The transmission went through and caught it at 6757 - 6759 meters. And do you know what? He carried the receiver all the way out with him, although he almost died along the way. What a guy! It really bothers me that he never told the story in full. But he is a very unassuming guy to begin with. As for the top peaks, here is the height list I have put together over the years. These come from maps (not Argentine since they are totally unreliable), research with people like Johan Reinhardt, world satellite map experts, and the data published over the years from international expeditions charged specifically with determining the height of a particular peak (like Ad Carter's internationally chartered expedition in the '60's to determine the height of Ojos del Salado). None of these heights are from individual climbers with hand held GPS's. They don't count.
The heights of these peaks have nothing to do with the Country from which the peaks are accessed. The heights are solely due to accurate measurement of the summits by scientific measurement. By the way, Greg is still active, but not in the Andes. He called me a couple of years ago asking if I would accompany him to Everest with two friends of his. I had to decline. The last thing I want is to join a conga line of climbers, with sherpas dragging climbers to the summit, camps of climbers as large as small cities, readily available rescue services, all your gear carried for you, etc. Where is the adventure in that? Where is the pitting of man against nature and against himself? That is why the remote parts of the Andes kept drawing me back again and again. There is nothing like the thrill I felt when my driver dropped me off at a base camp site, alone and responsible totally for my own survival. Now, that is living life to the fullest. Kind regards and all the best. Bob |