 The Incas climbed to its summit periodically in the 15th century.The first European ascent of the mountain was by Gustav Brandt and Rudolph Lucke in 1896.During a flight from Santiago, Chile, to Mendoza, Argentina, on 16 July 1932, the Pan American-Grace Airways (Panagra) Ford Trimotor "San José" crashed on Cerro El Plomo during a severe snowstorm, killing all nine people on board.