A round of congratulations are in order for aspiring Seven Summitter Nicki Branch who, according to her latest dispatch has reached the summit of Aconcagua, and is now safe back in high camp.
Aconcagua is Nicki’s second of the Seven Summits. She topped out on Kili a month ago. With the tallest peaks on Africa and South America checked off, she now sets her sites on Elbrus, Denali, Kosciuszko, and Vinson this year, wrapping it all up on Everest next Spring.
I got a chuckle out of the dispatch as well, as it was noted that there was a dog with one of the summit teams on Aconcagua, and the dog actually made a successful summit as well. 🙂
Kraig is an outdoor and adventure travel writer based in Nashville, TN. Over the course of his career, he has contributed to numerous online and print outlets, including Popular Mechanics, Gear Junkie, Outside Online, National Geographic, Digital Trends, Business Insider, TripSavvy, about.com, and of course The Adventure Blog.
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Yes, dogs frequently summit Aconcagua!
I believe I have some footage of a dog that made the summit with our team in 2005. If I can find it, I’ll post it on YouTube for you and your readers.
Jon
http://www.therestofeverest.com
That’s really cool! I didn’t realize it was so common to take your dog to the summit. If mine were to come along, he’d have to carry his own pack! 😉
Actually, they may be “stray” dogs. It’s very possible that they”re just following up climbers who have been generous enough to feed them a little. But they might also just have the climbing bug!
Jon
http://www.therestofeverest.com
If they’re strays, they sure are working hard for that food. that’s a pretty good climb just for a few morsels.
I’m going with the theory that they have the climbing bug!
My dogs getting a bit old for Aconcagua, but we still like to climb hills together. Congrats to Nicki!
That old dog might still surprise you Wade! Maybe you need to plan a trip to Aconcagua and take your pooch along just to be sure. 🙂