December 27, 2008 - January 12, 2009 Climbing Aconcagua Expedition: On January 9, 2009 I summited Aconcagua at 3:00 pm with 5 other climbing partners in one of the worst years for tragedy in a decade. Aconcagua is the highest mountain outside Asia, second highest of the Seven Summits. During the climb in the 2008/2009 climbing season, six climbers perished on Aconcagua, double the usual annual fatality rate. When news was breaking and I was on the mountain, out of 9 climbers, my family was the only one to know if I was all right at every moment. Other climbers' families were left worrying, waiting for a satellite phone that was low on batteries and without a signal. The SPOT was new to the climbers and I found myself repeatedly explaining SPOT's capabilities to other climbers. I used the "tracking" feature to keep my family up-to-date...and now we all made it home safely. My climbing buddies are in awe that I was able to track the whole event. The map can be seen here: http://purebound.com/aconcagua/.