Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Hey everyone this is JJ Justman and Christina. We are at Pampa de Las Lenas, our first trekking camp. Today, was one heck of an adventure. Everything's great, the team is great. Everyone's doing well. But the rain fall and the snow accumulation that they had in this area was definitely prevalent today. There was a lot of water that we never encountered here before. Typically you can step across these tiny little creeks and today we had to full on wade through them almost to our waists. it was actually a lot of fun, but it was a big surprise and it took a little longer than normal. We had a great asado dinner with the cowboys here and we're enjoying the first evening out on the trail. It's a beautiful evening. As I mentioned the entire team is doing really great and having a lot of fun. So stay tuned tomorrow. We're going to see what's in store for us. I hope it's not as interesting as it was today. But, if it is, that's why we're here to have a great adventure. So stay tuned, and we'll see how things go tomorrow. Take care from Argentina. Bye.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
RMI Guide JJ Justman checks in after reaching Pampa de Las Lenas at 9,000 ft en route to Aconcagua Base Camp.
On The Map
See! I told you so! Good news from Aconcagua. Our team member's missing bags are here! We left Mendoza early this afternoon and are now in "The Aspen" of the Mendoza region, named Penitentes.
We had to stop at Estancia de Elias, a great restaurant for their famous empanadas. The team organized our gear while Christina and I packed all the expedition food and gear. We are lucky that we get to have the cowboys help by packing the majority of gear on mules.
However, it's getting late, we are having dinner and one of the team members is eyeing my bacon and cheese stuffed chicken so I need to go before Stephanie takes a bite!
Chau from Argentina,
RMI Guides JJ Justman and Christina von Mertens
Posted by: JJ Justman, Christina Dale
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Team Aconcagua signing in from Mendoza, Argentina. Our first team has arrived and I have said it many times, the hardest part of the trip is getting started.
We have missing bags and other adversities. However, that's not getting us down or holding us back. After all, we are in Argentina! Its time to relax, enjoy and everything will come together.
So as we solve these roadblocks today, we are reliving a great dinner last night. The team is getting to know one another and its all smiles in the land of sun!
Stay tuned as our adventure unfolds. Will the bags show up? Will JJ actually grow hair only to have it go grey? Which team member will finish the 96-ounce steak challenge?
RMI Guides JJ Justman and Christina von Mertens
See you all at basecamp in a few days!
Posted by: Dave Vee on 12/7/2015 at 9:08 pm
Looks like one heck of a game crew - not sure the mountain is ready for all that energy. Wishing you perfect weather and friendly mules. And save room for pizza at base camp!
Posted by: Peter Rogers on 12/7/2015 at 4:24 pm
We made it!
It was a tough day on Cayambe today to say the least. We managed to hit the trail shortly after midnight as planned. Unfortunately the wind had picked up through the night and made the hour climb to the start of the glacier a chilly one. The team did a great job of keeping themselves protected from the wind as we climbed higher up the mountain. About two hours into the climb the weather slowly turned from clear skies with nice views of the towns below, into a think cloud obscuring nearly everything. Luckily for us the route was still visible and we continued upward. It wasn't long before we were fully enveloped in this wet cloud and had to put on nearly all of our clothing to stay dry. Sadly the weather didn't change for the remainder of the climb, but everyone remained positive and we eventually made it to the summit. There were no beautiful views as we had hoped, and we only stayed at the summit for a few minutes before descending back down the mountain.
All in all it was a great adventure and we are now all smiling after hot showers and a warm meal. We are currently relaxing at the oldest Hacienda in Ecuador, Guachala.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Cayambe crew
On The Map
Way to stick with tough conditions! Prayers for safe travels!
Jen and Dave Porter
Posted by: Jen Porter on 12/6/2015 at 7:57 am
Congrats you guys. Way to go! Can you say hot tub:-)
Posted by: Jim Sheedy on 12/5/2015 at 9:59 am
Hello everyone.
All is well here in Ecuador.
The team got a decent night of sleep here on Cayambe at 15,000'. We got up at 6 am and had a nice breakfast before hiking up to the start of the glacier. We took our time on the hike and enjoyed the beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. It was pretty windy this morning so we kept things brief on our review of glacier travel, then made our way back to the hut for a nice lunch.
Currently the team is taking naps or resting outside in the always warming Ecuadorian sun. Our plan is to have an early dinner tonight and try to get a little more shut-eye before our alpine start. We'll most likely get up at 11pm, have a quick breakfast and coffee, then start climbing around midnight to make use of the cooler temps. If all goes according to plan we hope to summit around 7 am give or take a few.
As per usual, I'm going to have a mountain trivia challenge where one lucky winner will receive a summit phone call from the Satellite phone. So everyone back home keep your phones nearby, you might be receiving a call from a strange number.
Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and the Cayambe crew
On The Map
Mark and Shawn,
Hey guys hope your climb was awesome!!! Can’t wait to see some photos and hear a few stories.
All my best,
Jimmy
Posted by: Jimmy Sheedy on 12/4/2015 at 8:37 am
Tom - I’ll use your call as my wake-up alarm…be safe!!
Posted by: Diane on 12/3/2015 at 9:39 pm
Hey, everybody, this is Casey Grom checking in from Ecuador. Today we had a nice leisurely morning. Woke up at the wonderful Casa del Sol, had a nice breakfast with scrambled eggs and some home-baked bread and some fresh marmalade they made for us. We got packed up and left our wonderful hacienda and headed into the center of Otavalo. Otavalo is a northern city in Ecuador that is famous for being one of the largest outdoor markets in all of South America. We spent a good hour walking around sightseeing and doing a little bartering to purchase a few trinkets. Everyone had a nice day. The weather was pretty nice all day. We had to wear plenty of sunscreen because it's obviously a lot of UV exposure here on the equator. After we spent some time at Otavalo, we headed over to the town of Cayambe, which is at the base of the mountain that we are here to climb, and had a nice lunch. After we wrapped up lunch, we got back into our bus and we slowly made our way up the flanks of Cayambe. We get out of the city and get onto these cobblestone roads and slowly zigzag our way up grassy hillsides and vegetation that is up here near the base of Cayambe. We made it up to about 14,000 feet where we got out and loaded our stuff into a four-wheel drive vehicle and sent our gear up to the hut. Then we continued on foot, to help with our acclimatization, we hiked the last remaining thousand feet, which took about an hour, up to the refugio or the hut that is at the base of the mountain. We just finished a wonderful meal of trout and potatoes and some soup. Everyone's doing great, We are heading to bed here pretty soon. Game plan is to get up and do a little training tomorrow, so thanks for following. We'll check in again sometime tomorrow afternoon.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
RMI Guide Casey Grom calls in from Cayambe Climber's Hut.
On The Map
Cool blog and some awesome pics already! Good luck to all on your climb.
Mark and Shawn, shoooooooooo muck dooooooo eeeet!!! Rock ‘em, Sock ‘em!! How how!!
Posted by: Bo on 12/4/2015 at 12:13 pm
Hey Mark,
Love this website, as we sit by the fire watching Netflix…..not much of an adventure for us! So take lots of notes and bring back your stories. Be safe, enjoy each moment.
Xxx ooo
Doug and Ann
Posted by: Doug and Ann on 12/3/2015 at 5:57 pm
December 1, 2015 - 6:48 pm PT
Hello again everyone!
Today the team left behind the hustle and bustle of Quito and moved just north of the Equator to the comfortable and quite rural countryside. Once outside the city limits the landscape quickly turned into rolling hills with farms pitched on steep slopes and dozens of small eucalyptus forest.
Our plan was to visit a smaller mountain called Fuya Fuya where we stretched our legs on a nice steep and short acclimatization hike. Thankfully the weather was nice which allowed us to see some amazing views of the beautiful surrounding landscape.
We are just on the outskirts of a town call Otavalo, which is known for its massive market and we are currently relaxing at a wonderful Hacienda called "La Casa Sol". The team is doing great and looking forward to nice quite night here.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
On The Map
Hello again everyone:
Today we had a very nice hike to help with our acclimatization on a nearby peak called Pichincha. It is one of the many local peaks that is situated above Quito and is used by many climbers to help adjust to the higher altitude here in Ecuador. We made use of the gondolas to help us gain access to around 13,000ft then hiked the additional 2,500ft to the summit. It took our team roughly three hours to gain the top after a little scrambling up the final bit to reach our high point thus far. It was a personal high point for a few of us, and the entire team did a fantastic job. After spending a bit of time on the summit and getting our photos, we descended all the way back to our hotel for a brief nap before dinner.
Everyone is in good spirits and looking forward to tomorrow.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Sounded like a great day!!
Posted by: Carol on 12/2/2015 at 9:26 pm
Hola from Ecuador!
After some very long flights and a little bit of sleep the team is doing well. We started our day with a team meeting where we did our usual round of introductions and discussed the game plan for our upcoming adventure.
After the meeting we headed out on the town to explore this beautiful historical city with our tour guide Daniela. She first took us to the older part of town where we visited several old cathedrals, then to the colonial town square. Next we headed up to a small hill called La Panacia that over looks this beautiful city before heading north to visit the equator from which Ecuador gets its name.
We finished the day with a small break and then a quick gear check to make sure everyone has all the gear needed for our climbs. Then it was off to dinner at a nice Ecuadorian restaurant where we enjoyed getting to know each other better.
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
Mark & Shawn,
Wishing you both and the team a great climb!
Kindest Regards,
Jeannie
Posted by: Jeannie Sheedy on 12/3/2015 at 12:09 pm
It certainly looked like a spectacular day in Quito!
Can’t wait to hear more!
Love to Craig!
Posted by: Carol Clark on 11/30/2015 at 5:27 pm
Posted by: JJ Justman, Mike King
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mexico
Well folks...I had my best weather day on Ixta. And yesterday and today, I had my worst weather day on Orizaba. The team is great but we were unable to summit Orizaba. High winds and a constant rain prevented us from going higher. However, that is not preventing us from having a great experience. As for me, this was a phenomenal team and we had I think, too much fun. Mike and I hope to climb with everyone again. We are now back at Sr. Reyes and are drying all our soggy gear.
This is the last blog for Team Mexico. Thank you all for following along.
RMI Guides JJ Justman and Mike King
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A big hooray for the lost luggage fairies! This looks like my idea of climbing, btw. A nice dinner, great company and BACON!
Posted by: Lori Welch Brown on 12/9/2015 at 6:43 am
Everyone looks relaxed and comfortable. Nice way to start. Good luck.
Posted by: Dudley Macfarlane on 12/8/2015 at 4:01 pm
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