Entries from Aconcagua
Well gang,
Here we are chilling in beautiful Mendoza! Obviously, after a long, dusty, and somewhat brutal walk out from Plaza Argentina through the Vacas Valley. On our final night in the backcountry we rolled in to Pampa de Lenas where our mule drivers had prepared a delicious asada to greet us. We dined on juicy steaks, chicken, salad, and of course plenty of wine around an open fire that had been used to prepare the food. These guys know how to live! Eat, drink, be merry, and then go to sleep under the stars high in the Andes. Needless to say, our crew was a bit of a sorry sight in the morning. By the time we rubbed the sleep out of our eyes and ate some quick breakfast it was 9 or so in the morning. Oops. We still had about 4 hours of walking until we hit the road. But we cruised on and ended up timing our arrival perfectly with the arrival of our baggage with the mules. After a couple hours of working with and cleaning up the group gear we hit the road to Mendoza. What were we looking forward to? The Super Bowl! After a shower and a quick nap we all went out to the pub and watched the Super Bowl over dinner and a few beers. Tonight's the night of our real celebration. We all plan to cap off our day of sitting poolside with a celebratory dinner at Francis Mallman 1884. This is truly one of the world's finest restaurants, and it shouldn't be too out of hand because of the wonderfull exchange rate!
Thanks to everyone who has been following along and supporting the members of our team from home. We miss you all and will see you soon!
Hey gang this is Billy calling from Basecamp. We rolled in yesterday evening. Everyone is really tired and a little banged up. Just letting you know that we are all good. We are walking out to Papa de Lenas today. And hopefully we will check in with a dispatch later this evening or tomorrow when we hit the road.
See you soon.
The group is safely back at Camp 3 (high camp) after a successful summit attempt today. The weather was clear and overall they had a good, albeit long, day. They will spend tonight at Camp 3 and start their descent to Basecamp tomorrow after a good night's rest.
We made the move today to Camp 3 and everyone is doing well. We have adjusted our schedule due to some weather that is expected to move in this weekend and are going to take advantage of these clear days. Our plan is to make the summit attempt tonight. Send us your good thoughts! We will check in tomorrow when we are back at camp.
Here we are, situated nicely at Camp 2 (19,200 ft) after a long move from Camp 1. Tomorrow will be another rest day that should allow our bodies to make some final adjustments before we take a crack at the summit. The team is in good spirits and is looking forward for our chance to stand on top!
Should be soon!
Saying hello from our final day at Camp 1. Currently we're resting up for a big push up to Camp 2 tomorrow. The team is acclimatizing well and getting stronger by the day. We're really starting to feel like we're getting up there. Wish us luck as we push higher and begin staging for our summit bid later this week!
Hello everybody!
Billy and Jake here with a dispatch from lovely Camp 1 on Aconcagua. Last night we were visited in camp by both a hawk and a fox; hopefully these are good omens for the rest of our climb. We spent most of today lounging around camp enjoying the sunshine. Tomorrow's plans call for a carry up to Camp 2 up above 19,000'! Should be a tough day but we expect everyone to do well. Thanks to all the friends and family who've been following along.
Our group is back at Basecamp after a carry to Camp 1 today where we cached some gear. We enjoyed a rest day yesterday after arriving at Basecamp (13,800'). Everyone is doing well and using this time to acclimate, rest and prepare for our move to Camp 1 (16,200') tomorrow. We will check in again soon.
Hey gang!
Billy and Jake here checking in from the beautiful but dusty Aconcagua basecamp. Our crew rolled in today; climbing strong and feeling great. On our way up today we bumped into the other descending RMI crew and it was good to see some familiar (if not famous) faces. Our walk in from the road has been a long and hot one but the team is in great spirits nonetheless. Tomorrow's plans call for a well deserved rest day.
Everyone on the team would like to send their love to friends and family!
Last night at high camp, it just didn't seem like we would get a chance to make the top of Aconcagua... it was snowing and socked in when I sent yesterday's dispatch. But then, just before darkness came on, the snow stopped and the clouds dropped. During the night there were occasional waves of intense wind that could be heard coming from miles away, but these were short bursts and sure enough, at 4 AM the stars were out and the wind was gone. Our stoves were cooking by 4:15 and we were walking out of camp by headlamp at around 5:15 AM, bound for the summit.
We had crampons on all the way and were lucky to be on snow for about 95% of our journey. Peter mentioned that he'd done the same climb without once touching snow, just loose rock, so we were happy with the conditions. It wasn't terribly cold and once we found sunshine things were quite pleasant. We lost that sunshine when we began the long, long traverse to the base of the Canaleta. There were perhaps a hundred other climbers going for the top today, but we ended up nearly in the lead by half-way up the steep and direct Canaleta. This broad gulley is about 800 vertical feet... easy at sea level, I'm sure, but beginning at 22,000 ft makes it somewhat challenging. We were challenged, but all did well, the extra nights at high camp had worked in our favor for acclimatization.
We popped out on the summit at noon and enjoyed a sunny and wonderful hour up there. We were victorious and thrilled with the new views... but several of us cried like babies as we remembered our friend Fede and his tragic passing on the summit of Aconcagua all too recently. We left the top at 1 PM and walked quickly into a snowstorm. Not a vicious snowstorm, there was little wind, but a socked-in, steady snowfall. It only took us two hours to make it back to high camp and so we knocked the tents down and set out walking for basecamp. We were anxious to get down and rejoin the rest of our team who'd descended yesterday.
In Basecamp by about 6:30, we had a fine reunion dinner and made plans for our walk down-valley begining tomorrow.
An improbable summit became a treasured moment with great friends close to 23,000 ft above sea level. All are safe, all are down the hard part of the mountain.
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