One man's personal account of the first alpine-style ascent of the Messner Route on the South Face of Aconcagua. In early 1980, three men set out to summit the highest peak in the Southern Hemisphere - Argentina's Aconcagua, standing at 22,838 feet. The trio would ascend via the Messner Route on the South Face, a route that had been climbed before, once, but never alpine style - no oxygen, no fixed ropes, no support team...just...