Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Hello from Aconcagua,
We are sitting here at Camp 2 with intermittent snow falling. Another
scheduled rest day but luckily this one coincides with our first lousy patch of weather. We ate cheerios with craisins for breakfast! Exciting, I know... Maybe tomorrow we'll have some news that's a bit more breathtaking, like "we just moved to high camp 2," or something like that.
That's about it,
RMI Guides Billy, Leon, and the gang.
Hello from Mexico City,
Tonight the team arrived, all with the same number of bags they left the states with and ready to go. We had a great intro dinner at a classic Centro Historico restaurant and retired to our rooms to get a good night's sleep before leaving the city tomorrow. Off to a good start down here and we'll check in from
La Malinche tomorrow.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Hola amigos de
Guanacos Camp (Camp 2)! We awoke to perfectly clear, blue skies so we took advantage by breaking down camp early and ascending up to Camp 2 where we are currently well established. However, this morning's blue skies have given way to some clouds and flurries. Seems like we've timed tomorrow's rest day perfectly with some crappy weather. Right now there's an ominous lenticular cloud engulfing the summit but the team remains optimistic because there should be a break in the weather beginning Monday evening. We are all feeling great and climbing exceptionally well. Tonight is also Michael's birthday and we intend to do our best to celebrate it at well over 18,000'.
Ciao,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Hello from Mexico City,
Tonight the team arrived, all with the same number of bags they left the states with and ready to go. We had a great intro dinner at a classic Centro Historico restaurant and retired to our rooms to get a good night's sleep before leaving the city tomorrow. Off to a good start down here and we'll check in from
La Malinche tomorrow.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Hello from Mexico City,
Tonight the team arrived, all with the same number of bags they left the states with and ready to go. We had a great intro dinner at a classic Centro Historico restaurant and retired to get a good night's sleep before leaving the city tomorrow. Off to a good start down here and we'll check in from
La Malinche tomorrow.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Not much to report from Camp 1, which is to be expected on a rest day. The good weather continues to hold and the team seems rested and eager for tomorrow's move up to
Camp 2. We've been passing the time catching rays (Mark--shirtless!), jamming our iPods, and of course good old fashioned reading. A full day in the tent can inspire some serious restlessness, which we hope will propel us upward tomorrow.
Signing off,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
Hi this is
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall checking in from Camp Muir on Day 5 of our
Expedition Skills Seminar - Winter. We've been having some serious winter weather up here. Although it has kept us off of the upper mountain, we have been able to do a lot of training out in the elements. Yesterday the storms kept us inside for a bit but we were able to venture outside to practice our crevasse rescue systems. This morning we had a great session on a fixed-line course and also practiced rappelling. This afternoon we have more activities planned and the we'll settle in for our last night at Camp Muir.
Another day of near perfect weather! So, we took advantage by bringing another load of supplies further up the mountain to our
Camp 2 or Chopper Camp. There used to pieces of a wrecked helicopter strewn about camp but today's visit confirmed the fact that most of the wreckage has been removed. All of the guys on the team performed extremely well on our first mission above 18,000'. Upon returning to camp it seems that several teams moved up today so there's lots of room in Camp 1. Right now we're laying around after the day's work contemplating our next move...
All for now,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
On The Map
Today we made our first big move up the mountain as we left basecamp and have settled in at
Aconagua's Camp 1. Despite a couple hiccups (negotiating with some Russians over tent platforms, some minor blisters, and acquainting ourselves with the bio-bag human waste system) today's move was the smoothest I've seen. The guys are all in great spirits after having a great meal and a hot drink before crawling in for the night. We hope to take advantage of more good weather forecasted for tomorrow by pushing another carry up to our Camp 2, also know as
Chopper Camp.
We'll check in again tomorrow evening,
RMI Guides Billy Nugent & Leon Davis
On The Map
Not a lot to report on our last rest day at
Base Camp. The crew has been keeping busy reading, jamming tunes, tanning, etc.
RMI Guide Leon Davis lead the guys through a knot and anchor session that everyone found interesting. Other than that we've just been chilling, trying not to be anxious about the big day tomorrow on our move to Camp 1. We'll check in from over 16k tomorrow!
All for now,
RMI Guide Billy Nugent
P.S. William would also like to wish his son John a very happy birthday! He wishes he could be there to share it with you.
On The Map
“scheduled” rest day- we all know that means Mike’s party went on a little too long. Happy Birthday Mike I’m sure you and Bruce are having a great time just remember when things get hairy think Stallone- Cliffhanger. 60% of the time it works everytime
Posted by: Mark on 2/12/2012 at 10:03 am
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