Aconcagua, a 6,960-meter challenge for Cuban alpinist Yandy Núñez

December 14, 2019

The Cuban mountaineer Yandy Núñez Martínez is preparing to depart for Argentina to attempt to conquer the summit of Aconcagua, another imposing challenge following his spectacular climbs of Mount Elbrus (5,642 meters) and Pico de Orizaba (5,636), the highest peaks in Europe and Mexico, respectively.

Núñez Martínez will undertake the ascent of the highest point in Latin America (6,960) together with Mexicans Ricardo Calderón, Alfonso Segundo and Pablo Frich, mountaineers from the state of Michoacán, with whom he will form an expedition without guides.

"We're going on our own means, without hiring a special service. Everything is organized by us. We're going to spend an average of 14 days on the mountain at great altitude where we have to handle everything ourselves, logistics and food are fundamental since we cook the food and transport it ourselves to all the high altitude camps," the climber tells OnCuba.

Yandy and his Mexican colleagues will only request a material portage service at the entrance of Aconcagua National Park up to the Base Camp of the mountain, located in the main Andes mountain range, specifically in the Argentine province of Mendoza.

At first glance, the Cuban's umpteenth adventure sounds like one of the most demanding of his mountaineering career, although he assures he is in good shape to achieve the objective.

"I have had and sought good and rigorous preparation. Before leaving Iceland, I was swimming a lot, doing exercises and climbing a small mountain I have there, Mount Esja. It's nothing very high, but it always helps with training," notes Yandy, whose real fine-tuning has been developed in Mexico.

In the Aztec nation, in addition to conquering the summit of Pico de Orizaba, he also carried out training sessions on Iztaccihuatl, a mountain in the shape of a woman that he climbed on a couple of occasions.

"One time we went all the way to the Cien refuge, at 4,720 meters. On that occasion I wasn't seeking to reach the summit, just to train, and the other time we did reach the highest point, at 5,230 meters. This mountain, for me, is much more demanding, longer and harder than Orizaba, I felt this ascent much more," Núñez Martínez recounted.

According to his own words, he will not be the first Caribbean islander to climb Aconcagua. "I have knowledge that, so far, only one Cuban is registered as having reached the summit," he points out.

Although the Aconcagua challenge does not allow for distractions of any kind, Yandy Núñez sees this test as an opportunity to gain ground toward his hardest objective: reaching the summit of Everest.

"At the top of the world I am going to plant our Cuban flag. The flag of all Cubans."