Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Buenas Noches from Quito!
Today was a great day by all accounts. We hit the trail early today, catching a ride to the teleferico for the first can up the mountain. A quick ride and we were perched well above Quito, looking down from 13,500 feet above the sea. As we readied ourselves for our hike,
Cotopaxi even graced us with an appearance. Solid start to a day.
Walking towards Rucu Pinchincha we spent a few hours ascending to 15,500 feet. The team did a fantastic job today, brushing up on some skills and generally impressing Ben and I. A great day of acclimatizing is never complete without a cup of coffee for the ride down to town, so we obliged happily.
After an afternoon rest it was dinner time and we enjoyed our best meal so far, carbo loading like champs in fine style and waddling home to rest up for our trip to the Illinizas tomorrow. Off to a great start over here.
RMI Guides
Jake Beren &
Ben Liken
On The Map
We made the big trek to
Camp 3 today! It's not actually that far, about three hours of walking, but there aren't too many O's at 19,000 feet, and we had a pretty decent wind gusting at us from all directions. Needless to say, we are happy to be in our tents in camp, and pumped for the summit push tomorrow morning. We'll see how much sleep we can get in the thin air up here first, and hopefully we'll give a call from the
summit tomorrow afternoon.
Cheers,
RMI Guides Pete Van Deventer, Leon Davis, Mike King, and gang
On The Map
We're at high camp!
It was another beautiful morning and the team made good time to our
high camp which sits just over 15,000'. We are currently sitting in our hot tents awaiting lunch. Then we'll have a summit talk to make sure we are all prepared for tomorrow. Everyone is feeling well and looking forward to tonight's climb. We'll be up early and try to be walking just after 1:00 a.m. If all things go according to plan, then we should reach the summit sometime after 7:00 and hopefully before 9:00 in the morning.
We had a trivia challenge that will allow the winner a one minute call from the summit. So, if you live in Texas and your significant other has uttered "my bad baby" then keep your phone handy. And remember Texas is 9 hours behind.
That's all for now. We'll try to call from the top.
Wish us luck!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Great first day on the ground here in
Quito. After a leisurely breakfast here at our hotel, we met up with our trusty city tour guide Jorge and hit the streets. Touring the Basilica and Old Town districts and paying the Virgin of Quito a visit, we got a pretty good set of views this morning. The afternoon took us to the
Equator where we marveled at how easy it is to jump from one hemisphere to another and tested which way the water spins (or doesn't) in the North and South.
Now it's time to rest before getting an early-ish start and exploring
Rucu Pinchincha, an extinct volcano accessed by a Teleferico from town.
Buenes noches,
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Groundhog Day here at
Aconcagua Camp 2. A windy night and windy day here confirmed our decision to wait a day before moving up. It's hard to spend two days just hanging in tents though, and the group is psyched to move tomorrow and get closer to our objective. As the forecasts keep coming in (we get pretty OCD as guides right around now) things are looking great for Sunday! Onward and upward,
RMI Guides Pete, Leon, Mike, and team
On The Map
Hello Everyone,
We woke to mostly clear skies for the first time since leaving our hotel. We had the normal tea in our tents just before 7 and had another enjoyable breakfast of fresh fruit and eggs for breakfast. We then hit the trail shortly after 8 and made good time up the
Barranco Wall. This wall is about 1,000' high and is the steepest part of the entire climb requiring hands in a few places to assist us up a few steep steps. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and change of the new terrain. It was amazing to watch the porters easily navigate this terrain with their loads carefully balanced on their heads. We made good time and arrived in a little over 3 hours to our new home sitting at just over 13'000'.
We are incredibly thankfully to all of our porters and crew who have been working so hard to keep us well feed and comfortable thus far. You can't imagine how they dismantle one camp shortly after we leave, to then have it reassembled before we arrive.
Enjoying being spoiled!
RMI Guide
Casey Grom and Crew
A Special note:
I hope all is well back home and appreciate the updates from you guys. To mom and my two wonderful brothers. Its been a memorable experience. Built a cairn in honor of dad at camp 4. To "G" in Washington - All is well. ; )
Hello Everyone,
We are off to a good start here in
Quito! Everyone (and all their bags) has arrived and today we are hitting the streets to check out Ecuador's capital city. We will also take a jaunt to the Equator,the Mitada del Mundo. We'll let you know how the day's adventure unfolds when we get back, but it sure feels good to be off to a good start.
RMI Guide
Jake Beren & Team
Hey all,
We had a fabulous rest day at
Camp 2 today. We went for a short walk to look at the route above us, ate, and napped. We did get a new forecast today, and with the new info, we've decided to rest tomorrow again at Camp 2, then move up Saturday to summit Sunday. This sets us up better for winds, and Camp 2 is a great place to acclimate and get strong. So tomorrow: Groundhog Day! We'll be in touch soon.
Cheers,
The
Aconcagua crew
We departed the Shira Plateau this morning in a light mist. Last night brought significant precipitation and muddied the trails a bit. However, the night rain afforded us a beautiful view of the mountain and its new snow. The day's traverse provided great views of the landscape and curious vegetation. About five hours from the onset, we walked down through rolling fog to our camp nestled underneath the
Barranco Wall. Spirits are high and bellies are full. Tomorrow, we wake up early to traverse beneath the Southern Breach Wall.
Stay tuned,
RMI Climber Dan C.
On The Map
We made the jump!
Camp One was old news and folks were sick of the same old scenery, so we decided to move to
Camp Two at 18,000' today. We had beautiful climbing conditions: a light breeze and sunshine, and arrived at camp to find it mostly empty. We got our pick of tent sites before several groups rolled in after us.
Because
RMI Guide JJ Justman's team was kind enough to leave us a cache of food and fuel at Camp 3, we have decided not to carry tomorrow, but to rest instead. That sets us up to potentially move to
Camp 3 on Friday, and potentially summit on Saturday. There are a lot of ifs in that sentence, and we have to remain flexible up here, but we have our fingers crossed. We'll keep you updated.
Cheers,
RMI Guides Pete, Leon, Mike, and the crew
On The Map
Have fun, b- safe from Kalispell Montana
Posted by: Jay R on 2/3/2013 at 8:49 am
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