SA team to fly off secondhighest peak

World-class climber and Times photographer, Marianne Schwankhart, and champion paraglider Pierre Carter want to fly off the summit of Argentina's Mount Aconcagua tomorrow.

Aconcagua, at 6959m, is the second highest of the world's "Seven Summits" - the highest peaks on each continent. The highest of all is Mount Everest.

Schwankhart, 34, and Carter, 43, want to be the first team to climb and paraglide off all seven summits. They succeeded on their first "7 summits 7 flights" expedition to Mount Elbrus in Russia in July last year.

But hostile and icy weather conditions on Aconcagua have hampered climbing efforts. Only about one in five climbers has made it to the summit so far and the mountain has already claimed lives. "It is windy and freezing cold. We are always cold," Schwankhart told The Times by satellite phone. "We hope to get a weather window tomorrow to climb and fly off, but so far we have been stuck between Camp 1 and Camp 2."

Even before they left South Africa on December 26, Carter warned: "The weather on Aconcagua will be the biggest challenge. When it is normal it is about -20C but in storms, temperatures drop below -30C.

"The wind is almost always blowing at 145km/hour or more. Ultimately the climbing is less dangerous than the flying."

The pair's launch off Mount Elbrus on their last trip was difficult, with two crash landings before they got airborne.

Schwankhart said the group, including two veteran cameramen, their partners and three more South Africans, have mostly been confined to their tents, surviving on pasta and tuna.

She said they had not been hit by any severe altitude sickness but one member of the party had suffered snow blindness.

The seven summits are: Mt Carstenzs Pyramid (Indonesia, 4884m), Mt Vinson (Antarctica, 4897m), Mt Elbrus (Russia, 5642m), Mt Kilimanjaro (Tanzania, 5895m), Mt Denali (US, 6194m), Mt Aconcagua (South America, 6959m) and Mt Everest (Nepal, 8850m). Visit: www.7summits7flights.co.za.