The painting was a gift from the company RACA-Hughes S.A. to the Ministry of Social Welfare, commemorating a very significant mountain rescue. The company had won the contract to maintain and operate the Ministry’s helicopters.
At the time, I was working as a test pilot for the Hughes 500 helicopters assembled at the San Fernando plant in Buenos Aires. One midday, we were informed that two American climbers and a New Zealander had fallen on Mount Fitz Roy. One was injured and two had died—one of them the son of a U.S. senator. We had to depart immediately.
I took off in a BO-105 heading south, with only a mechanic and myself on board. The Ministry’s Guaraní aircraft would also depart to provide us with fuel at the ranch closest to where we would establish our base camp. I flew all day and all night until I arrived and rescued the American, Bill Martin, at midday.
The bodies of the other two were in a crevasse, covered with ice and snow, and it was going to be very difficult to recover them. Fitz Roy is the summit of an extinct volcano, with a circular valley at 2,000 meters and a 3,000-meter vertical wall on its eastern side, with overhanging sections in some areas. Because this wall faces east, it blocks the strong Pacific winds and forces them downward, creating extremely dangerous turbulence and whirlwinds inside the basin.
I battled the weather and the mountain for 11 days until we were able to recover the other American. The turbulence was so intense that several times it nearly brought us down. The mother of the New Zealander decided that the mountain her son loved so much would be his final resting place. Continuing the recovery effort would have been extremely risky, as he was at a great depth.
This rescue had international repercussions, and had we failed, an elite U.S. team responsible for rescuing astronauts would have been sent. Fortunately, we succeeded, and this painting commemorates that event.
I had never painted myself before—much less in a helicopter.