We leave camp Berlin at about 06.30 and begin our attempt to reach the summit. It is a bit later than we had planned because of an incident that occured in Olof and Mattias tent during the morning and a whole thermos with boiling water was spilled out. They start with less hot water and with moist socks, not a good start but there is no choice. The cold quickly penetrate through all layers with clothes. Under these kind of circumstances it is difficult to get a balance between not freezing and becoming tired. If we walk with a speed that is to fast it feels that you will fall down. The blood flows very slow and many necessary functions of the body are not given any priority because you have to put all your strength in your brain and heart. On the picture we can see the backs of Robert and Marco that take a look at the horizon. There you can see the enormous shadow of Aconcagua that now stretch itself out over the Andes. It is powerful!

The coldness of the morning affect us. The feet of Mattias are to cold and they have to be taken care of quickly by Olof's armpits that are warm and delicious sweaty. The right foot is soon getting better and is ok after that a pair of dry socks have been put on. However, the left foot has to be thawed again after another half an hour but is then ok the rest of the day. Under these circumstances the body do not care anything about how hands and feet are doing regarding to the blood circulation. The risk to get frost-bitten is enourmously big for all of us if you are not attentive. While Olof contributed with his armpit the rest of us made some exercises to keep the warmth in feet, hands and wherever needed. For anyone that wonders what can happen if you do not have a buddy that can warm your feet, take a look here. Note, powerful pictures! The toes belongs to Adam Marcinowicz, an English guy who was at the summit four days after us. Now Olof notice that he has forgotten a bag with an extra pair of gloves, sunglasses and a football shirt that was going to be photographed at the summit. Could we have any worse start than this? Luckily we have an extra pair of sunglasses and later we found out that we would not need the reinforcement garment thanks to the beautiful weather.

Here we have reached Independencia Hut where the Latvian woman was found during the rescue action that we were involved in. Here it has been built up a temporary wind shelter if the Viento Blanco should come. As you can see it will take most things with it so it is only a matter of time before everything is blown and torn apart. This is a natural place to take a rest on, we are not alone. It's a good idea to rest before the traverse...you will need all energy you can get when you reach the Canaleta.

Our steps are getting shorter and shorter. The oxygen is almost non-existent, why do we do this? The picture is taken from Independencia Hut och shows the last crest before the traverse over Grand Acerro begins. So far we have quite good protection from the wind, but up in the traverse we will be more exposed.

We reach the crest after Independencia Hut and completely new and fantastic views are visualized. We have now reached Grand Acerreo, a long sloping hill filled with stones that we are going to traverse. We do not have so much strength left and every step glides down the slope. At the picture you can see where the Canaletan begins... we intend to go that way. When we approached the Canaletan we took a break. Robert pointed out that he had a bad heartbeat. Before anyone of us had answered to that Mattias had already recommended him to take something to make the blood thinner. A good advice since the thin air makes the body form more red blood cells and this result in that the blood can form clusters more than normally, to make the blood thinner with for instance Ipren or Alvedon can make it easier.

Being totally exhausted we have at last reached the Canaleta. We sit for a while and rest and look at this extremely heavy part of the mountain. If you only look at this part it does not look particularly difficult but we will soon realise the truth. The Canaleta breaks down many climbers that unfortunately have to turn back here. The picture shows Olof and Robert with resolute expressions in their faces, but with a happy mood. We took a longer break here, 30 minutes in lovely sun.

If we had been lucky the Canaleta would have been covered with snow, with snow it is much more easier to get good grip and to avoid to slipp. But now there was lack of snow. Robert and Olof took the lead and Mattias and Marco walked close behind them. Every step we took we slipped in this gravel pit. Rolling stones passed us by like projectiles from those who were above us. We could not take more than three steps at a time before the body told us to stop. The brain pointed out to us several times "Go home! Eat a pizza and watch a video...". The bodies started to brake down physical but still we continued. Robert and Olof felt fine and had walked first. But unfortunately they had not reacted to that Mattias might have symptoms of cerebral oedema. Marco walked last with a slow speed and caught up with the rest when the group stood still. Cerebral oedema, if it will develop, imply that fluid is squeezed out between the brain and the bone of the skull and creates dizziness and nausea. This can unfortunately lead to death if it will not be treated.

During a short break near the summit Marco points out that he has also started to feel the altitude. He has similar symptoms as Mattias. The decision about whether to continue or not was extremely difficult, who would take the decision? Those who did not have symptoms and still felt good or those who showed symptoms and maybe were not fully aware of the consequences? The groups decision was that they would continue since the summit was considered to be close enough. It has to be made clear that if anyone of us had been in real danger the person would probably become incapable of reaching the summit and the rest of the team would notice that and the attempt to reach the summit would have been interrupted for two or more in the team. Here we can see parts of the Southern wall, the characteristic ridge that so often are reflected on posters. We are less than 20 minutes from the summit... Here we meet some of the Norwegian team of Hvitserk who are on their way down. Later we were told that one of them collapsed at the traverse and has to be carried down to Camp Berlin, probably because of cerebral oedema.

The summit is reached and we are now standing on the world's highest mountain outside the Himalayas. Robert makes a phone call home to his father to give him the message about this moment that we have waiting for. Almost two years of planning and training has at last showed result. A lot of activity begin, we do not have so much time to spend up here. First there was a discussion whether Mattias and Marco would take some medication against the symptoms or not. As this did not result in anything concrete Mattias and Marco received a normal dose of medication against cerebral oedema from Olof. We thought it is better to take than not to take, just in case. It is very important that the person who is suspected to be affected not to make a diagnosis himself about how he feels, this has to be done by the rest of the team in order to get the right picture of the situation...An intense activity by taking photographs, look around and just experiencing the moment went on intensively.

There was no real feeling of joy as we knew that the way down will be the most dangerous part. Yet we had to take some obligatory pictures at the summit. The Swedish flag was forgotten at Berlin Camp because of lack of communication. But who cares now? The sweater that Olof had promised to take with him up to the summit was also forgotten. We were overwhelmed by many different feelings...joy, sadness, pride and a certain spirituality. This close to God had no one of us been before.

To the right of the cross is now the ultrasound picture of Robert's future little alpinist hanging.

The walk down went with a slow speed and all the strength were almost gone. When Robert and Olof started to take more breaks something strange happened. Mattias and Marco forced in high speed even though it was somewhat staggered. What have happened to these gentlemen? Either they were simply more adjustable to high altitude, or it was simply the cortisone in the medication that gave them an extra "energy". What it was we will never now.

When we came back to Berlin Camp Olof had to pose in his match sweater that was supposed to have been at the summit in order to bring an Argentine fotball team luck. Despite the fact that it was not a picture from the summit it was quite ok, however, we have not heard if this have brought any successes to the team. The twilight is approaching and we are in a bit of a hurry to move on. Marco and Robert has put down their tent, while Mattias and Olof take some pictures, and walk in advance to Nido de Condores.

Marco and Robert had already raised the tent when Mattias and Olof arrived at Nido de Condores. During the way down Mattias and Olof have discussed the option to walk down to Plaza de Mulas immediately during the evening. The advantage with this is that we will come down at an altitude where we will be safe in case of the altitude sickness will return during the night. Bad weather were on its way and to be snow-bound at Nido de Condores can be dangerous if you are not feeling well. But, this is also a risky decision as it implies that we have to walk down in total darkness. Here you can see Mattias on the picture with all the equipment before departure. From here all the equipment that we had carried up (minus some fuel and food) in two turns we now had to carried down in only one turn. They arrived at Plaza de Mulas at 02.00 without any problems, 21 hours after that we awoke at Berlin Camp the day before.