Entries from Expedition Dispatches
The clouds fled Low Camp around 1:30 this morning and we woke to sparkling skies about ten hours later.
Moving day! Breakfast got us set for a flurry of gearing up, knocking tents down, and roping up for the big climb to high camp. We are old hands at climbing the steep fixed rope sections now, but most were startled at the scenery (which eluded us on our cloudy climb the other day). We had unimpaired views of hundreds of square miles of the Antarctic interior today, including the big jagged, crazy peaks just north of Vinson (Shinn and Epperly). As we worked our way higher, our "Low" Camp began to seem low indeed, reduced to a collection of specks on the big Branscomb Glacier. We pulled into high camp six hours after setting out, at a quarter to Eight PM. As usual, it was a fair amount of work getting tents up and stoves burning and snow melting for dinner, but the entire team is well practiced now at such chores and it went quickly. One by one our climbers wandered over to the edge of camp to peer out over the edge of the world. At least the big drop-off back down to the Branscomb seems that way now. Precipitous to the tune of more than three thousand vertical feet. A physical cliff, as it were. Tell congress we've found it.
Tomorrow, relatively bright and early, we'll get up and see if the weather will work for a summit day. It is forecast to be -28 degrees Celsius on top tomorrow. Which is normal. By the way, that converts to minus brrrrrrrr degrees Fahrenheit.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Today our team is resting at
Aconcagua Basecamp. Tomorrow we will occupy Camp One. The weather has been very windy but everyone is in good spirits.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
On The Map
A break in the action. As planned, this became our rest and recharge day at Low Camp on
Mount Vinson. The mountain itself seemed in a mood as no views whatsoever were granted all day long. Clouds sat just above us and blocked out the sun. Sitting in tents wasn't so uncomfortable, but hanging around outside wasn't terribly rewarding. So we ate a big breakfast and told each other a bunch of stories in the dining tent at midday and then did much the same thing in the evening. In between we napped, read, listened to music, snacked and drank water. The day was meant to prepare us for our move to
high camp and assault on the summit. We wanted to let our bodies catch up to the altitude and give tired backs and feet a break. The team is healthy and in good spirits all around. Our forecasts (transmitted via radio from Vinson Basecamp) don't call for major changes in the next few days and we see that as a good thing since high camp and the summit were above the clouds and not too windy today.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
I know I sound like a broken record but our
Aconcagua team is both rocking and rolling! Today we woke up early and laced up our mountaineering boots. With hefty packs in hand we slowly made our way up to Camp 1 at 16,360 feet...officially.
For Geoff and I today gave us an opportunity to visibly see how each climber is doing. And it was obvious that everyone has climbed before. And climbed well. The team was in sync with breaks, rest stepping, good footwork and most importantly everyone was having fun.
We spent a half an hour at
Camp 1 and we left quite a bit of gear that we will need for the upper mountain. So we are now officially ready to move up the mountain. But first we will take another rest day here at base camp. There's no need to rush. The tortoise always wins the race.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Morning at Low Camp is a tough, tough thing. The sun doesn't hit camp until about 11:15 AM and until then, things are mighty cold in the shadow of
Vinson. It isn't dark at night, since the sun doesn't go below the horizon, but when it goes behind the mountain we burrow pretty deeply into our down sleeping bags.
We rolled out this morning to find a lot more cloud than we expected. But there didn't seem to be any wind blowing on the high peaks and so we geared up to do our carry to
high camp. We set out bright and early at 1:45 PM. It started snowing lightly as we approached the fixed ropes, but it wasn't particularly cold. The rope sections were a workout, for sure. We climbed continuously steep snow slopes that averaged about 35 degrees for hour after hour. Leaving the ropes we still had a final hour and a half of glacier climbing to reach high camp. All in all it took us about 6 and a half hours to get there. Views weren't unlimited since the cloud and intermittent snows stayed with us, but we got glimpses of the giant mountains around us. We cached supplies at high camp (12,300 ft) and then skedaddled on down reaching our tents and some good strong sunshine at 10:30 PM. Dinner and hot drinks finished the day. A fine and hard day of climbing, we all agreed. Now we look forward to a rest day at low camp.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Hello RMI blog followers. I wish we had something really really exciting to report. I guess the biggest thing is the entire team smells like peppermint. You see, our Dr. Bronners soap is made with organic peppermint, good for the environment. With the winds picking up we all took showers and broke down our Cabela's shower tent.
With team fresh and clean we spent the rest of the day triple checking our food and gear that we will carry up the mountain. Our route on
Aconcagua will utilize three camps. So you can imagine, we need a good amount of food, fuel and personal gear. So tomorrow we begin the process of acclimatizing and caching gear higher up the mountain.
On a health note, the entire team has high oxygen saturation levels, which is fantastic. We are all acclimatizing very well. The forecast is for stronger winds, which I like...you might as well get the bad weather out of the way down low.
Stay tuned and we will let all of you know how our carry to
16,200 feet goes. For now, this is JJ saying ciao from 14,000'.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
Moving up the mountain, bit by bit. We seemed to make pretty quick work of the move from
Vinson Base to Camp One today. It didn't hurt that we had another day of perfect, sunny and calm weather. The team seems to be getting into the swing of things now and the climbing seems easy and familiar... marching along low angled glacier carrying heavy packs and hauling sleds full of gear and supplies. But now, having established camp at 9,300 ft on the
Branscomb Glacier, the approach is over and tomorrow the climb begins. If all goes well we'll tackle the steep fixed rope section and try to make a carry to high camp.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Base Camp accomplished. We have arrived! The day started out El Gaucho style as we saddled up our mules and crossed the Vacas River. I mean... C'mon, that water was polar ice cold. Especially at 7:30 in the morning.
After the teams John Wayne moment we enjoyed our final day of trekking. The last day into
Base Camp ascends steeply at first until it gently rolls out to a gradual uphill. We even caught sight of two guanacos, which resemble a llama but actually have roots to the camel family.
After arriving in camp we got busy relaxing. At 14,000 feet we all deserve to just kick back, relax and enjoy. We set up our shower tent and rinsed off the dust before we had another exquisite Argentine meal. Everyone is feeling well and we are acclimatizing perfectly.
Tomorrow is a well deserved day of rest. Stay tuned!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
On The Map
Hello from
Vinson Base camp where the winds are calm and the midnight sun is in full force. Today was our first full day of climbing! We carried food and fuel mostly and cached it at camp one.
The sun doesn't really go down here but when it goes behind the mountain it gets very cold. Due to that we have had to alter our days slightly to take advantage of the warmer times. It's a little bit of an adjustment but it seems to have suited the group just fine. Everyone did an awesome job today and if all goes well we'll be moving our camp up the mountain tomorrow.
RMI Guide Seth Waterfall
On The Map
Another great day! Sometimes I am hesitant at writing these blogs. I am lying here in my sleeping bag under the stars watching a meteor shower. And I know some of you are sitting at your desks staring out the window dreaming of adventure. So please live vicariously through us!
The team had a great day. We woke up and had croissants, coffee and Argentinian scrambled eggs. You cannot trek for five hours on an empty stomach. The scenery on the second day gets more spectacular in the Vacas Valley.
However, our journey in the Vacas is over at 11,000 feet. Tomorrow we turn left and trek up the Relinchos Valley towards
Plaza Argentina, our Base Camp at 14,000 feet.
The entire team is doing great and we are filled up on grilled chicken, which we had this evening. Tomorrow we will describe the community of Plaza Argentina which will be home for many days as we continue to properly acclimatize.
RMI Guide JJ Justman
On The Map
Bruce, been enjoying reading the blogs. Good luck, be safe and stay warm!
Posted by: Tara Zier on 12/12/2012 at 7:24 pm
Wow…the photos are incredible and reading the blog brings chills. You guys are amazing! Sending good wishes for an awesome day tomorrow.
Paula Selland
Posted by: Paula Selland on 12/12/2012 at 5:54 pm
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