Aconcagua. A Mountain Travel group was successful in climbing the Polish Glacier route on Aconcagua (6960 meters, 22,834 feet). The summit was reached on February 9 by John Balut, Bruce Klepinger, leader, John Pratt, Mike Skreiner, Thomas Vaughan, and me, assistant leader. Other expedition members were Anthony Battelle, Henry Bergner Jr., and Norman Croucher. Croucher is a well known British climber who has made many ascents without legs; he lost both of them below the knee in a train accident. He was doing well on Aconcagua when one of his prosthetic legs broke. Getting about on one leg and forearm crutches, Norm cut up a duffel bag and made knee pads and a canvas skirt. Solo, he proceeded to crawl up a nearby peak of 17,000 feet. After several days he reached the top, slept up there and then slid down on his ingenious canvas padding

Peter Cummings