Hi there. This is Adam Knoff calling from the Cayambe Hut at 15,300 feet. We had an unexpected bad weather day today. We had hoped to climb to the glacier and do some training, but we were bouted by high winds, blowing raining and cold temperatures. We did manage to squeeze in a good amount of training around the hut here and the team is feeling psyched that now, this evening, the clouds departed and we have a clear view of the mountain. We are getting up in about four hours to start our climb of Cayambe at around midnight. Things are looking much better than they were earlier in the day so we are optimistic that we have a good shot at making the top. We will call tomorrow with a progress report until then, buenes noches.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
RMI Guide Adam Knoff calls in from the Cayambe Hut.
RMI Base, this is Alex Barber calling in with RMI's Aconcagua team. Today we moved to Camp 3 and are in place for our summit bid tomorrow morning. The team did a great job today battling the cold winds into our high camp of 19,600 feet. The team is settled in and we're preparing ourselves for the summit push. Hopefully our next dispatch will be a call from the summit of the highest peak outside of the Himalaya. We will talk to you guys tomorrow. Bye.
RMI Guide Alex Barber
Hola from 15,300 feet at the Cayambe hut. I will be keeping this dispatch short today because it is getting late and the wind outside chills one to the bone. Now that we are out of internet range, we must connect our modem doo-hicky to the SAT phone thingamabobber and send our report that way. It can be time consuming and cold to say the least.
Today we woke up- The End. JK. After breakfast we went to Ecuador's largest indigenous market in the beautiful town of Otavalo. Here we bought gifts for all blog followers and a few others we might like. At noon we finished shopping, ate lunch, piled into the bus and set sail. All was going well until five miles from the hut our driver said, "No mas!" The road did resemble the easy parts of a motocross track but we couldn't walk that far so I said, "Yes mas," and made him drive further. This happened two more times until we could go no further. We loaded the remaining bags into Henry's jeep and walked the remaining hour to the Refugio. Once there we drank tea, tied knots, untied knots, ate Nick and Adam's famous mountain lasagna, took deep breaths and went to bed. The team is doing great adjusting to these new heights. We are excited to go to the glacier for some training tomorrow. Stay tuned.
RMI Guide Adam Knoff
Buenes dias. This is the Aconcagua team checking in from Camp 2, aka Guanacos Camp. After moving from Camp 1 to Camp 2 yesterday, today was perfect conditions for an acclimatization hike toward Camp 3. We are planning on moving to Camp 3 tomorrow to take advantage of the favorable weather forecast. We'll update after the move. Adios until then.
RMI Guide Zeb Blais and Team
It is supposed to be a day of rest here in base camp but let's be honest! How can you rest when the Green Bay Packers are playing and there isn't a television in sight! Go Green Bay!!!
Our Aconcagua Team is rocking it! After our first night at base everyone woke up feeling great! We had a great breakfast of scrambled eggs and now we are down to business getting ready for our carry to Camp 1.
The team says hello to family and friends. Pass the word around of our blog and keep wishing us luck. But with a team like this, who needs luck! Start sending in your comments, we'd love to hear from you!
RMI Guide JJ Justman
G returned safely from Colorado this afternoon, and we had a nice visit with Irena. It finally warmed up a bit this weekend, but it is snowing for the fourth time since you two left. Should have given me lessons on using the snowblower. Had a great dinner with the Dunnes, Sullivans and Josses last night. Everyone missed you and had lots of questions about your trip. Pat has been looking for you on the live feed from base camp, but so far no Jenny or David sightings. Have a good day tomorrow. Be safe! Love, Mom/Nan
Today team Ecuador departed from this countries capital. As stimulating and convenient as things are out the door of our hotel, it was time to say adios to the blaring horns, thick bus exhaust and raucous night life, which we never saw. So this morning we checked out and loaded some 30 giant duffle bags into the mini bus transporting us to our next acclimating climb. I figured if we were to stack everyone's bags on top of each other we could claim the world's tallest pile of mountain climbing stuff. Instead we just put a deep sag into the bus's rear tires.
Ecuador is a beautiful country with growing oil wealth which is obvious in many new infrastructure projects throughout the country. They still have a long way to go though so the 100 miles we drove today took almost three hours. Our stopping point was high above the beautiful town of Otovalo, where tomorrow we will buy all blog followers nice gifts at Ecuador's most famous market. We eventually reached Laguna de Mojanda, a beautiful high mountain lake, once a giant crater, and began our climb toward the summit of Fuya Fuya. The trail up led us through gorgeous grasses and flowers to a steep final section before reaching the 14,000 foot summit. Blessed again by fairly clear skies, we had great vistas of Quito in the distance and lush green mountain sides closer to us. The team got goofy for our summit photo so we chose to rename the mountain Fuya Kung Fuya. Seems to fit...
After returning to the bus we refreshed ourselves by washing up in the lake (no one took the skinny dip challenge) and headed to our house of sun or Casa Sol where we enjoyed cold beers and a delicious dinner. As of yet, no one is going hungry. Nick and I start cooking for the group tomorrow night so that could change.
But for now all is well. We look forward to putting our bargaining skills to use tomorrow and then heading up to our first BIG mountain.
Buenas Noches from Casa Sol.
RMI Guides Adam Knoff, Nick Hunt and Team Ecuador
RMI Base, this is Alex Barber calling in with the Aconcagua Team. This morning was perfectly clear with light winds. Definitely an appreciated contrast from yesterday's windstorm at Camp 1. We took full advantage of this clear weather today and pushed up to Camp 2. Everyone on the team did extremely well and now we are sitting tight here at Camp 2 playing cards and eating snack food, and plotting our summit attempt. Tomorrow is just a rest day, so we will check back in with you from Camp 2 sometime tomorrow. Adios.
RMI Guide Alex Barber
RMI Guide Alex Barber calls in from Aconcagua Camp 2.
It always feels so good to get to Base Camp!
This morning the team crossed the cold Vacas River and began the trek to our new home up the Relinchos Valley. We had clear skies and for once little to no wind to combat with which made everyone quite grateful! Upon arriving the cool staff had juice, cheese, cold meats and melon for us to recover with! For now the team will sent up tents, take a siesta and prepare themselves for our always delicious base camp dinner's. Tomorrow's agenda has us taking a rest day, life is rough!
Stay tuned!
RMI Guide Steve Gately & Team
Hey Sue, Jo & Robert,
Congrats on reaching Base Camp. Enjoy your rest day and the food, and don’t forget your manners…..as on Kili, when preping your coffee remember to say “PLEASE pass the powdered cow”!
I predict your team will power up the hill on your carry to camp 2!
Posted by: Russ Frederickson on 1/10/2015 at 8:57 am
Keep up the good climb, sue and team. Love following your travels. Raining here in Orange county today and tomorrow.
Patty
Hola amigos y familia,
Today team Ecuador finally got some needed exercise. Yes I will admit, curling cervesas and walking around Quito does count as calorie burning activities but after a long travel day and substantial city tour, we were ready to go up! And up we went.
After breakfast today we met one of our local guides here at the hotel, his name is Henry. Henry owns a beautiful old Toyota Land Cruiser which unfortunately fits only four team members. This space deficiency created a need for two taxis to shuttle the rest of us to the starting point of the day's hike. I had luck working on my side it seems when myself and three others loaded into one yellow cab and Nick and his team piled into the second. Why were we lucky you might ask, because we made it to point B from point A without an accident. Nick's cabby thought "all street signs, traffic lights and street lines were merely suggestions". Three close calls and a fender bender with another cab later, we were all together. I always say let the adventures start as soon as possible.
From our gathering point, the next mode of transport was a cable car or gondola starting at 10,000 feet which swooshed us without even breaking a sweat to 13,000 feet. Luckily no accidents on this stretch. Those might be less forgiving. From the top of the gondola, the 15,400 foot summit of Pinchincha Rucu, which was the day's objective, looked sunny and inviting. A rare case in my experience. With a bit of heavy breathing and 60 minutes walk time, 6 of our team's 10 climbers had reached a new personal altitude record. With a bit more breathing, two more hours walk time and all of our warm cloths on, the entire team reached the summit. It was a glorious start to what should be one grande adventure. Barring the vans and jeeps keep between the lines.
We are now preparing for a well deserved dinner and otra cervesa. Follow along tomorrow to hear about mountain number two.
Adios de Quito,
RMI Guides Adam Knoff, Nick Hunt and Team
Well well well! Here we are at Casa de Piedra at 11,000' plus feet. For those of you that no habla espanol, Casa de Piedra is Spanish for The house of...Piedra (God bless you Chris Farley).
Team 4 had a beautiful walk into our second trekking camp. And of course as we looked up the Relinchos valley we had our first great view of Aconcagua. It is always breezy here at this camp so we are hunkered in for the time being. Tomorrow Base Camo!!
RMI Guide JJ Justman & Team
Go Sue! Everything’s under control here. Enjoy and be safe!
Posted by: Linda on 1/9/2015 at 9:00 am
Robert, Joe, and Sue,
Pole Pole!
I can’t wait to read more of these blog entries, and imagine the incredible terrain through which you must be hiking. I’m thinking of you every day, and will be waiving from the lowly slopes of Mt Hood on a summit attempt tomorrow night. I can’t believe it has been almost a year since Kili… Happy early birthday to both of you ladies!
XoXo
Sarah
Way to go Adrienne! Can’t wait to hear all about it when you get back.
Shannon & Pat
Posted by: Shannon O'Boyle on 1/12/2015 at 10:18 am
Crush it!
We’re all rooting for you back here in Vancouver =)
Nick, Andrea, Julia, Emily and Kai
Posted by: Nick Grabovac on 1/12/2015 at 9:06 am
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