Within the early morning hours of January 28, 2025, American Erin Ton set out from the Aconcagua base camp at Plaza del Mulas and up the slopes of the best peak in South America, and in simply over a quarter-day’s work, she returned to base camp with a brand new ladies’s unsupported quickest identified time of 6:33 on the Argentinian mountain.
Erin Ton on the prime of Aconcagua. All images courtesy of Erin Ton.
Her time beat the earlier ladies’s supported quickest identified time (FKT) of 8:17, set by Lenka Poláčková of Slovakia in January 2025. In keeping with Ton, “There have been murmurs round camp that the precise time had been set by a information at 7:35 spherical journey, so this was the time to beat.”
Ton’s ascent time of 4:50 additionally units a brand new normal, eclipsing the 7:58 set by fellow American Rachel Boim in 2023, in a supported effort. Ton says, “I felt nice beginning off, reaching properly above Camp 2 in solely two hours. From there, the route was all new to me, and I may undoubtedly really feel the altitude.” She spent nearly 10 minutes on the summit earlier than heading down.
The view from the summit of Aconcagua.
Excessive-Altitude Adventures
Ton is not any stranger to FKT efforts, and at 22,841 toes (6,961 meters), Aconcagua is the best peak on which she’s set a brand new mark. It’s the second-highest peak on the planet exterior of Asia and one of many seven summits — a set of the best peaks on every continent. The usual route up the mountain is taken into account non-technical, and from base camp, the place Ton began, it good points about 8,500 toes (2,600 meters). The shortest variation, which can be utilized in good snow situations, is about 8.7 miles (14 kilometers) roundtrip.
Ton had an important climate window for her run and says, “It was a chilly morning, so I introduced all of the layers I had with me, however I rapidly warmed up on the climb.” She ended up not utilizing all of the layers she’d began with and located it getting scorching on the descent with the solar radiating off the snow. She says, “General, it was an important day within the mountains, regardless that I do know I may shave off loads of time if I had been extra acclimated and with much less snow.”
Erin Ton on the Aconcagua base camp.
Ton has been in South America since early December, coaching for the hassle. As a part of her acclimation to the excessive elevation, Ton set a handful of FKTs on different mountains, together with Illiniza Norte at 16,818 toes (5,126 meters), Cotopaxi at 19,347 toes (5,897 meters), and Rucu Pichincha at 15,400 toes (4,694 meters) — all peaks in Ecuador.
Chasing FKTs
In keeping with the Quickest Identified Time web siteTon has set 179 FKTs, along with her run on Aconcagua at the moment being verified as her a hundred and eightieth and 181st. Within the U.S., Ton is probably finest identified for her self-supported public-lands-only Colorado 14ers FKT, during which she climbed 57 of the 58 Colorado peaks over 14,000 toes (4,267 meters), skipping the privately owned Culebra Peak. Driving herself between peaks, she completed the feat in 14 days, 10 hours, and 9 minutes. Ton additionally holds a number of ladies’s FKTs in Nepal.
Erin Ton on the best way to a brand new ladies’s FKT on Aconcagua.
If one reads into the assertion on her Instagram submit about her run in Aconcagua that claims “1/7 summits executed,” it appears a good guess that FKTs on the opposite six highest peaks on the planet are in her targets.
However for now, she’s resting for just a few days and going for the longer model of the FKT on the Aconcagua, which begins a lot decrease and is a 40-mile (65 kilometers) round-trip route with 13,250 toes (4,038 meters) of elevation acquire. We’ll replace this text if she’s profitable on this second effort.
