After going to bed last night to the sound of heavy rain and hail, we were unsure what we would find this morning. Waking up to blue skies and warm weather was a pleasant surprise. Once the team had finished breakfast, we set about the arduous process of sorting through gear to carry uphill. Up until now mules have carried our gear, so weight was not a concern. Folding chairs, speaker boxes, cotton clothes, hardback books...anything was fair game. Now that we are carrying the gear on our backs, loads needed to be cut to a minimum and luxury items were left behind. With the packs trimmed to a reasonable size we made the two-hour climb up to our camp at 16,200'. Currently the team is resting and looking forward to moving up again tomorrow. RMI Guide Eric Frank and the Alpamayo team