Journey to Casa de Piedra.
Our crew made great time today on our march from Pampa de Leñas to our second trekking camp at Casa de Piedra. We had significantly cooler temps today and some welcome cloud cover (albeit with a few sprinkles) which made for a much more pleasant walk than yesterday. The crew is starting to find the rhythm of the mountain and also finding a good synergy among the teammates. We are all having fun and even enjoying some interesting people.
Good times! Headed for Aconcagua Basecamp tomorrow...
Talk soon.
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Glad you will reach base camp tomorrow. Hope photos will be forthcoming! Laura and I are reading the Inferno and enjoying Lidia’s class. Jim says, “GO Corell!” Love to you, Cindy
Posted by: Cindy Mabry on 1/16/2015 at 7:40 pm
Glad you are on the trail. Hope all is well so far. The boys and I are off to Arkansas tomorrow. There has been a huge thaw, so we might be hunting in t-shirts. Alee came to town tonight, so who knows if Philip will make the plane! Love you!! Thurston
January 14, 2015
Hola de Pampa de Leñas! Today our team made our first moves in the mountains in great style by ticking off the first stretch on our three day journey to Plaza Argentina, our basecamp. The trail was hot and dusty but we enjoyed a nice breeze from time to time and incredible views that made the heat bearable. After setting up our camp we had the good fortune to greet another RMI expedition as they arrived in camp returning from a successful summit bid a few days ago. Big congrats to Zeb and his crew! We all got to share an asado last night complete with grilled beef tenderloin and vino which was quite a treat. The herrieros (mule drivers) cooked for us over an open fire... Pretty classy backcountry living. We're thankfully not on the ramen noodle program yet, it was nice to hold that off another day. Anyway, all is well and tomorrow calls for another day of walking up the Vacas Valley... We'll check in and let you know how it goes.
All for now,
RMI Guides Billy Nugent, Katrina Bloemsma, and Billy Haas
The last few days have been a whirlwind. Just three days ago we stood on the top of Aconcagua, the highest peak outside of Asia.
We pushed hard to get down to the land of thick air, fresh food and running water. Last night we celebrated at our last camp of the expedition with a huge feast of carne asada, fresh tomato salad a little vino tinto and everyone's stories and jokes.
Tonight we're really back in civilization. Freshly showered and dressed up, we're headed to sample some of Mendoza's renowned cuisine.
For now we'll leave you with a shot from the summit. Cheers!
RMI Guide Zeb Blais and team
The main weather concern here on Aconcagua during the Summer is the wind. A typical day almost always produces blue skies. Every couple of weeks a system will roll through and produce some cloud cover and a little precipitation, but it's quite rare to have layered cloud decks and boiling fog out of the valleys.
This morning though we had quite a nice change of scenery! Clouds had moved in overnight bringing along some moisture that glazed our camp in a layer of frost. At about 7:15am when the sun would normally hit our tents, heating them up and forcing us outside, we had cloud layers more typical of our native state of Washington. The layers were weak and broken. The sun beginning to burn them off produced pockets in which the sunlight could make its way through. From Camp I you have a beautiful view East down the Relinchos Valley where the evaporating cloud layers were putting on a tremendous light show. A nice treat on a mountain that routinely gives you blue skies and high winds!
The team today will rest and prepare themselves for our move to Camp II. Everyone is excited to move up. Getting to Camp II means that, if the weather cooperates, we will have one more rest day and then move to Camp III to attempt the summit. There's finally a light at the end of the tunnel! But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, as with any expedition, you have to live in the now, and now we take care of ourselves. Eating, drinking, resting. Sounds luxurious, yea? Haha almost. Climbers always underestimate just how boring the rest day can be and how it can easily become anything but relaxing. Luckily our team is doing great with just about every aspect of expedition life, so if you were looking for some drama you might want to look at another blog!
Everyone sends their best. All is well. Stay tuned!
RMI Guide Steve Gately
We’re thinking of you here and wishing you well. The clients are all impressed with your ambition. You go girl!
Posted by: Linda on 1/16/2015 at 7:34 am
Ok Sue, Jo & Robert,
R&R and then motor up to camp 2 then tag the top and that’s an order (so long as weather and safety cooperate)!! Holding positive thoughts for you kits and cats!
Posted by: Russ Frederickson on 1/16/2015 at 6:29 am
Hey Everyone,
Today Team 4 did a carry to Camp Two at 18000 feet. However, we didn't stop there. We were all feeling so good that after we dropped our gear at camp we ventured higher to 19000 feet. The team did great and we are now back at Camp One where 16200 feet is beginning to feel like sea level. Tomorrow we will have a rest day to fully recover and assist in acclimatizing even better.
Thanks for following along!
RMI Guide JJ Justman & Team
David and Jenny
Hope everything is going well. I see the pictures on the blog. Keep warm and safe. Vaishu, Jai and Janita send their love
Vishnu
Posted by: vishnu on 1/14/2015 at 7:37 pm
Rob, Jo, and Sue,
Great work! I hope the weather has been cooperative, and that all of you are feeling well up there in the thin air. Heck, you’re up at jet altitudes, now! I’m sure there’s plenty of tea, powdered cow (good memory, Russ!), and maybe even fresh popcorn to keep your spirits up.
Hi everyone, Billy (Nugent) here checking in after the first official day on our 2015 Aconcagua expedition. Today was a crazy one and the team spent most of the day scrambling around trying to get everything ready for tomorrow´s departure to the mountain. One of our team members was the victim of freezing rain and thus a cancelled flight from O´Hare so she arrived in Mendoza this morning and was forced to hit the ground running. We went straight to the permit office to handle that and then made a quick stop to freshen up at the hotel before we departed for Penitentes where Grajales, our outfitter, has a packing facility near the trailhead. The rest of the team spent the morning tying up loose ends; making runs to the grocery store and gear shop to pick up last minute items before we all jumped in the van for a three-hour drive up to Penitentes in the mountains. Once we arrived we spent several hours packing and readying our loads for the mules that were broken up nicely by a great dinner at Ayelen, our hotel. Lots of things to remember means a fair bit of stress but that will all evaporate once we hit the trail tomorrow. The team is ready and in good spirits, eager to hit the trail! We´ll check in again from our first camp along the trekking route into basecamp.
All for now,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent and the gang
Lucy! St. Louis is routing for you, too! We will be reading about your progress and thinking about you! Good luck to you and the whole team! We love you!! Love from Mom, Erle, Donald, Donald Jr. & John
Posted by: Erle Broughton on 1/17/2015 at 9:15 pm
Good luck Billy and Company! I’ll be in Pete’s group following behind you guys. Getting ready to leave for Mendoza on Saturday. See you on the mountain!
Best regards,
Craig Falkenhagen
Atherton, CA
Posted by: Craig Falkenhagen on 1/15/2015 at 1:41 pm
We've got another rock star crew baby! Team 4 is at Camp 1 at 16,342' feet and everyone is feeling great! The views are getting better by the minute. A few clouds are slipping away in the distance and the breeze is keeping us cool. We are sipping hot soup and simply soaking up the sights. Tomorrow we plan on carrying more goods and gear higher up and I anticipate everyone is going to do awesome!!
If like to give a special message to my sister. Happy Birthday Jodi!!!
RMI Guide JJ Justman & Team
January 12, 2015, 1:30 PM PT
This is Zeb Blais checking in from high camp with a jubilant summit team. Today we topped out on Aconcagua at 2 PM in adverse weather conditions. We fought through a small snowstorm to get to the top and spent a brief time taking pictures on the summit before descending back down to camp where we are now hydrating, resting and preparing to head back to base camp tomorrow. Thanks for checking in.
January 12, 2015, 9:20 AM PTRMI Guide Zeb Blais just called from the Aconcagua summit! The team did well and they will check back in from high camp.
Congratulations to the team!
RMI Guide Zeb Blais calls in from high camp after their successful summit.
Just phoned RMI and the team is down theountain and will be in Mendosa today or tomorrow! Wow- the trip down is certainly faster than the trip up! Just thought I would post this update for those who are wondering what happened to our team!
Posted by: PKW on 1/15/2015 at 8:50 am
Haven’t had an update in many days. Are you all partying it up in base camp now?
It's another day of rest for our Aconcagua team at Base Camp. Initially our team was wondering why we were going to take a second day of rest here. After yesterday's carry to Camp 1 at 16,000 plus feet the team understands. This mountain climbing is tiring work!
We had a casual morning here at base. Steve and I made our famous home fried potatoes that even brought the Base Camp cooks out to get a plateful. After breakfast we went for a walk and got a great view of base camp from a whole different vantage point. Now team members are lounging, taking showers and ordering pizzas. Tomorrow we plan on moving up to Camp 1.
If you don't mind, I need to address one of RMI's owners, the Legendary Joe Horiskey. Joe, please, no matter what happens between the Sea...what's their name again...and the Green Bay Packers, I hope we can still be friends!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Holler mi Familia!
I hope you two are not only surviving but enjoying yourselves too. The rest of my trip in Colorado was great. Mom and I are going to see a puppet show about caring for elders with dementia on Friday…how will you be spending your Friday night? Dad I booked us a meditation retreat that takes place in Auschwitz in November. Love and miss you both!!
Dad-To a man standing at the edge of a cliff, progress is defined as taking a step backwards.
Jenny-What is happening within us, will create what is happening outside of us.
I BELIEVE IN YOU, SO YOU BELIVE IN YOU!
Love, G
Posted by: G on 1/14/2015 at 6:01 pm
Christmas cards arrived yesterday and they look great! Jenny, thanks for all of you did getting the artwork ready. David, your 30 are in the mail today, the rest will follow this week. I am going to MN this weekend so I will be home to retrieve you two intrepid hikers from ORD on the 27th. Love you both!
M/N
Last night I was woken up at 2am by a flashing outside my tent. I thought to myself, "Who is taking photos right now!?" So I took advantage of being awake and got up to use the bathroom when I realized the flashing was actually coming from an enormous electrical storm nearly 50 miles east from basecamp. With a relatively large moon out, you could see the huge towering clouds stretching tens of thousands of feet into the air and the lightning was so intense and so massive that it was lighting up basecamp. How incredible! Never have I seen such a display of lightning!
On a less exciting note the team woke up to PERFECT weather. Boring right? No, but I capitalize perfect because it truly was. Breathe less wind, blue skies and warm temps. Perfect for sticking your nose into higher altitude. Which is exactly what we did! The team made the first carry to Camp I (16,200ft) like they were walking out to retrieve the morning paper. Casually. Very impressive! We arrived at Camp I, took a short break, cached our gear and made our descent back to basecamp. I ran down ahead of the group and prepared some pitchers of juice, fresh fruit and sliced cucumber with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt for lunch. The team is now taking a well deserved siesta before dinner as we look forward to our last day in basecamp tomorrow.
RMI Guide Steve Gately
Glad you will reach base camp tomorrow. Hope photos will be forthcoming! Laura and I are reading the Inferno and enjoying Lidia’s class. Jim says, “GO Corell!” Love to you, Cindy
Posted by: Cindy Mabry on 1/16/2015 at 7:40 pm
Glad you are on the trail. Hope all is well so far. The boys and I are off to Arkansas tomorrow. There has been a huge thaw, so we might be hunting in t-shirts. Alee came to town tonight, so who knows if Philip will make the plane! Love you!! Thurston
Posted by: Thurston Moore on 1/16/2015 at 5:54 pm
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