To the Top

To a mountain-minded man like William D. Hackett, Aconcagua, the 22,835-ft. peak which straddles the Argentine-Chilean border, was an irresistible challenge. Hackett had started climbing at twelve in the Olympic Range near Bremerton, Wash., had served with mountain infantry in World War II. In 1947, Lieut. Hackett joined a scientific expedition that scaled Alaska's Mt. McKinley. Last month 30-year-old Bill Hackett got a 45-day leave from his post at Fort Benning, Ga., and set his sights for Aconcagua, the Western Hemisphere's highest peak.

Almost from the start Hackett and his companion, Argentine Lieut. Jorge Julio Mottet, circled traps which had claimed the lives of at least 20 explorers since the peak was first climbed (by a Swiss guide named Mattias Zurbriggen) in 1897. After a tramp through desert-like heat at the base, the climbers crawled through a rock-chocked ravine to reach the slopes. Even in the midsummer month of February, clouds can lay a treacherous coat of verglas (glaze ice) on the slopes in less than an hour. Ice or no ice, there is always the danger of an attack of soroche--high-altitude sickness. With advice from Mottet, who had climbed the peak once before, Hackett skirted the traps until almost to the goal. Then the witches' wind that circles the summit caught him full blast and froze the fingers of his right hand.

From a village in Aconcagua's foothills last week came word that Hackett had climbed on despite his crippled hand, finally reached the top. After planting the Stars & Stripes, he headed back to the base camp. He was the first U.S. citizen to conquer the "Father of Mountains."

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