Entries from Expedition Dispatches
A few years ago I had the pleasure to work with
Caleb Ladue, RMI guide on his first trip here on
Aconcagua. We spent Christmas with our group at base camp. Caleb had bought a bunch of treats and little bottles of champagne for our team to enjoy, one of which was TANG mimosas. He had somehow grabbed a sock from each climber without them knowing and when the team walked into our dining tent there hung a stocking for each of them. Caleb passed away in a skiing accident not far from where we are now in the Andes last fall. In his memory, we started our holiday morning off with stockings and hot drinks delivered to the Team’s tents. The champagne would have been to heavy to get up this high and not benefited our acclimatization so we opted for coffee.
The Team is doing well and excited for a rest day. The weather is supposed to get windy for the next 3-5 days. Advancing our schedule isn’t in the cards so we will wait to see what the weather gives us and hopefully have a summit bid Sunday-Monday. This will get us back to Mendoza for flights home. Until then we are going to reinforce camp and enjoy the calm air and warm tents.
The office sent in your blog comments, we will read them during breakfast, thanks for supporting the Team from a far, it means a lot to them. Merry Christmas from 18,000’.
RMI Guide Mike King
Same weather. Snow and low cloud. Nobody went anywhere. But there is hope that the weather will improve tomorrow and that we’ll fly to South America.
We had a big brunch at 11 AM and a Christmas procession involving vehicles, costumes, dancing and hot wine. Then it was lectures and reading and napping as usual. Dinner was special. None of us expected to be in
Antarctica for Christmas... all of us are, as it turns out. So we made the most of it. A great dinner with friends. And then a suspense filled game of trivia in which our sturdy Vinson team took second place out of six teams.
By night time, it was still snowing, but ever so lightly and the clouds were lifting. Things may indeed start happening tomorrow.
Merry Christmas to all at home and we’ll see you soon.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
After returning from our carry yesterday the snowfield above our camp had soaked up more UV radiation than the Tropicana sun tan lotion team. This created a flooding event that required earthwork and various channels to divert the water away from our tents. We worked faster than FEMA during Hurricane Katrina because we not only had skin in the game but nice fluffy down sleeping bags to keep dry. By the time our Team completed a micro Suez Canal, the snow started falling and would blanket the mountain by midnight, go figure. Led Zeppelin said that when the levy breaks, you have no place to go, we decided to challenge that statement and move to
Camp 2 this morning.
While people walked on frozen and slick rocks this morning, the sun rose like it does everyday and made for a great day to 18,000’. Our Camp 2 is technically the now closed Guanacos Route, Camp 3. It is placed between two old snowfields that would have been glaciers maybe a few hundred years ago. With views of the Polish Glacier to our south and the heavily glaciated peaks to the North we couldn’t get a better place to enjoy the afternoon. The Team has been putting in hard work and it’s paid off with a day off for Christmas, Festivus or whatever they celebrate. If we hadn’t taken a day off there might have been some airing of grievances and a few feats of strength. Fortunately, the guides have some treats planned and nice breakfast for the group. The winds that were forecasted have been pushed back a few days and we are all grateful that the dead still air has allowed for such a great trip above Plaza Argentina. Everyone sends their love back home for the holidays.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
It is possible that someone picked out the shape of the sun behind the clouds today... at some point. But most of us just saw light snow falling from thick, low, constantly gray skies. The wind took a break, which certainly made sleeping easier last night. At breakfast, the notice was already up on a whiteboard “no flights today” with a frowny face after it. No suspense. My team made the best of it. We went out at mid morning for a trudge around the marked 10k course. It hasn’t been groomed lately, but we found the walking to be manageable without too much sinking in. Call it a day of walking in beach sand. With the usual slight danger of freezing one’s face, hands and feet at the beach.
We were back at
Union Camp for lunch and afternoon lectures. Following dinner, ALE guide Rob Smith gave a riveting talk on climbing K2 this past July.
Anybody’s guess as to whether the weather will break to allow a flight tomorrow. Eddie, the Kiwi cat driver extraordinaire, doubled the height of our already impressive snow wall. We can handle a small hurricane now.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
The sun hit camp around 7:20 am and the Team got a slow roll to the day. We ate a delicious egg and potato scramble before packing up our cache items. The calm and warm morning facilitated getting out of camp by 10:30. The terrain between the two camps is comprised of three traverses to gain the 1,600’ elevation gain. Between the first and second traverse is the
Ameghino Col which provides a sprawling view of the Andes with several glaciated and snow covered peaks. It’s likely the most scenic and photographed part of the climb.
We were in Camp 2 at 18,000’ in just under three hours with about 45 minutes to relax and gather our cached items. A cache for those who don’t know is where a climbing team will bury their gear, food and fuel so weather, winds and birds can’t get to it. In our situation we cover our cache with rocks. The Team performed well and descended back to Camp 1 for some well deserved rest in warm tents, gently swaying in a light breeze.
There are reports of increasing wind starting on the 24th and lasting for 3-4 days. If we are all feeling good in the morning, we will move our camp to 18,000’ for the storm and batten down the tents for Christmas and a few rest days.
Thanks for following along, the Team sends it’s love to the family and friends back home.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
The wind blew hard last night... all night. Not hard enough to destroy tents, but hard enough to keep one awake and wondering about destruction. It died down by morning and we got out under low clouds and lightly falling snow... which didn’t change much for the rest of the day. It was pretty obviously a no-fly day. So we ate, we walked, we talked, drank tea and coffee and calculated changes to schedules and itineraries. There were hints of hopes for flights tomorrow, and then there were notices saying not to get hopes up for tomorrow. The evening’s activity was a team trivia contest. Our gang came in third out of four teams and considered it a victory as the contest veered from Antarctic history toward a who’s who in contemporary pop music.
Best Regards,
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
After spending four nights at
Plaza Argentina the routine began to feel a bit like the movie, Groundhog Day, same people in the same clothing, tasty but similar meals, etc. We packed up our remaining gear and clothing and headed uphill around 9 am. The most advantageous aspect of our time at PA was the acclimatization. It showed today, with lighter packs the Team was in camp in under four hours and they felt good enough to descend to 15,500’ and back carry our heavy cache from two days ago.
We are currently snacking and relaxing in our tents, organizing gear and getting ready for a well earned meal at 16,400’. The wind is light and should remain until the 26th. Camp 1 is located on a large flat ‘bench’ with Ameghino flanking the northern slope. On most days you can lie in your tent and listen to the wind above as it builds up and then comes crashing down like a wave. Our agenda for tomorrow is a bit in the air due to the extra work of the back carry. I think we will have a casual morning and see how people are doing then ideally carry some food, fuel, and equipment to Camp 2.
RMI Guide Mike King
On The Map
When you’re already in twenty four hours of sunlight, it can be a little slippery declaring that this day is longer than the others. But of course the summer solstice means something more to us at
80 degrees south latitude. For my gang of climbers, the day would have had far greater significance if it had been the start of our travel homeward. Not so much, as it turned out. There was a chance though. It started out snowy and grey and windy and progressed to partly sunny and windy by afternoon. The Ilyushin Captain was giving the day a thorough revue, but in the end he decided that the amount of blowing snow he’d have to find his way through to reach the runway threshold was unworkable. The call was made as we sat down to dinner. By that time we’d done our usual day-long routine of napping, reading, going to lectures and watching the sky. Of course the announcement was a disappointment, but we are glad the logistics folks are trying so hard to find a hole in this storm.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
After watching the 80 mph winds whip the dry snow off the
summit ridge of Aconcagua last night the Team got a casual start to this last rest day. This Team has really bonded with breakfast conversations lasting well into the early afternoon. Lots of reading, organizing last minutes items and a few showers filled the day. We have had a beautiful clear and calm day with only a few gusts of wind. Tomorrow we pack up camp and start moving up the tallest mountain outside the Himalaya. Everyone is acclimating well and feels rested. Not much else to report.
RMI Guide Mike King
On the good side, it wasn’t windy last night. The tents were quiet and we got good rest. On the bad side -from a flying perspective- nothing else changed. It was still snowing and the clouds were still sitting right down on top of us this morning... and throughout the day. Nobody went flying. So the folks in
Punta Arenas who were hoping to get in stayed put. The people at the South Pole wanting to get back to Union didn’t. The gang out at Vinson ready to go home sat at Base Camp. The peeps at Union wanting to head to Vinson had to wait. Those that wanted to go to the Pole did not. And the five of us intent on escaping Antarctica never had a chance today. So we took it easy, went for walks and lectures and books. Ate meals and took naps and read forecasts of more poor weather.
Basically, we hung in there.
Best Regards
RMI Guide Dave Hahn
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Thinking of you and your journey, Neil!!! Be safe :- )
Posted by: Patricia A Darcangelo on 12/28/2018 at 3:25 am
We are missing you, Neil! Here’s the deal….hope you are having a great time and cannot wait to hear your stories. Steelers on the outside looking in and Penguins stink….you know I had to write that. Stay safe and see you in the new year. Go Badgers!
Posted by: Anne Galvin on 12/27/2018 at 11:16 am
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