The Guiding Life!! It's not so glamorous. Steve, and I are sitting at high camp 19,600' feet on Aconcagua with the team. They are all doing great. The guides however are pulling their hair out (ok, ok, I'm not)! But Steve is because our stoves are being very temperamental. We are working hard to make water, hot drinks and dinner. All is well and we are excited for a great summit day tomorrow. Stay tuned!!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Hey everybody!
Checking in from Aconcagua Basecamp after a wholesome meal of steak, potatoes, and red berries. Today was spent recovering from our three days of approach and preparing for our carry to Camp 1 tomorrow. These days can often be long but this one seemed to breeze by due to great conversation with great people. We spent hours telling stories and joking around, with the laughter alleviating any sign of an altitude-related headache.
Now the sun has set, lighting the clouds to the east in brilliant blues, purples, and pink. As the stars rise we drift to sleep looking forward to climbing high on this beautiful peak tomorrow.
Thanks for tuning in!
RMI Guide Walter Hailes
Team 1 is back!!! Thanks to Steve's genius technology skills. The team is resting today at Camp 2 which is at 18,000 feet. Everyone is doing great! As a matter if fact, I can't remember another team that was on equal level in terms of strength. If all goes well we should have a fantastic summit day. We are shooting for the summit on the 28th so keep your fingers crossed!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
December 24th, 11:30 am PT
The team is enjoying Christmas Eve this year at 15,500ft on the tallest mountain outside of the Himalaya, not to shabby, eh? Temperatures are still warm and the winds mild. Today we rest and prepare for the real work of moving up to Aconcagu's Camp 2 tomorrow. Keep our climbers in mind tomorrow, Christmas Day, as we'll be hauling 50-pound packs to 18,000ft. I know the team wishes they could be home with.... Well why don't I just let them tell you themselves....
Wishing all of my Hawaii peeps a blessed holiday season! I'm in good spirits and feeling well physically (and more important, mentally) to summit soon. Let's celebrate when I return! Love, Del.
All's well! Wishing a Merry Christmas to Taegan, family and fellow climbing buddies hanging at lower elevations for the holiday! Love you all--Matt
Having a great time. All is well! Enjoying the views, steaks and a great team. Merry Christmas to all! Love Nigel
Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas! Wish I could join you but Christmas at 18,000 is not too bad. Claud - I hope you're behaving yourself! Love,
Marek
I AM ON AN ADVENTURE!!!
Mammut
Pogoda przepiekna, super samopoczucie, towarzystwo wysmienite!!! Wesolych Swiay i Szczesliwego Nowego Roku - Pawel
Missing you very much this Christmas Bea! Wish I was there with you and the girls and Grant. Keep those good thoughts coming my way. Love ya, Jemes.
My dear Alex, you motivate and encourage me every step of the way, as always in front of me leading the way. Thank you for being the most amazing part of my life. Merry Christmas my love. I'm yours always. Ruben
Christmas Day was a little different for us this year than the usual gift giving and big meal with the family. We moved into our new home for the next several days, Plaza Argentina, our base camp. After a great three-course dinner of soup, lasagna, and rich dessert, we discussed some of our holiday traditions including fondue donuts and chocolate coins.
We miss you all back at home and hope you had as happy a Christmas as we have had.
RMI Guide Walter Hailes
Do something today that your future self will thank you for.
Posted by: Chris on 12/26/2014 at 4:14 am
Equipo Hailes we miss you all as well. We observe your accomplishments each day individually (GO VIV!!!!) and as they say in Spanish el equipo, the team. A strong team is what counts both on the mountain and in everyday life.
Hey everyone. This is JJ and Steve here with Team One on Aconcagua. Merry Christmas everyone. Happy Holidays. We had a great day moving camp from Camp 1 to Camp 2. We made it here early afternoon at 18,000 feet, set up camp and have some hot soup on the stove. And now we're just relaxing and taking it easy on a nice sunny day here on Aconcagua. The team is doing really, really well. The weather is pretty darn nice and we have a decent forecast. It's looking like after the 28th, the winds might pick up a little bit, so hopefully, we're knocking on wood, keeping our fingers crossed. We have a little bit more work to do but the team is really, really strong and really, really fun to hang out these guys on Christmas and we of course want to say hi and hello and give our love to family and friends back at home. We will send another dispatch here on the days to come. But tomorrow our plan is to take a nice rest day and relax here at 18,000 feet. Take care everyone. Again, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and stay tuned.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
RMI Guide JJ Justman calls in from Aconcagua Camp 2
Hey everyone!
Today the team made it to Casa de Piedra, our second camp of the trip. Everyone did well with the hike up the valley despite being blasted in the face with 25 mph winds! We even got our first view of the mountain right before we entered camp. I would guess that we shot well over 100 pictures between all of us.
Now it is dinner time, I think Walt is whipping up a stew with lots of fresh vegetables. The winds are calming down so I think we'll have a few laughs, head to bed, and try to envision sugar plum fairies as we hope for a visit from Santa.
Happy holidays folks!
RMI Guides Walter Hailes, Ben Liken and Stoney Molina
Hey Darrin,
The pics look great! I’m sure the views real time are crazy….keep hammerin away I wiil all be worth it at the summit!
John Bone
Posted by: John Bone on 12/25/2014 at 6:10 pm
Merry Christmas Colin! We miss you here, celebrating Christmas with Mom & Michael. I am following your climb & eager daily to get updates. We love you, Stevi, Curtis & Eboni
Hey everyone. This is JJ with Team One Aconcagua. The team is up here at Camp One; we're doing great. We actually all wrote an elaborate email wishing family and friends Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, etc. But wouldn't you know it, we're having a little bit of technical difficulty sending that email so I'm calling in this dispatch instead. Everyone here sends their love to all their family and friends. We'll get this little glitch sorted out, and we'll send that email so all of you can read the words of of your loved ones here on Aconcagua. The team is doing great. We had a rest day today, but tomorrow it's back to business. We're gonna enjoy a great Christmas Eve dinner here at 15,500 feet. And then tomorrow we're going to head on up to Camp 2, which is at 18,000 feet. Everyone, like I said is doing wonderful and they all say hello. Happy Holidays and they send their love to all their family and friends. You guys take care. Stay tuned and hopefully will have some more exciting news for you in the days to come. Take care everyone, bye.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
RMI Guide JJ Justman calls in from Aconcagua Camp One.
First day on the Aconcagua trail and even though it was hot, we had a nice breeze blowing most of the day. We were all very thankful to have that wind. We moved well on the trail enjoying the rigid high desert beauty. We also continued to tell stories of loved ones at home and a few misadventures.
RMI Guide Walter Hailes
New scenery is always a welcome site on an expedition and the carry to Aconcagua Camp 2 (18,000ft) is always one of my favorite parts of the trip! The route from Camp 1 had us traveling west across the flanks of a broad basin until we eventually made a sharp turn north and headed towards the col between Aconcagua and fellow neighboring peak Cerro Ameghino. This is where it gets good! Crossing over the col the high Andes open up in front of us and we're left with stunning views of big glaciers and 6,000m peaks.
Everyone woke this morning to the sound of silence... Ah, yes! The winds finally died down and we were left with a breathless morning and we couldn't have been more thrilled. Higher elevation, new views, warm temperatures and no wind. Couldn't have asked for a better day! The crew did a fantastic job navigating new terrain and thinner air today and with a rest day planned for tomorrow the team will prepare for the move to Camp 2 on Christmas Day! What better way to spend Christmas than with a headache and a rough nights sleep!? No, in all seriousness the team has been handling the altitude like champs and they're excited to be just a little bit closer to the summit. Everyone sends their best regards to their loved ones and stay tuned for the always riveting rest day blog update!
RMI Guide Steve Gately
OMG…I am so proud of all of you!!! You guys ROCK!
Debbi
Posted by: Debbi on 12/28/2014 at 7:57 am
Don’t stop when you are tired…stop when you are done.
Posted by: Chris on 12/28/2014 at 1:17 am
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