Tragedy on Aconcagua

Two to three people typically are killed every year while climbing Aconcagua, according to Juan Pablo Marziane, head of logistics with a climbing expedition company in Mendoza.- By JEANNETTE NEUMANN

clipped from www.supersport.co.za BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — A U.S. man died Friday while scaling Argentina's Aconcagua mountain, becoming the fifth climber to perish this month on the highest peak in the Americas, officials said. An army patrol on a training operation came across the man lying on the ground and calling for help in the afternoon after he was apparently hit by falling rock at 16,400 feet (5,000 meters), said Julio Suarez, police spokesman in Mendoza province. The man died an hour later as squad members were carrying him down to a base camp. A doctor there confirmed he died of a head injury and a pneumothorax, or collapsed lung, Suarez said.