Aconcagua Expedition: Gorum & Team’s Rest Day at Base Camp
Posted by: JM Gorum, Hannah Smith, Avery Parrinello
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 13,800'
We had breakfast at nine today, our latest of the trip. A casual start to a casual day here at 13,800 feet. Pancakes, eggs, and sausage were on the menu, and we ate until they stopped bringing food. After breakfast, we only had two more items on the agenda. The first of those items was organizing for our carry tomorrow. It didn’t take too long to divvy up group gear. Everyone will carry some amount of group food, fuel, or kitchen equipment tomorrow. This crew was surprisingly eager to grab their respective loads and get packed up, so we were done with task number two by early afternoon.
Task number three, dinner, wouldn’t be until 7, so we all had some time to kill. Lucky for us, basecamp is full of spectacles. Today’s spectacle was provided by an unfortunate member of another team. This particular person was using the bathroom, a common enough event here at basecamp. The uncommon part was that he dropped his phone into the pit toilet. The even more uncommon part was that he recovered it. Using a variety of garden tools and good old fashioned ingenuity, he was able to lift his device from the deepest, darkest depths that exist within walking distance of basecamp. In doing so, he provided entertainment for everyone nearby, and before we knew it, dinner was upon us.
Steak, potatoes, and some wine for good luck capped off the evening. With our final task of the day completed, we are now headed to bed. We’ll get up earlier tomorrow. We’ve got some actual work to do now.
RMI Guides JM Gorum, Hannah Smith, Avery Parrinello
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