Entries from Expedition Dispatches
Posted by: Casey Grom, Solveig Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Elevation: 18,997'
Summit!
We did it, most of us anyway, but I have to wonder if those that turned around short of the summit didn't make a better decision. I say that because it was one of the toughest days I've had on Cayambe in a long time. It was cold, windy, and snowy almost the entire day. The conditions were safe to climb in, but it was far from enjoyable. Six of our nine climbers made the summit and the three that chose to head down early did so because I believe they simply weren't enjoying it.
We started our day rather early with breakfast at 11pm and were walking shortly after midnight. The first hour of the climb went rather smoothly as we made our way to the start of the glacier. We took a short break to adjust layers, put our crampons on and rope up for the ascent. It seemed like as soon as we started walking the wind picked up and the snow began to blow. Unfortunately for us the blowing snow was coming straight down the glacier and directly into our faces. As we painfully made our way uphill, we had to stop and put on our Gore-tex to protect us from the conditions. We slowly battled our way for the next few hours taking short breaks and finally after seven trying hours stood on the summit. It was so windy on top we only stayed for just a few minutes before quickly descending back down the glacier.
Once safely back at camp the team made quick work of getting packed up and we headed down valley to thicker air and a wonderful cafe where we filled bellies before heading south to our home at Chilcabamba for the next few days. I'm sure everyone will sleep soundly tonight and we are looking forward to taking a rest day tomorrow.
Everyone is in good spirits!
RMI Guide Casey Grom and crew
On The Map
Hello RMI fans! It's JJ and Leah reporting in from Los Penitentes in Argentina! Team 2 is in full effect and we are ready to go.
With all the storms in the U.S. it has been an adventure just to get here. However, we are all excited and raring to go.
We spent the day traveling to the trailhead and organizing and packing gear. The first part of this trip has the support of mules so we packed barrels and duffels full of food, gear. And personal equipment.
Follow along as we hit the dusty trail...Argentina Cowboy style!
RMI Guides JJ Justman & Leah Fisher
Brother-had a glass of Malbec tonight and thought of you! Actually, we are thinking of you everyday and sending good thoughts your way during this epic adventure! Excited and proud of you!! Love you Dave!
Beth, Peter and Foster.
Posted by: Beth Glein on 12/19/2013 at 9:51 pm
Hi Kim!! Would you mind terribly flying back to ATL before you start the major climbing?? Your darling niece Sophia forgot to give you her lucky hermit crab! You better plan on receiving at least 300 comments from us during the next 24 days. Hugs & Kisses from your favorite sister.
Posted by: Lora Sue Fluffysparklepuff on 12/17/2013 at 5:36 pm
The clouds moved in after dinner last night and left a thin dusting of snow over camp. When I poked my head out of the tent early this morning things were looking ominous: a thick cloud cover hung just over camp and everything was white. But a few miles down the valley the cloud bank broke and I could see morning light hitting the peaks behind. Gradually as I watched the clouds overhead dissipated and the peaks immediately around Base Camp lit up in the pink morning light. With the hulk of Aconcagua immediately to our east, Base Camp sat in shadow while we crawled out of the tents for breakfast. Even by 8:30 with the clear skies and snow there was a nip to the air as we packed our bags but just as we shouldered our packs, the sun peaked over the ridge line high above and immediately warmed us up.
Bound for Camp 1 with loads of gear and supplies for the upper camps, we set out from Base Camp and crossed a small field of penitentes - the sharp snow spires - to begin ascending. The trail zigs and zags across the rocky scree slopes of Aconcagua, occasionally wrapping around rock outcroppings that jut out of the seemingly featureless slope. We made great time towards Camp 1, settling into a consistent pace and watching the brightly colored tents of Base Camp fade to small dots far below us. By midday we reached Camp 1, called "Camp Canada" which sits on the backside of massive stone tower at 16,600'. With the sun still shining and the winds holding at bay, we unloaded our gear and cached it among the snowdrifts and rocks at Camp 1. To our west large clouds were forming and soon after starting our descent the skies began to spit torrents of snow and hail that would come as quickly as they went. Between the snow flurries the sun would come out and it would be down right hot until the next wave of snow. Despite the swings in weather, and our constant clothing adjustments as a result, we made it back to Base Camp by mid-afternoon where we retreated to our tents to hang out and watch the clouds bounce over the mountaintops.
Tom and Thomas climbed remarkably well today, tackling the new terrain and altitudes with little fanfare and all the while keeping me entertained with unending stories. We are all feeling good after the day and looking forward to our planned rest day here in Base Camp tomorrow before we move higher on the mountain.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
It was a storm day on Mount Vinson, so we stayed put at low camp. You might wonder how such a day differs from the rest day we took yesterday... it isn't very different. We ate, we slept, we read, we listened to music, we watched TV. The weather seemed to be improving early in the day, in that wind speeds appeared to be dropping on the peaks and ridges above us. Our latest forecasts also suggested that we'd be rewarded for waiting as the outlook is for an easing in both wind and cloud for the next few days. But none of that seemed to do us much good at low camp today. The sun continually found thick clouds and murk to hide behind and so it was a cold afternoon and evening. The team didn't hang out for long in our dining tent after dinner... back to the sleeping bags with fingers crossed for a more useful day tomorrow.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Larry
You are very experienced with “The waiting game”!
Hang in there ... taking full advantage of “resting up” in preparation of successfully “heading up” when it becomes safe and appropriate to do so.
Take care,
Fred K
Posted by: Fred Klingbeil on 12/16/2013 at 10:07 am
Hope the weather clears soon for you. Love that you can “watch TV”. You have more power than we do in the North Georgia mountains when it hits a balmy 25 degrees+. Be safe and good luck. We’re thinking of you.
Posted by: Mom/Grandma on 12/16/2013 at 8:24 am
Posted by: Casey Grom, Solveig Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Elevation: 15,300'
Greetings everyone back home. This is Casey Grom checking in from the RMI Ecuador Volcanoes expedition. Just wanted to let you know that everyone's doing fantastic. We are up here at the Refugio or the hut this sits at the base of glacier on Cayambe. We just finished dinner and packed our bags for tomorrow's climb. We took the day to get up early and go for a nice hike up to the glacier to do a little climbing review. Everyone did fantastic. The weather is looking pretty good. It was incredibly nice today; sunny almost all day. A little bit of clouds now but the forecast is pretty good. So we are going to be getting up about 11 PM and hopefully walking a little after midnight. We'll do our best to check in from the summit. I'm anticipating is is going to take us about seven hours to reach the summit. Sorry we are having some technology difficulties with charging some of our iPhones up here but will hopefully have some pictures sent tomorrow when we descend after our climb and we get cell reception or Wi-Fi access. Everything's great and looking forward to sending some pictures to you guys. Thanks.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
Casey Grom calling in from Cayambe's Refugio.
On The Map
Posted by: Linden Mallory
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Buenas tardes from Plaza de Mulas, the Base Camp on Aconcagua's western side! Plaza de Mulas sits on a big rocky glacial moraine, near the eastern side of the amphitheater that makes up the head of the main Horocones Valley. Sharp summits surround us in every direction, the deep red color of the mountains here occasionally interested with striations of yellow and grey. Most of the peaks still hold snow from last winter snowpack and fields of penitentes - sharp snow spires that form from the intense sun - are emerging in the snow patches that still reside in the shallow gullies running alongside Base Camp. The panorama is framed by the massive cliff of glacial ice of Horocones Superior to our north and the hulk of Aconcagua rising immediately out of camp to our east. From this low on the mountain the majority of our route is obscured from view by the scree covered flanks running into camp, but far above us the steep cliffs that guard Aconcagua's twin northern and southern summits occasionally emerge from the clouds. Despite the relatively non-technical nature of this route, we still found ourselves craning our necks to look up at the mountain from Camp.
After reaching camp we quickly set up our tents and unloaded our gear that came in by mule. It was a relief to see that our gear made it unscathed after bouncing up the valley on the back of what seemed to be semi-tamed mules (whatever you do, don't stand in the trail and play chicken with an oncoming mule train!). With our camp established we explored around camp a bit before settling into our tents for some R&R right as the afternoon clouds spit a few sporadic snowflakes down on us.
The team is doing well and we are all very happy to be up high, finally eyeing the route above us and contemplating the next few days. If weather and acclimatization hold strong, we hope to carry a portion of our gear and supplies needed for the upper mountain to Camp 1 tomorrow. The sun is just starting to sink behind the ridge lines that separate us from Chile and the temperatures are getting chilly as we head off to dinner. We'll check in tomorrow after our day.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
Sounds breathtaking. Keep it up, glad the equipment arrived intact!
Posted by: Nanook on 12/16/2013 at 7:57 am
As planned, we took a break from mountain climbing today. We rested primarily to catch up on hydration and acclimatization before our assault on high camp and the summit. But since today's weather was a little on the sloppy side, with clouds at all levels, some falling snow and hints of wind aloft, it wasn't a bad day to be taking it easy at low camp. We ate, drank, rested, read, watched TV and listened to music. The teams that went to Vinson's summit yesterday came through on their descent to base today. All seemed well and happy, and of course relieved that they'd gotten to the top before this particular pulse of inclement weather came through. We will just hope it is gentle and short lived. We'd like to move up tomorrow.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
It sounds like you have a great team and hoping weather will be on your side to make it to the summit. Here we are all singing “they’ll all be home for Christmas"so God speed. Love, Deb
Posted by: debby on 12/15/2013 at 4:24 pm
We all agreed that carrying a load of food, fuel and gear 2500 vertical feet up the fixed lines was hard. It was steep (both going up and coming down) it took a long time (7 hours round trip from low camp) and it was sometimes too hot and sometimes too cold. It felt a lot like mountain climbing. Today we had crampons on our feet and axes in our hands, unlike the last couple of sled dragging days on the low angled approach glacier. So all around, it was pretty tough, but we did it. We got those unreal Antarctic views as we got higher, spawning questions like "Is that ice way out there or is it cloud?" (It was both). Our hope, of course, is that by doing such tough work today, by going so high (11,800) and by coming back down to sleep and rest through tomorrow, we'll be stronger, more familiar with the route and better acclimated to the altitude. That may be, but at any rate, it sure was fun climbing today. It was a little cloudy which seemed to hold some heat in the air, making things a bit easier. The two teams above us apparently made the summit today, which is great, we'll see them tomorrow on their descent.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
On The Map
Congrats to the team after such a heavy effort and I hope you get time enough to rest! Supporting you all the way to the summit!
Love to Fatima,
Peter
Posted by: Peter Williamson on 12/14/2013 at 7:24 pm
WOW! Very impessive!! Great job!!! Fred K
Posted by: Fred Klingbeil on 12/14/2013 at 6:22 am
Posted by: Casey Grom, Solveig Waterfall
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Ecuador
Hi Everyone!
We are enjoying a relaxing evening here at the beautiful La Casa Sol near the city of Otavalo.
We left the comforts of Quito this morning and headed into the mountains (where many of us actually feel more comfortable!) for our second acclimatization hike. As we watched the city disappear in the rear view mirror we traded well paved roads for cobblestones and washboard. The van bumped along, and our driver skillfully negotiated the hazards of rural driving... while we all fought the urge to hold our breath and cross our fingers. Maybe we should have, because our luck soon ran out and Friday the 13th delivered us a logistical sucker punch.
With a loud crack, our vehicle let us know it was done going uphill for the day. A dislodged cobblestone had broken the axel and stopped us, quite suddenly, in our tracks.
Fortunately, our group has the perfect easy going attitude, and after getting the baggage and van transfer sorted out, we shouldered our daypacks and set off for some slightly more oxygenated exercise. Nearly three hours and five miles later we arrived at the trailhead!
One of our local guides, Esteban (nicknamed Topo), had been busy reorganizing our logistics while we strolled, and he and a few others arrived to our rescue shortly thereafter in shining Toyota Hilux's.
Delivered safely to our hacienda we enjoyed a delicious dinner and are now all busy packing our gear and getting organized and prepared to tackle our first big objective. Wish us luck as we travel towards Cayambe tomorrow!
RMI Guide Solveig Waterfall
On The Map
Finally with all of our gear, we left Mendoza this morning and headed for the mountains. The tree-lined streets of Mendoza gave away to carefully tended vineyards that produce the famed Malbec wine for which Mendoza is known. The road led into the foothills of the Andes, weaving along the edge of the thick red Mendoza River. The small hills soon grew to tall mountains and the road began passing through tunnels carved through the rock in the mountain sides. By midday we reached the ski outpost of Penitentes, a handful of kilometers from the Chilean border. Penitentes, no more than a few buildings with long slanted tat break the incessant winds, is a ski resort in the winter and a staging ground for Aconcagua climbers in the summer.
We spent the afternoon in Penitentes preparing our gear for the mountain. We set up and checked our tents, fired up the stoves, and packed our food and fuel into tight, well protected containers to endure the jostling of the mules on the approach to Base Camp. Once our loads were prepared, we ventured up the valley to Punta del Inca, a famous natural bridge created from geothermal springs that spans the entire river. Decades ago visitors would drive their cars across it. We ventured a bit further up the road to the mouth of the Horocones Valley where we caught our first views of Aconcagua since reaching Mendoza. Capped in clouds and new snow, the mountain's impressive south face loomed over the head of the Horocones Valley. It was an impressive, exciting, and humbling moment.
We are settled into our Hosteria now, enjoying the thin cold air, and happy to finally be in the mountains.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
How come your going up the Mulas side as oppossed to the Vacas valley?
Posted by: Randy Christofferson on 12/14/2013 at 10:17 am
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yay daddy!
Posted by: Marianne Mycroft on 12/16/2013 at 1:56 pm
Way to go Dad!!
Posted by: Gabe Mycroft on 12/16/2013 at 1:55 pm
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