TY - JOUR
T1 - Mountaineering fatalities on aconcagua
T2 - 2001-2012
AU - Westensee, Jeffrey
AU - Rogé, Ignacio
AU - Van Roo, Jon D.
AU - Pesce, Carlos
AU - Batzli, Sam
AU - Courtney, D. Mark
AU - Lazio, Matthew P.
PY - 2013/9/1
Y1 - 2013/9/1
N2 - High altitude mountaineering is a dangerous endeavor due to the hypoxic hypobaric environment, extreme weather, and technical skills required. One of the seven summits, Aconcagua (6962 m) is the highest mountain outside of Asia. Its most popular route is nontechnical, attracting >3000 mountaineers annually. Utilizing data from the Servicio Médico Aconcagua (park medical service), we performed a retrospective descriptive analysis with the primary objective of deriving a fatality rate on Aconcagua from 2001 to 2012. The fatality rate on Aconcagua was then compared to other popular mountains. For climbers who died, we report all available demographic data, mechanisms of death, and circumstances surrounding the death. Between 2001 and 2012, 42,731 mountaineers attempted to summit Aconcagua. There were 33 fatalities. The fatality rate was 0.77 per 1000, or 0.077%. The fatality rate on Aconcagua is lower than that on Everest or Denali but higher than that on Rainier.
AB - High altitude mountaineering is a dangerous endeavor due to the hypoxic hypobaric environment, extreme weather, and technical skills required. One of the seven summits, Aconcagua (6962 m) is the highest mountain outside of Asia. Its most popular route is nontechnical, attracting >3000 mountaineers annually. Utilizing data from the Servicio Médico Aconcagua (park medical service), we performed a retrospective descriptive analysis with the primary objective of deriving a fatality rate on Aconcagua from 2001 to 2012. The fatality rate on Aconcagua was then compared to other popular mountains. For climbers who died, we report all available demographic data, mechanisms of death, and circumstances surrounding the death. Between 2001 and 2012, 42,731 mountaineers attempted to summit Aconcagua. There were 33 fatalities. The fatality rate was 0.77 per 1000, or 0.077%. The fatality rate on Aconcagua is lower than that on Everest or Denali but higher than that on Rainier.
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U2 - 10.1089/ham.2013.1018
DO - 10.1089/ham.2013.1018
M3 - Article
C2 - 24028641
AN - SCOPUS:84884753594
SN - 1527-0297
VL - 14
SP - 298
EP - 303
JO - High Altitude Medicine and Biology
JF - High Altitude Medicine and Biology
IS - 3
ER -