Ultramagic "Aconcagua" balloon safely crosses Aconcagua in the Andes.
Josep and Uwe successfully crossed the Andes flying directly over the Aconcagua – 3 February 2010.
They took off in the Ultramagic Ecomagic Aconcagua balloon at 7:23 in Illapel in Chile, climbed to 6000 m and then flew for a long time at 5000m to achieve the direction to the Aconcagua. When they were 30 km out, they then climbed and passed just north of the summit at about 8:40 at almost 8000 m. They then climbed to over 9000 to avoid the turbulence.
Having passed the last high mountain chain they then descended to 4000 m and went east at 20-25 km/h. It then took about 2 hours to reach and cross the motorway south of Mendoza. On the ground they then went backwards at 16 km/h and landed safely at 12:06 some 10 km south of Ugarteche just behind the motorway.
After landing local pilot Eduardo Vaques brought several TV and press to the landing place. After the interviews they packed the envelope away by which time the wind speed had increased to 25 km/h.
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Aconcagua crossing videos: * Travesía del Aconcagua part 1 * Travesía del Aconcagua part 2
* Aconcagua 2010_640x480 * Aconcagua 2010 directors cut