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 girls’s unsupported quickest recognized time of 6:33 on the Argentinian mountain.
Erin Ton on the high of Aconcagua. All images courtesy of Erin Ton.
Her time beat the earlier girls’s supported quickest recognized time (FKT) of 8:17, set by Lenka Poláčková of Slovakia in January 2025. In line 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 commonplace, 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 might 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 isn’t any stranger to FKT efforts, and at 22,841 ft (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 earth outdoors of Asia and one of many seven summits — a group 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 beneficial properties about 8,500 ft (2,600 meters). The shortest variation, which can be utilized in good snow circumstances, is about 8.7 miles (14 kilometers) roundtrip.
Ton had an excellent 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 shortly warmed up on the climb.” She ended up not utilizing all of the layers she’d began with and located it getting sizzling on the descent with the solar radiating off the snow. She says, “General, it was an excellent day within the mountains, despite the fact that I do know I might shave off plenty of time if I have 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 ft (5,126 meters), Cotopaxi at 19,347 ft (5,897 meters), and Rucu Pichincha at 15,400 ft (4,694 meters) — all peaks in Ecuador.
Chasing FKTs
In line with the Quickest Identified Time web site, Ton has set 179 FKTs, along with her run on Aconcagua presently being verified as her a hundred and eightieth and 181st. Within the U.S., Ton is maybe finest recognized for her self-supported public-lands-only Colorado 14ers FKT, through which she climbed 57 of the 58 Colorado peaks over 14,000 ft (4,267 meters), skipping the privately owned Culebra Peak. Driving herself between peaks, she achieved the feat in 14 days, 10 hours, and 9 minutes. Ton additionally holds a number of girls’s FKTs in Nepal.
Erin Ton on the best way to a brand new girls’s FKT on Aconcagua.
If one reads into the assertion on her Instagram put up about her run in Aconcagua that claims “1/7 summits finished,” it appears a good guess that FKTs on the opposite six highest peaks on the earth 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 ft (4,038 meters) of elevation acquire. We’ll replace this text if she’s profitable on this second effort.
