Multiple limb amputee Andrea Lanfri summits Aconcagua twice!

Italian mountaineer and multiple limb amputee Andrea Lanfri has summited Aconcagua, the highest mountain in South America! Actually, twice to be precise, seeing that the 36-year-old reached the 6961m summit on the 16th of January and then again on the 22nd…

After flying to Argentina at the start of January and completing the acclimatisation phase, Lanfri immediately got ready for the first weather window in mid-January. "A perfect window to make a summit push” explained Lanfri. On 14 January Lanfri set off from Plaza de Mulas base camp and followed the Aconcagua Normal Route, the easiest and most popular route to the summit. On the same day he reached Camp 2, while the following day he continued up to Camp 3 before attempting the summit on 16 January.

The 16th turned out to be an extremely very long day during which, for seven long hours, all contact with Lanfri was lost while his satellite navigator stopped at an altitude of 6745 meters. "I carelessly put it in the top pocket of my rucksack during the ascent and I must have lost it" explained Andrea after returning to base camp. "I reached the summit, it was incredibly cold". The temperatures were so low that Lanfri suffered slight frostbite on his fingers.

"I wasn't able to take pictures" was Lanfri's bitter comment while still trying to recover at base camp. "In a few days they’ve forecast a new weather window, I'll try to go back up once again". There would have been no need for this, no one has ever questioned Lanfri's ascents. Nevertheless, the Italian explained "I don't want there to be any doubts about this climb."

Twice on the summit of Aconcagua
On Saturday, 21 January, eight years after being hospitalised for having contracted meningitis and meningococcal septicaemia which then resulted in the amputation of both legs and seven fingers of his hands, Andrea shouldered his rucksack and started climbing the mountain for a second time. "I really couldn't have celebrated this anniversary in any better way than by re-climbing South America's highest mountain."

On the first day he reached Camp 2 at about 5600 metres, after having ascended circa 1200m. On Sunday, 22 January he woke up at 3:00am, knowing he’d have to ascend a further 1600m. "It took me 7 hours to complete the climb and stand next to cross at an altitude of 6961 metres". After a short break he took out his action cam and took a multitude of photos... better safe than sorry! Lanfri then descended quickly to Camp 2 where he spent the night in his tent before returning safely to base camp the following morning. "What an epic battle, thanks Argentina!".

8 years later, a lifelong dream
After contracting meningitis and meningococcal septicaemia and losing both legs and seven fingers as a result in 2015, the mountaineer from Lucca lives each day trying to quench his thirst for life. This led him to become the first alpinist with multiple amputations to reach the summit of Everest, on May 13, 2022. At present he has embarked on his Seven Summits quest and aims to climb the seven highest mountains of each continent. Aconcagua is his fourth Seven Summits mountain, after Mont Blanc (2008), Everest (2022) and Kilimanjaro (2022). Should Lanfri realise his dream, he would become the first multiple limb amputee to climb the Seven Summits.

Links: andrealanfri.com, IG Andrea Lanfri, FB Andrea Lanfri, Ferrino, La Sportiva