Our departure went as planed today from Los Penitentes. There was a bit of final packing, then a quick transfer to the park gate of Aconcagua National Park. With our permits in hand we hit the trail. Today did not provide a lot of altitude gain but we did travel about eight miles to our first trek camp, Pampa de Las Lenas. Some high clouds throughout the day kept the heat down and upon arrival at camp it started to rain intermittently.
Tonight we are excited to share camp with the RMI Team led by Mike King who reached the summit on Friday and is now on their descent. Both teams were treated to a local barbecue, asado, by our mule team drivers. They do a very nice grill of various meats and treats. We are all doing well and enjoying camp life.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
The team woke to cold and snowy conditions at High Camp...normal Aconcagua conditions, just not what we experienced this expedition. We had some gear to pick up at our previous camps, but finally got down to base camp for some much earned beverages and a delicious dinner. We will walk to Leñas, our first trek campsite for the infamous asado...Chapstick application is key to enjoying the grilled carne after being in the Alta Montana for the last two weeks. The moon is newer then our trek in so the stars/Milky Way dust will be in full effect, my favorite place to sleep under the stars. This is our final dispatch of the trip, thanks for the comments.
Get down to Leñas next climbing season for the best steak this side of the Galaxy and a bid at the highest peak in South America!
RMI Guides Mike King, Jess Matthews & Nick Scott
Thank you Mike, Jess and Nick, for all the post. It really is a comfort to hear about the group and daily postings. I must admit hearing about high temperatures and snow was hard to grasp at first.
Great to hear they had reached the top and now to hear they will be on their way home. Thank you for leading this group to safety.
Posted by: Donna Bernier on 1/14/2018 at 8:44 am
Congratulations team! You have so much to be proud of. Enjoy the well deserved showers and food. Safe travels home brother Dave love Jul
Great news! The team has now received all of our bags and we are ready to hit the trail... tomorrow!
We checked in with the Aconcagua National Park Service to secure our climbing permits before leaving Mendoza. After gathering one more delayed bag, we made the three hour drive to Los Penitentes. We had plenty of time to re-arrange our gear and get it ready for the mule loads. Now after a great dinner, we are ready for our comfortable hotel and really looking forward to that pillow. Jet lag sucks. The team is doing great and we are having a good time.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Hi everybody. Casey Grom checking in from the Kilimanjaro expedition. Just wanted to let you know that everything's going great today. We finally woke to a clear sky and we're able to hike almost all day in full sunshine, which was a real treat considering all the clouds and rains and sprinkles that we've had this whole week. Everybody's in great spirits right now. We left our Karanga Camp, which is about 13,000 feet, and slowly made our way up hill up on to a ridge line where our high camp is. It's called Barafu, and it sits about 15,000 feet. Everybody did fantastic today. They are doing well up here at the new altitude. We just had another amazing meal provided by our cook, Tosha. He's been taking great care of us. We just had our little summit talk when we went over the game plan for tonight. What time we're leaving and what to wear, what to bring, all that good stuff. If the weather continues like it is, the game plan is to get up around 11:30, have something to eat, and then start walking about 12:30 tonight. It should take us somewhere between about six and eight hours to reach the summit. If all goes according to plan, I've got a SAT phone that I've been checking in on and I'm going to do my best to let all the team members give a call home. If you're following the blog sometime around 7 a.m. Tanzanian time, that's anywhere from about eight to eleven hour difference ahead of the U.S., we're going to give you a call. If you see a strange number on your phone, realize it may be us calling to say hello from the summit of Kilimanjaro. Anyway, that's all for now. Wish us luck. We're going to head to bed and try to get a couple hours of sleep before we we take off. Thanks.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
RMI Guide Casey Grom calls in from Kilimanjaro's High Camp.
Jay and Mary…hope you guys are having a climb of a lifetime! Have fun and be safe!
Posted by: Swayts on 1/14/2018 at 5:08 pm
This might be a little late but at the summit, reach for the stars and shake Grandpa’s hand. He would be so proud of you just as all of us are. Again be safe there’s lots of love back home.
Love mom.
Posted by: Caralee (Alex’s mom) on 1/14/2018 at 10:50 am
Hello from Argentina!
The team all arrived in Mendoza, minus a couple of bags. We all got acquainted at our first meeting; sharing some stories and giving some background. After a fantastic meal we are well fed and ready for some rest. It will be a big day tomorrow- permits, more shopping and transfer up into the Andes.
Our next stop should be at around 9,000 feet. But first, the missing bags must arrive, which could show up tomorrow. Then we will finish our gear check and move forward with the adventure ahead. Everyone is A-OK.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
I am thrilled to announce that yesterday at 6:45am, three members of our Ecuador climbing team successfully reached the Whymper summit of Ecuador's highest peak, Chimborazo. Myself and our local guide Peter were the two guides leading the summit rope teams and I will say without question it was in the top five most difficult summit days of my guiding career. From our high camp at 17,300', the route made a moderate traverse underneath a giant rock feature called el Castillo translated as "The Castle". The team moved together with good style through the rocks to the exposed ridge above. It was here the route began to steepen. From the top of El Castillo at 18,000' to the crest of the Ventimilla Summit at 20,450', you could literally follow the line of ascent by holding a pencil out in front of you and the track would not deviate from its vertical alignment. No other mountain I have ever guided posses such a steep, unrelenting route as Chimbo. I'm not sure why the local guides down here have such a disdain for switch backs but on all the mountains, not just Chimborazo, the routes take the most direct line possible.
Unfortunately this type of route doesn't bode well for tired legs which have seen two giant mountains in the last five days.
By 19,000', half of the team had decided to return to camp, which secretly I was most jealous of. After waking up at 10:30, powering down some instant oatmeal while standing outside freezing, then preparing for a climb we know is going to hammer us, the thought of camp always sounds better than the alternative.
Back on the route, the snow conditions began to change for the worse. Thank God for Peter Piston Legs who, without complaint, post holed, kicked steps and blazed the trail though an old track that was literally blowing in with snow by the time each climber reached steps kicked in by the rope team in front.
Through freezing temps, difficult snow and growing fatigue, we all continued upward. Once we gained the Ventimilla Summit, we thought the kilometer traverse across the summit plateau was in the bag. But nope, not at all.
We had heard that climbing teams were reaching the lower summit but no one had been to the true summit in over two weeks! This left us breaking trail at 20,500 feet, which not even Peter found enjoyable. With the only complaints coming in the form of gasps, we marched on planting our ice axes on top just as the rising sun formed an outrageous pyramid shadow stretching for miles into the waking countryside. With hugs and high fives we all felt a great sense of accomplishment to have knocked off the hat trick of Ecuador's three highest peaks. Something I have never done in one trip.
After a hard descent we made our way back to the Refugio and then onto a beautiful lodge where we eased the soreness away with good food, wine, beer and stories. It was a great closing to two incredible weeks of climbing together.
We all have now just gotten to our hotel rooms in Quito. The Internet is alive and well worrying some and pleasing others. Work for most is unfortunately never far around the next corner.
As we prepare for our final meal together I can't help but feel a bit bummed. This group has been truly great. I would climb with any one of them again.
From Quito this is Adam Knoff and Jordan Cargill signing off.
Thanks to everyone who followed along.
Muchas Suerte.
Congrats to a great accomplishment in the beginning of 2018!! Wishing a restful few days before you start climbing again. Prayers for safety and success. MOM
Update from Mike King at 10:30 am PT:
If you haven't listened to my hypoxic voicemail from today, you should know that we stood on top of Aconcagua, 22,841' around 1pm local time. The climbers are back in camp trying to avoid these late afternoon snow/heat waves...ya doesn't sound fun does it? The climb had wind, snow, heat, drifted snow in the trail and lots of other parties attempting the summit. I'll leave the details from the summit day for your loved ones to tell...but the guides are in agreement, one of the harder days we've had in the mountains. Tomorrow we will start our downward retreat to the thick air of base camp.
Summit call transcription:
Hey, this is Mike with the RMI Aconcagua Team. We are standing on top of Aconcagua, the highest mountain outside of the Himalaya. The team did well, we had a really cold morning, probably about 25 mph winds in the face for the first several hours. Now we are sitting up here, we could be in jeans shorts and tank tops. The team did well and we're going to hang out here and take some photos. Then we still have to descend. We will call in or send a dispatch once everyone is safe back at camp. Thanks for following along. Everyone sends their best.
RMI Guide Mike King
RMI Guide Mike King calls from the summit of Aconcagua.
Hello, everybody. This is Casey Grom checking in from the Kilimanjaro Expedition. It is day four and finally we woke to a little bit of nice weather. There was a little bit of sunshine and some broken clouds. Before the clouds came back in, we finished our little camp luckily without having to wear Gore-tex today. That was super exciting for everybody. Today our first obstacle, which was the technical crux of this whole climb is the Barranco Wall and it was only about 20 minutes outside of camp where we start the ascent up the 1,000-foot rock wall. Luckily for us and everybody else, it is a nice broken pitch system that meanders and weaves it's way up this wall. It's still trekking but in a few places where we got to use our hands and baby steps through the trail. Today is a reasonably short day, only about four hours on the trail before we pulled into camp, which was once again fully set up and waiting on us. So we're being spoiled here by our staff and and taken well care of. Currently the sky has cleared and I am looking up and seeing stars in all directions, so fingers crossed that it will stay this way and we have full sun tomorrow. On another note, we got to celebrate one of our team member's birthdays up here. Happy birthday Scott! Everybody's in good spirits and looking forward to moving up to high camp tomorrow. That's all for tonight, and I will check in again tomorrow when we reach our high camp. Thanks a lot.
RMI Guide Casey Grom
RMI Guide Casey Grom calls in from Karanga Camp on Kilimanjaro.
Cindi Bent: Wow what a fantastic opportunity, I bet the scenery is breathtaking!
Posted by: Lisa Leyva on 1/12/2018 at 11:15 am
Hey Tom, G, Alex, & Justin,
I been thinking about how amazing this trip must be for you all, I hope you are meditating and focusing on what your next journey will be. I am sending my love and pray for your safe return.
We cant wait to see you all soon! keep each other safe.
Love you all and sending a virtual hug!
Yours truly
Lisa Leyva aka “Mrs. Mialto” (Alex) hehe!
Well, we pulled the trigger and moved to Cholera located at 19,600'. We decided to skip a rest day in exchange for 2 'active' rest days. The Team moved up with the bear necessities to establish camp and summit Aconcagua! We were on our feet for only three hours so the remainder of the day has been R&R. This morning was the coldest of the trip with beautiful clear skies and a 10-15 WNW wind that kept us cooler then yesterday's sweat locker. Other teams have been coming down from the summit so the track is kicked in which will make for great climbing.
Everyone is doing great, some nervous energy but that is to be expected the day before attempting the highest mountain outside the Himalaya. We are about ready to feast on hot summer sausage cheese quesadillas and soup before doing a little pre-packing and talking summit day expectations and plan of action. Hopefully we will be calling in from the summit tomorrow. The Team is getting their final pep talk from your blog comments tonight, thanks for the encouraging words and being apart of this wonderful expedition with such a stellar crew!
RMI Guide Mike King
Chimborazo Summit! RMI Guide Adam Knoff called in to report that the Ecuador Seminar Team reached the summit of Chimborazo early this morning. The weather was cold, and windy but climbing was good. Adam was also proud to report that they were the first team in two weeks to reach the true summit! They are back at the Chimborazo Lodge and will send a detailed report of their climb soon.
Congratulations Team!
Nice work Team!! Not an easy summit. That final ridge is a never-ending slog at over 20,000’. I tried 3 times and only hit the true summit once.
Strong work!
Posted by: Peter Whittaker on 1/11/2018 at 8:50 pm
Very impressive team! Sooooooo pleased you were able to summit Chimborazo today.
Now it’s time for some well earned rest, relaxation, celebration…...
Cheers everyone!
Thank you Mike, Jess and Nick, for all the post. It really is a comfort to hear about the group and daily postings. I must admit hearing about high temperatures and snow was hard to grasp at first.
Great to hear they had reached the top and now to hear they will be on their way home. Thank you for leading this group to safety.
Posted by: Donna Bernier on 1/14/2018 at 8:44 am
Congratulations team! You have so much to be proud of. Enjoy the well deserved showers and food. Safe travels home brother Dave love Jul
Posted by: Julie Beckner on 1/14/2018 at 8:29 am
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