Aconcagua: Gately & Team Carry to Camp 1
Posted by: Steve Gately, Hannah McGowan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 16,200'
The team did an incredible job today with our Carry to Camp 1 (16,200ft). The route starts off traveling up the moraine to the Glaciar de Los Ingleses. The terrain is loose and awkward, peppered with penitentes as tall as 6 feet. Penitentes are towers of snow and ice that form from different melting patterns in the snowpack, specifically from wind transported glacial pumice. After that the terrain eases off as we pick our way through a maze of rock debris covering old glacial ice. We finish with what is normally steep loose scree but we had the pleasure of ascending snow which made the walking much nicer. This portion is a lot of work as we're carrying 40-50lbs packs and are entering an elevation of over 16,000ft. We reached Camp 1, left some gear, teased our bodies with a new high altitude to jump start the acclimatization process and took in the views. We're now back at basecamp and everyone is resting before another enormous basecamp dinner. Tomorrow we look forward to a well deserved rest day. Keep your fingers crossed the weather stays nice for us! Hasta mañana!
RMI Guide Steve Gately
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