The Valley of Tears, where the Uruguayan plane tragedy occurred, has become a sanctuary at 4,000 meters above sea level, in the Andes Mountains. The site generates devotion and fanaticism for the surprising story of survival, told in the Netflix film The Snow Society.
51 years passed after the plane crash, which occurred on October 13, 1972, and the anguishing 72 days, isolated from civilization, until the survivors Fernando Parrado and Roberto Canessa managed to cross the mountain range.
Since then, travelers from different countries arrive on expeditions to Sosneado, Malargüe, in the south of Mendoza. The majority cry, pray, and get emotional in front of the cross, the buried remains of some victims and the metal monolith, which makes up the memorial, which has the names of the 29 deceased engraved.
Of 45 people on the flight, only 16 survived. The obsession with knowing more details about the accident led some guides to explore the area and try to replicate the same escape route to Chile on foot.
Those who have attempted the route of the Old Christians Club rugby players claim that it was a true feat that is surprising due to the mental and physical strength that allowed them to survive.
Without equipment or mountain knowledge, Canessa and Parrado crossed the mountain range on foot for nine days. They climbed rocks, jumped cracks, descended ledges and buried themselves one meter in the snow to reach the Chilean valley, where the muleteer Sergio Catalán found them on the tenth day.
Many objects from the passengers and even pieces of the Fairchild 571 plane of the Uruguayan Air Force are exhibited in the Museum of the Andes, which remembers the tragedy, in Montevideo, Uruguay.
They were pieces that were collected by the Armed Forces of Chile and Uruguay, in the criminal investigations after the survivors were found. And other objects that survivors and relatives of the victims carried in subsequent expeditions are also on display.
A part of the fuselage was burned in the mountain range after the rescue, and the remains of rusty iron can still be seen.
But the largest part of the fuselage of the Fairchild F-227 of the Uruguayan Air Force, which served as shelter for the survivors for 72 days, could not be taken by the military and the expedition members who have arrived at the accident site. That structure was buried in the ice of the glacier, until it disappeared.
"In 1993, the survivors felt the need to return to the accident site. When we arrived, we discovered that a part of the plane's fuselage was protruding from the glacier. It was seen that time, it was a sign and it disappeared again," he says excitedly to Clarín Eduardo Strauch, one of the survivors.
The climber who best knows what has been left at the site of the plane crash is Ricardo Peña, a Mexican guide who is an expert in history.
Peña is one of the few who has managed to make the same route to the O'Higgins region in Chile. In his repeated ascents to the scene of the tragedy, he has found various belongings of the Uruguayans and also of the aircraft, such as the propeller, parts of the landing gear and engine, and even a blazer with a wallet intact.
"The plane impacted at 4,300 meters above sea level, on the edge of the mountain and descended through a channel, where avalanches descend, 800 meters below. This saved them because they descended like a natural slide. A 3,750 meters high is where the survivors were left with a part of the fuselage, they had lost the tail and wings of the plane," details Peña.
The Mexican guide has strengthened a friendship with Eduardo Strauch, who is the survivor who has gone to the Valley of Tears the most times: he was there 20 times.
Together, Peña and Strauch guide athletes and tourists passionate about history, known as the Miracle of the Andes, to the site of the tragedy with horses.
"I was a fan of history since I was a child, I grew up in Mexico and I saw the movie about the survivors of the Andes. I mean a Mexican movie, very bad, but that told that powerful story, and that impressed me a lot. Then, I read the books Viven and The Snow Society. And later, as a professional guide, once I went to summit Aconcagua, I decided to stay in Mendoza to go to the Valley of Tears, to see the place out of personal curiosity", Peña says.
On that first visit, in 2005 to the Valley of Tears, the Mexican guide found Eduardo Strauch's blazer. "Very high up, 4,200 meters high, near the place of impact against the mountain, I found the bag buried in the snow and it had his wallet with dollars and his passport," he details.
Peña toured the area in the company of the Argentine guide Mario Pérez, from San Rafael. "He took me to the cross and we decided to explore up the mountain from where they spent the 72 days. Then we found the sack. It was something very exciting," Peña remembers.
"Since then, Eduardo and I have gone almost every year. And we bring people from all over the world who are curious about history," explains the Mexican.
The guide highlights how impressive and transformative the expedition to the site of the tragedy is: "It inspires many people who have problems in life, who feel that this story helps them deal with them. They feel that, if the survivors could overcome everything that, I can deal with my problems too.
And he describes that, upon arriving at the place, seeing the parts of the plane, the cross, the graves of the deceased, and listening to Eduardo tell details of the days of survival, it is a very powerful experience. "It hits hard to those who go. But in a very positive way. We have taken more than 200 people to that place," says Peña.
Strauch reveals that among the people he took to Malargüe, he was struck by the story of a girl who had been the victim of a group rape and who was able to heal her pain after learning about the adversities experienced by the young people who survived the tragedy in the Andes.
The Mexican guide is one of the few privileged people who has experienced the intimacy and brotherhood of the group of survivors, based on his fascination with the history and site of the tragedy.
Peña says: "They invited me to share the meeting on December 22 (the date they were saved), when it was 40 years since the accident, in 2012. It was something very special, a great honor. I had the opportunity to take a photo with Nando and Roberto. Which is one of my most precious photos and is on my wall. I keep another photo with Eduardo, at his daughter's wedding, who also invited me. I have very good memories of the survivors."
The expedition in which Peña and Pérez made the same escape route to Chile was published in the National Geographic Adventure Magazine in March 2006.
At the accident site, the expedition members found - and it still remains at the site - a landing gear with two wheels; part of the seats, an armrest, the seat covers with which they covered themselves, some clothing, such as pants, rugby socks and shirts.
The support where the Collins antenna was located, which allowed it to receive information when capturing Chilean radio signals, has also remained.
Up the mountain, where the impact occurred, some pieces of the fuselage, the front landing gear, part of the windows, and the propeller remained, near the edge of the mountain where the plane hit.
The Mexican guide affirms that having been a very united group was key to survival. "They had a lot in common, the same roots, a good heart, they wanted to help each other, and they came together to save themselves. To this day they are family, they love each other like brothers," says Peña.
He clarifies that not all of them were members of the rugby team (only 19 of the 40 passengers, and there were also 5 crew members traveling), but there were ties of friendship and belonging to the same religious school between all of them.
"They created the snow society, they had to unite, coordinate, work together. They were young, they were strong, in good physical condition," describes Peña.
And he highlights an aspect of personality: "The survivors, like Eduardo Strauch, Fito Strauch, Roberto Canessa and Nando Parrado, are people with mental strength, very realistic, who accepted reality as it was, they did the best possible given the circumstances. Al At first they had a lot of faith that they were going to be rescued and that they would get out soon, but reality was very cruel, no one was coming to save them, and they had to cling to reality and get out on their own," he says.
With his experience in the mountains, Peña adds to his analysis that the Uruguayan survivors had a share of luck. "There were critical moments, but of good luck. The fact that the plane hit a slope and slid down the glacier 800 meters like a sled is what cushioned the blow," he observes.
On the escape route, the Mexican guide says that Nando and Roberto were lucky to have good sunny days, without a storm, without wind to be able to advance because, otherwise, they would have frozen.
Mendoza filmmaker Alejandro Fadel participated in the film and was in charge of recording the images in the Valley of Tears. His brother Ezequiel Fadel also participates in the film, who, without being a professional actor, was selected to play the Chilean mule driver, who ends up saving their lives.
The director Juan Antonio Bayona had seen Fadel's films, through his friendship with a Spanish film critic, and suggested that the Mendoza native make the background images.
They stayed 15 days in the middle of the mountain range. "Together with a team of mountaineers and filmmakers, we had to record all the light and configuration of the valley in winter. It was the first time that a camp was set up for so many days, to record all the hours of light, the faces of the hill" , explains Fadel.
"We didn't have snow, as we wanted, so we returned to the valley the following winter, during 2021. It was an amazing experience to be able to be at the same place of the accident, on the same date where it happened and experience a big snow storm on the same day of the accident. anniversary of the accident,” he describes.
Regarding how the place has changed, the filmmaker comments: “The glacier was larger when, 51 years ago, the tragedy occurred. Now you can't see the fuselage."
He insists that it is difficult to understand how they spent 72 days, without technical equipment or experience in the mountains, enduring the cold in a desolate place. And how Parrado and Canessa managed to make the route to Chile.
Describes the Argentine filmmaker who worked for three months on the Netflix film that, unlike the Disney film, Viven, which is focused more on the characters of Parrado and Canessa: "The Snow Society is deeper and tries to narrate the experience of each of the survivors.”
Technically, Fadel explains why the film achieves a very immersive issue, “it makes you feel that you are there with the characters, it is a more sensory film than a narrative one.” And he reveals that Bayona has material to make 10 films, because many more scenes were recorded, with the ambition of telling everything that happened.
