Entries from Aconcagua
December 28, 2016
Posted by: Steve Gately, Hannah McGowan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 13,800'
A little snow was falling after dinner last night but this morning the skies were clear. We began
breaking down camp and enjoying our last views from 18,000 ft. The team was excited for the thicker air of basecamp at 14,000ft. Thicker air at 14,000ft!!?? Well acclimatized after a long expedition the air at 14,000ft feels like we're at sea level as it's nice to finally be able to fill the lungs each breathe. Our decent went smooth without any hiccups and we were welcomed at Base Camp with sweet bread and juice by our staff. The team spent the afternoon reminiscing and revisiting memories of our trip. After a big dinner we were all ready for bed. Tomorrow we make the long trek back down the Vacas Valley to our first camp of the entire trip, Las Lénas, where we'll enjoy a carne asado prepared by our Arrieros and a night under the stars.
RMI Guide Steve Gately
On The Map
December 27, 2016
Posted by: Steve Gately, Hannah McGowan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 18,000'
The team is all back at
Camp II safe and sound. Today was a very demanding day. I was up at 2am this morning checking the weather and temperature every 30 minutes looking for clear skies and moderate temperatures. I woke the team up at 4:30am. An hour later we were off on our way. Attempting a summit from Camp II is an extremely ambitious endeavor and the pace needed to be kept in order to be successful would daunt even the fittest of athletes. We gave it our best try and despite valiant efforts our pace fell short of what was needed to climb safely. On top of that the recent wind and snow events created steep, firm slopes of wind deposited snow. Imagine a 6,000ft+ snow slide at 45 degrees. We encountered these slopes at roughly 21,500ft and decided the risk was not worth the reward! All in all a tough day, mentally and physically. But that's exactly why we take on adventures like these, to test ourselves mentally and physically. To me, any expedition that returns with climbers safe and sound is a success for me. You get used to days like this the longer your mountaineering career. It's important to remember that the substance of experience lies in the in betweens, not the ends. A lesson that us climbers have to learn quickly! We'll spend one more night here at Camp II then descend to basecamp tomorrow to get organized for our trek out of the Vacas Valley. We'll post a couple more blogs during our descent. As always thanks for following! What a wild ride it's been!
RMI Guide Steve Gately
December 27, 2016
Posted by: Steve Gately, Hannah McGowan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 21,500'
RMI Guide Steve Gately checked in from
21,500' on Aconcagua. The team made a summit attempt today with a push from Camp 2. Unfortunately the team members were forced to turn around without reaching the summit due to poor climbing conditions. The storms of the past few days had dropped lots of new snow. The team will stay the night at Camp 2. Tomorrow they plan to descend to Base Camp.
RMI Office
On The Map
December 26, 2016
Posted by: Steve Gately, Hannah McGowan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 18,000'
The storm settled out late last night and we woke to clear cold skies this morning. The forecast was calling for improving weather and decreasing winds down to 15mph throughout the day. I was a bit skeptical of this forecast as I was seeing signs of approaching weather to the West over Chile. We opted to have a slow morning to allow the weather time to deteriorate if it was going to. After getting an updated forecast speaking yet again of calm weather we opted to start packing and head up to high camp. Of course a few minutes into taking down our tents a large lenticular cloud, often indicative of high winds, formed over the mountains rocky summit. By the time we were finished packing, clouds were rolling over camp and a gentle snow had begun to fall. Not more then 10 minutes out of camp the weather turned into a genuine blizzard! We turned around, made the 5-minute walk back and started to reestablish camp. Tomorrow is our last opportunity to go for the summit before high winds plague the area again. With the forecast still showing clear skies and light winds we'll opt to try for the summit from
Camp II tomorrow morning assuming the forecast is correct. This makes an already big day that much bigger but the team is up to the challenge. Pray to the Weather Gods for us!
RMI Guide Steve Gately
December 25, 2016
Posted by: Steve Gately, Hannah McGowan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 18,000'
Well it was a white Christmas here on
Aconcagua. Shortly after dinner last night the snow and winds arrived and they've been with us ever since. Tonight, things should taper and we're hoping to wake to gentler weather tomorrow morning so that we can move on up to high camp (19,600ft). More importantly though the team wanted to say Merry Christmas and pass along a few words to Ioved ones. I'll let them speak for themselves!
All is good on Aconcagua. Merry Christmas to everyone back home - Jed
Merry Xmas -Jim odonnell
Trip is going well. Hope to summit on the 27th. Merry Xmas. -Bob
Mu kallid emps ja tommar, triinukas ja au pere, padrunipeff ja imeliste klann, armastan teid kogu sudamest! - kerttu
Merry Christmas! Happy Birthday Nicole, Frank, and Pocho! Love you guys. -Jen
Nichole, Brenda, Amy, Mom, Dad and family: Love you and Merry Christmas! Everyone else, Merry Christmas and thanks for following! See you soon. -Boyd
Merry Christmas Lisa, Mom & Dad, Еllie and Everyone. happy birthday Mary! I love you all! -Rob Millman
On The Map
December 24, 2016
Posted by: Steve Gately, Hannah McGowan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 18,000'
Wind, wind and more wind! The forecast keeps calling for all this wind but we haven't seen any of it yet! Knock on wood, right? Because that's what your supposed to do? By admitting that there hasn't been any wind when there should be I've now angered the wind somehow, woken it from its slumber and now it's only purpose is to make it windier then it ever was supposed to be. But! If I slam my knuckles against a piece of wood, POOF! I can control the weather. Unfortunately there isn't any wood here. Maybe a rock would do? Is it just anything hard? My head has gotten pretty dense over the years maybe that will suffice? Hopefully you viewers at home recognize the above as sarcasm. Of course it only works on wood!
Okay, let's get serious. The team is doing great! We went for an acclimatization hike around midday today to about 18,500ft. The winds blew at about 15-20MPH from the Northwest but nothing anywhere near the 50+ that was forecasted. After reaching our destination the team turned around with Hannah and I continued up to our High Camp at 19,600ft to cache some food and fuel. Tomorrow, Merry Christmas, will be our last rest day at Camp II before we look to move up and set our sights on the summit. Tomorrow we'll surprise the group by making them a traditional Christmas Pizza for lunch! Okay, it's pretty much just a normal pizza, but at 18,000ft, so it should taste better, right? I thought we were trying to be serious?Anyway, don't tell them and ruin the surprise, okay. Thanks for following as always. Tomorrow we'll let the team write the blog in the form of small notes to loved ones so stay tuned!
RMI Guide Steve Gately
December 23, 2016
Posted by: Steve Gately, Hannah McGowan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 18,000'
The winds finally settled out last night for the first time in days and you could hear the heavy sounds of breathing and snoring coming from the other tents again. We woke to a pristine morning in the Andes and enjoyed being able to sit comfortably outside for breakfast. Shortly thereafter though our focus turned to business as our agenda for the day had us climbing to Camp II (18,000ft). The team was moving well and we forewent putting crampons on for the traverse up a snowy bowl feature. The lack of wind finally allowed the icy surface to thaw allowing us easy passage. Once past the col between
Aconcagua and Ameghino we were treated yet again with the expansive view of the Northern Andes only this time we kept going! The route flattens out for a moment as we contour onto the North side of the mountain, before ascending again, and traversing another glacial valley to our destination, Camp II. The winds at camp for the moment are light and variable but we expect them to increase over the next 24 hours. The team is all doing well and readjusting to thinner air. Tomorrow we further the acclimatization process by pushing a bit higher to 19,000ft and returning to Camp II to recover.
RMI Guide Steve Gately
On The Map
December 22, 2016
Posted by: Steve Gately, Hannah McGowan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 16,200'
Yet another rest day! Today the team just chilled... all day. It was a windy night so most people made up for the lack of sleep by taking naps. Walks around camp, reading, taking pictures and talking took up the the rest of the day.
The assistant guides made it up to
Camp 2 and back to cache almost all of the group food for the rest of the climb. This should help lessen the load for our team's move to Camp 2 tomorrow.
The wind died down this evening (woohoo!) so we enjoyed a comfortable quesadilla-making session outside as part of or dinner. Bellies are full and everyone is excited to continue moving up the mountain tomorrow.
Thanks for tuning in!
RMI Guides Steve Gately & Hannah McGowan
On The Map
December 21, 2016
Posted by: Steve Gately, Hannah McGowan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 17,100'
The wind battered our tents for most of the night but tapered towards the morning. Today our goal was to reach the col in between Aconcagua and Ameghino at 17,100 ft. With the winds at camp blowing at a strong 20 MPH we bumped up and prepared for the few hour climb to our destination. Shortly into our ascent we put our crampons on for the first time this trip as the brisk wind kept the snow frozen an firm. The team did great with yet another push into higher altitude and we found the winds to be very manageable. We passed through the col with little effort and walked a few more minutes to where we get a massive view of the Andes stretching out to the North. Furthest in the distance is Mercedario, the 5th tallest peak in South America at roughly 22,275 ft. It's early afternoon now and we're all back at camp safely. We'll take a few hours to rest and re-hydrate before starting the stoves for dinner. Tomorrow the winds are expected to increase yet again and we'll take this opportunity to rest and prepare for lighter winds and our move to
Camp II (18,000 ft.) on Friday.
RMI Guide
Steve Gately and Team
December 20, 2016
Posted by: Steve Gately, Hannah McGowan
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 16,200'
Today we left the comforts of Base Camp and moved to
Camp One! Our whole team did great on the way up, and we are excited to be making upward progress on the mountain.
Our journey today was mostly on rocky trails that wove through moraine material, and finished with walking up a big snowy hill the last hour before camp. The view from here is stunning. We can't see the summit, but we can see shape-shifting clouds rip over it. Looking downhill we can see the warm multi-colored mountains that make the far side of the Vacas Valley. Dinner tonight was not three courses, and it's cold and windy and we no longer have well maintained outhouses... And this is exactly what we came here to do! Everyone is in high spirits.
And now the game of chess begins. We're expecting strong winds over night and tomorrow, but we'll see what happens. Wind permitting, our plan for tomorrow is to walk to at least 17,000 feet for acclimatization. Meanwhile, a couple of us guides will move some group food as close to camp two as we can get to set the group up for success if we end up having to make a quick move to camp two in the coming days.
As the moon wanes the stars are becoming increasingly more spectacular through this dry and thin air. If it wasn't so cold it would be easy to stay mesmerized all night! Wish us mellow winds and dissipating headaches...
RMI Guide
Steve Gately and Team
I love the comment that the heights of this experience are in the ‘in betweens’. That makes such sense! What a feat - just so incredible. So very proud of your effort and it is not over yet! We all await your return and the stories thereof. Safe travels home!
Posted by: Patty and Brian McConaty on 12/28/2016 at 9:26 am
WOW!!!!! 21,500 feet…..what a terrific accomplishment! We can’t wait to hear all about it! Safe travels back!
Posted by: John on 12/27/2016 at 7:57 pm
View All Comments