TWO Americans and a Norwegian died over the past four days while climbing Aconcagua, the tallest mountain in the Americas, Argentine police said yesterday.

US mountaineer Ayn Vincent Day, 41, died yesterday after going against the advice of his guide and summiting the nearly 7,000m mountain, said Deputy Commissioner Marcos Paez, the head of the rescue team.

On Saturday, 62-year-old Moi Oystein of Norway became the first fatality of the 2022-2023 ascent season, which began in December, after becoming ill at a spot on the route known as La Cueva, at 6,000m above sea level.

The following day, US military veteran John Michael Magness, 58, also died having reached Camp Independencia at an elevation of 6,300m.

Situated near Argentina’s border with Chile, Aconcagua is the tallest mountain outside of Asia, and is one of the so-called Seven Summits – a goal of many mountain climbers around the world.

Argentine media, citing official sources, reported the death this season of five other mountaineers, four of them foreigners, in the area of El Chalten, in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz (2,300km south of Buenos Aires). – AFP, February 9, 2023.