Mount Seler is a mountain located on the border between

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

in the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

mountain range. The mountain was first summitted in December 1972 by Nando Parrado, and shortly thereafter by Antonio Vizintin and

Roberto Canessa Roberto Jorge Canessa Urta, M.D., (born 17 January 1953) is one of the 16 survivors of the Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which crashed in the Andes mountains on 13 October 1972, and a Uruguayan political figure. He was portrayed by Josh Ha ...

, survivors from the nearby crash site of

Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 The Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 was a chartered flight from Montevideo, Uruguay, bound for Santiago, Chile, that crashed in the Andes mountains on October 13, 1972. The accident and subsequent survival became known as the Andes flight disaste ...

. They made the ascent with the intent of finding civilization. At the summit, Parrado used lipstick to write "MT. SELER" on a plastic bag, which he placed under a rock. Nando named the mountain after his father Seler Parrado, who was his motivation to survive.

Ascent

The ascent began on December 12, 1972, the 61st day after the survivors' plane had crashed, by Nando Parrado, Roberto Canessa, and Antonio Vizintin. The men had no mountaineering gear or experience; instead of beginning on a saddle to the sound, they set off up the steepest slope. They had the impression that they had crashed at the western limits of the Andes due to their pilot moaning "We passed

Curicó Curicó (), meaning "Black Waters" in Mapudungun (originally meaning "Land of Black Water"), is the capital city of the Curicó Province, part of the Maule Region in Chile's central valley. The province lies between the provinces of Colcha ...

" as he died. They climbed until the temperature began to drop. At twilight, they found a spot to sleep in the sleeping bag they had sewn using insulation from the plane and copper wire. The men continued climbing the next day, the incline of the climb increasing every hundred yards, before pitching camp before sunset. The next morning, on December 14, Parrado and Vizintin continued climbing while Canessa stayed behind. After several hours, the incline had become almost vertical. Using an aluminium pole brought as a walking stick, Parrado carved stairs into the hard-packed snow. Parrado reached the summit late that morning, to immediate disappointment. It became apparent that their plane had crashed in the middle of the Andes, not near the western limits as they had thought. Using lipstick he brought to protect his lips, he wrote the words "MT. SELER" on a plastic bag, and placed it under a rock. Afterwards, Vizintin went back to get Canessa, who he reached the peak with three hours later. Volcan-tinguiririca

Vizintin left his meat with Parrado and Canessa, returning to the crash site, and the two carried on westwards from the mountain the next morning. They would continue walking until being sighted on December 20, and they were rescued with the rest of the survivors in the following days.

References

{{1972 Andes flight disaster Four-thousanders of the Andes Seler Seler