The acclimatization climb for the assault on Mont Aconcagua was a (fortunately) extinct volcano. Maipo is 5 264m high, and dominates the Diamante lagoon. Bernard reached the summit on January 9, 1997 while Nathalie reached an altitude of 4 000m for the first time.
Maipo, formed of unstable rocks, stretches upward out of the lagoon that surrounds it, as if to protect the mountain or perhaps to reflect its splendour.
