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BLOGGER: Raz Froilich

Editor’s Note: As part of our new brand promise – “Embrace Challenge, Experience Success” – we’re introducing a series of inspirational stories. Raz Froilich, Amdocs head of operations - Europe, embraced the challenge of climbing Mount Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Americas. After a grueling three-week effort, he succeeded in reaching the summit. This is his story.

It all started a couple of years ago, after finishing a course of high mountain climbing and reaching a couple of summits in South America and Europe. A group of us decided to raise the bar and go for the Seven Summits Series challenge, in which climbers aim to conquer the highest mountain in each of the seven continents. After climbing Kilimanjaro in Africa and Elbrus in Russia, we decided a year ago that the next mountain would be Aconcagua in Argentina. In order to meet this target, we started an intensive training program lasting almost a year, which included running, walking with weights, cycling and even the Amsterdam Marathon.

All of that preparation felt like a joke when we arrived at the “Canaletto,” the most dangerous part of the ascent, which is located eight hours from the third and final camp on the mountain.

By this point, only five of us remained from the original group. We were facing a -40 degree Celsius temperature with 60 kilometer per hour winds. The wind chill factor further decreased the temperature by between -30 to -50 degrees. The Canaletto is a steep combination of ice and rock, 400 meters high, that separates climbers from the Aconcagua summit.

Scaling the highest peaks

One wrong step on this narrow path can send climbers into a free fall. Clouds were closing on us and a snow storm had just started. Navigating the Canaletto in a regular weather is difficult, but we knew those conditions would be extremely hard. We had to decide quickly.

We were exhausted, frozen and tired, but our minds stayed strong and we decided to continue in order to reach the peak. The visibility went down to just one meter, so focus was the name of the game. With all the equipment, crampons, ice axes and helmets, we started to climb step-by-step. Each step required tremendous effort (as the oxygen level at 6,500 meters is only around 40 percent) and my whole body seemed to be “screaming” at me to stop and rest. However, we knew that a stop of five minutes in the tough weather was a recipe for hypothermia and possibly even worse …

I started to sing the song “No Air” by Jordin Sparks (which contains the fitting chorus, “How can I breathe with no air?”) to myself, but after couple of minutes the melody faded and the song transformed itself into a prayer. It brought to mind the phrase, “There are no atheists in foxholes.” I think everyone starts to believe when they approach a magnificent summit.

As we got closer to the top, we started to see some smiles on people’s faces and after 11 hours, we finally stood on the highest point, with nothing left to climb. For a few minutes we were the highest people on earth, outside Asia. We made it! Or as it is written on the Che Guevara monument in Cuba – “Hasta la victoria siempre.”

On the way back, we stumbled into a huge snowstorm and only after five hours with zero visibility did we manage to find our way back (after wallowing in deep snow). We didn’t even recognize our own tent due to the heavy snow, but we weren’t picky after 16 hours of physical effort and entered the first one we saw – luckily, it was ours.  We decided to enter the first tent, because being picky after 16 hours of physical effort and -40c degree temperatures is not a good idea. Luckily, it was our tent and we could FINALLY rest, satisfied with a feeling of success after our tremendous challenge.