Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Lucky us! We had a near windless evening to celebrate the coming New Year. New Year's Day found us resolving to make it to
Camp 3 in good style and we certainly did. We are slowly finishing up camp building in this rarified air and plan to rest for the remainder of the afternoon. If this weather holds for another day, we will have a great chance of making the summit mañana. Wish us some buenas suerte amigos.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
On The Map
Our last day on the ice turned out to be all about flying. Flagging down an Ilyushin 76 is a big deal. This one set her wheels onto the ice runway around mid afternoon. By then we'd taken tents down and checked our bags at the first class counter (a table in the snow with a roll of stickers, some clipboards and friendly ALE staff who were not checking our ID's). Our
Union Glacier hosts even gave us a deluxe final lunch in the dining tent. Once the plane landed, there wasn't any need for us to hurry. It takes a while to unload such a big and powerful jet transport. Eventually we caught a ride out to the ice runway in a comfy tricked out big wheeled van (with Utah plates) and then we were picking seats on the Ilyushin. The plane took off a little after 5 PM and the Russian crew cranked up the heat. 4 hours later we'd crossed the Drake Passage and were floating in over the Straits of Magellan.
Punta Arenas lay waiting with flowers and Trees and grass in vibrant midsummer color. The sun set as the bus brought us in from the airport (we hadn't actually seen any sunsets while down on the ice). By 11 PM we'd checked into the hotel and showered and gotten together in the lobby for one last, pleasant, mandatory team function... The victory dinner!
Thanks for following the trip and for the friendly encouragement of the blog comments (which were relayed to us).
Best Regards and Happy New Year,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Brrrr. At least that was the theme of the first half of the day. Fortunately we had warm tents to rest in and after an acclimatization hike this afternoon, we are able to enjoy a little sun outdoors. Clouds have moved steadily over the
Aconcagua summit today and it is our team's sincerest hope that they blow out and we are able to move higher tomorrow. Wish us luck, we are ready but prepared to be patient if conditions dictate.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
On The Map
Even the heavy packs of a full camp move could not dampen the team's spirits as we left Aconcagua Camp 1 for our new home at
Camp 2 aka "Chopper Camp" aka "Guanocos 3." The team arrived in the grand style to which we have become accustomed, with plenty of gas in the tank and fashionably dressed. We are now starting to feel like all our hard work is paying off, only one more camp before our summit push. Tomorrow we'll have a rest day and then, weather permitting, initiate our launch sequence. Cross your fingers for a solid weather window for us amigos!
RMI Guide Jake Beren
On The Map
We are back at Camp Uno after a spectacular carry to Camp 2. The weather was quite pleasant and the team chewed up the few thousand feet with a load to prepare ourselves to move higher tomorrow. Once at
Camp 2, we enjoyed the new views as the northern side of
Aconcagua came into view. You sure can see a long way from 18,000 feet on a clear day!
Wish us good luck on the weather front for the next few days, if these conditions persist we will be in great shape to keep moving higher.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
On The Map
This was a quiet and easy day at
Union Glacier Camp. We slept well and ate well at low altitude. We sorted equipment, chatted with fellow climbers, wrote in our journals and every now and then stood outside the tents to see the mountains, the snowcats and airplanes and the Kansas-sized expanse of ice stretching to our Northeast.
Many spent the day browsing through the great Antarctic Exploration library in camp, learning of Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen. For a change of pace in the evening, the climbing teams sat for a story session detailing the pioneering expeditions to
Mount Everest.
Tomorrow we'll see if conditions allow for our "scheduled" exit flight.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
With the winds at an all time low and the sun shining strong, our rest day at
Camp I is at full power. This morning while we waited for our camp side stream to return to liquid, the team collected their cache a few hundred feet below. The remaining morning and early afternoon was spent in maximum rest mode. In a few minutes we will embark on a short acclimating hike uphill to stir the oxygen tanks and activate the circulation pumps. Needless to say we are happy and enjoying the mountain air, or at least what is left at 16,400 feet. Tomorrow we plan to carry a load to
Camp II and our team is primed to do so. Until mañana...
RMI Guide Jake Beren
Just like that, we went from a high cold camp on
Vinson to a low, warm (relatively) camp on the Union Glacier. It was hard work, as usual, knocking down tents, getting packed up, and getting in some breakfast this morning, but we did it. We started walking down the mountain at 10:30 AM. The fixed rope descent was a workout with the big packs, but it all went smoothly, as did repacking for sled travel at Low Camp. A few beautiful hours of glacier trudging brought us to Basecamp. We packed, repacked and enjoyed the sunshine and big views of
Mount Vinson as we waited for our airplane. The Twin Otter swooped onto the strip and we loaded up. Our flight back to Union was even a little more spectacular than usual as our pilots wanted to check on a few climbers in a seldom visited cluster of steep mountains just south of the
Vinson and Craddock Massifs. We landed at Union just in time for a delicious sit-down (in chairs, that is) meal in the grand dining tent. It was fun to see all of the other climbing teams again and to catch up with the ALE staff. Quite a change for my small team after these past few days of solitude. We are living in the lap of luxury now and are perfectly positioned to catch our flight north on Dec 29th, should conditions allow it.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
Buenos Tardes from
Campo Uno! Today the team did a fantastic job moving from
Aconcagua's Basecamp in style and we rolled into camp under perfect conditions. Our carry served us well, providing a good acclimatization base for our move today. Tomorrow we will enjoy a little light activity, but mostly rest and celebrate
Leon's cumpleanos.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
On The Map
Today we enjoyed the first break in the wind we've seen up here and made a very productive carry to
Camp 1. This not only put some much needed supplies higher on the mountain, but gave us a chance to taste our thinnest air so far and work on our high altitude techniques for later on. Tomorrow we will move up to Camp 1 if weather permits and be one step closer to higher exploration.
Tonight after our climbing was complete, we had a great (hopefully) last meal for a while here at
BC. It really fueled us for a big day tomorrow, but not nearly as much as reading all the blog responses from everyone back home. Thanks.
RMI Guide Jake Beren
PS. Happy Birthday to il Padrino.
On The Map
Keep going Dawn and team!
I am so proud of you. keep warm!
Posted by: hye kim on 1/2/2013 at 9:42 am
Happy 2013 to Beren and Team from Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who encourages you to stay “strong in will/To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” If the stars are aligned, power on to the summit.
Posted by: nsb on 1/2/2013 at 8:56 am
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