Entries from Expedition Dispatches
We had a windy but great rest day here at basecamp. Drinking mate', telling stories, and pigging out. We enjoyed another delicious scramble for breakfast and then devoured a fat steak dinner. Tomorrow's move to Camp 1 should be a big day but we are certainly ready!
Today saw, most notably, the arrival of Leif and Jake here at basecamp. It was about as eventful as a rest day could be. We gorged on a bacon, egg, and cheese scramble with grilled onions and peppers, drank mate (pronounced mah-tay) and told stories all afternoon, and then had steak fajitas for dinner. Ooh yeah, we're roughing it all right! Oh yeah, we also packed and sorted provisions for tomorrow's carry to Camp 1. It has been pretty windy, and that trend is supposed to continue, so tomorrow may be a litte tougher than normal. Wish us luck.
Another day of hiking under blue skies has finally brought us into Aconcagua Base Camp. A 5 am wakeup ensured that our crossing of the Vacas River was during low flow, long before the heat of the day accelerated snowmelt. Unfortunately, such an early crossing makes for some seriously numb feet! After fording the river we began our ascent up the Relinchos Valley, 3,000 vertical feet later we rolled into Plaza Argentina. And after a nap and a fat spaghetti dinner, we're ready for a well-deserved rest day tomorrow.
Until then, ciao ciao bacalao!
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Walter Hailes Rejoins Group!
.... or so the headlines read for this team of hearty mountaineers. Ho ho ho!
Another day of hiking in perfect weather has brought us to our second camp at Casa de Piedra. Today's walk saw only a slight gain in elevation but took us further up the deep and breathtaking Vacas Valley. Huge amounts of relief, enormous floodplains, intense sun, sapphire skies were among the visual treats along the approach. Spirits are high and we look forward to reaching our basecamp at Plaza Argentina tomorrow afternoon!
Rock n' Roll,
Billy, Walt, Andy, & Dan.
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Well, after a lot of hustling around Mendoza; scrambling to both purchase and obtain permits (not done in the same location) and then go grocery shopping, we made it out of town and into the mountains! After a late evening and early morning of packing all our supplies at the Grajales facility in Penitentes, we were finally ready to hit the trail. We will spend tonight at Pampa de Lenas, our first trek camp.
Unfortunately, after a day of hiking we are still minus one Walter Hailes. Airline cancellations have kept him one step behind us for most of the trip so far. If all goes according to plan he should catch us at tomorrow's camp at Casa de Piedra. The weather has been spectacular and the team is in great spirits!
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
The team spent their last night on the trek out and has now reached the end of the trail. They will be making the drive back to Mendoza. Everyone is looking forward to good food, wine and a hot shower.
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Vinson Massif
The Ilyusion landed safely and smoothly a few minutes ago, but it will be another hour or two before we board her for the flight northward. This will be the last time that Patriot Hills acts as the main portal to the continent for climbers. The ALE staff are busily working to relocate the operation to the Union Glacier, some 40 miles away. When we -the last of this season's tourists- get on the jet and roar off the ice, the move will be made in a matter of days... Tents will come down and a few overland trains of sno-cats and various ice vehicles will drag everything to the Union. But by then we will all be back in the Northern Hemisphere. For now, we should get back to Punta Arenas in the middle of the night... In utter darkness, we hope- it will be our first look at the stars in two weeks.
We are starting to talk about dinner reservations in South America. But realistically speaking, those would be for tomorrow night, since there is a good chance we will be flying back to Punta Arenas during prime dining hours tonight.
Yesterday was spent quietly sitting in the "Guide Tent" with the 25 Vinson climbers, chatting, reading, eating and passing time. The weather wasn't horrible, but neither was it any good for flying, with low cloud and poor contrast prevailing. Today is a different story, which actually defies the forecasts... It is sunny and calm and the ALE folk have "called the flight" Meaning that the Illyusion 76 is being put through its final preparations and it may be off deck and headed our way within the next two hours.
I'll let you know of our progress.
We are safe and sound at Camp 3 after reaching the summit with 100% of our team. The weather during the ascent was great and one of the best summit days I have had on Aconcagua. We started very early, at 4:35, because it was predicted to snow this afternoon. It ended up to be a good decision because we just got the beginning of the storm before arriving back at camp.
Now it's snowing hard, but we are cooking in the safety and comfort of the tent. We will enjoy an early dinner and we will go to sleep soon. The team is tired, but everybody is ok and very happy! Tomorrow we will descend to basecamp and the next day we will start the trek out to Pampa de Lenas.
Today the weather continues to be very good. Lots of clouds around the region, but very nice temperatures at Camp 2 and mostly sunny all day on Aconcagua.
The team took an active rest day today, we went for a short hike on the slope that is the first section on our way to Camp 3. Part of the group carried three days of group food, extra fuel and stoves to Camp 3 (Camp Colera). There we were able to talk with a couple of groups that just have returned from the summit, they passed along good news about the route conditions, it looks like crampons are needed above Independencia, which will make the climbing less difficult than the scree on the upper part of the route (Travesia and Canaleta).
Tomorrow we will move to Camp 3 (our higher camp) and prepare for our early summit attempt the next morning! We will be sending dispatches from Camp 3.
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