Aconcagua Argentina. Alfredo Magnani and Luis A. Parra. Ediciones Dhaulagiri, Mendoza, Argentina, 1981. 84 pages, diagrams, maps. Spanish text. $18.00.

It is fortunate that this, the first guidebook of Aconcagua, was prepared by the two persons who are best acquainted with the mountain. Magnani is so far the youngest person to have ascended to its 6960-meter-high summit (at 16, in 1949) and Parra is the present mountaineering adviser, residing at Puente del Inca, for all expeditions to the peak. Both authors have been in the Himalaya and both are related to a wide number of mountaineering activities within their Argentinian homeland.

A guide like this was necessary to put an end to the erratic and at times nonsensical information about Aconcagua that has been appearing in books and newspapers, particularly since extensive trekking began. It is a complete guidebook, with sections covering briefly but with all the necessary details history, geology, glaciology and the natural life of the mountain, plus others dealing with equipment, supplies, transportation, medicine, huts and routes. This last part is complemented by eight illustrations. So far, there exist five routes on Aconcagua: the normal (NW, 1896), the Polish (NE, 1934), the Argentinian-Swiss (SW ridge, 1953), the French (S face, 1954) and the Argentinian (E face, 1978). The South face has yielded three variants, two in 1966 and Messner’s in 1974. Omitted in this survey was Mason’s 1965 variant to the normal route, which avoids a good part of the scree slopes on the Northwest side and climbs some gullys to connect with the normal route at about 19,000 feet. All the information given here is of great use, particularly that in Section XIV, dealing with the puna or high altitude sickness, which is certainly unusual in central Argentina and on Aconcagua. There dryness combines with the heavily mineralized composition of the ground, which absorbs more oxygen and therefore makes air even more rarefied. Not inappropriately, this book closes with an “In Memoriam” section, listing the thirty-eight persons (five Americans) who have so far perished on Aconcagua’s endless slopes. One can only hope that this guidebook may someday be translated into other languages as well.

Evelio Echevarria