Hello, this is the Artesonraju team calling from Moraine Camp, (high camp). Unfortunately we cannot celebrate a summit, but we were short of it today. We had to bail 150 meters prior to the summit, that's roughly 450 feet, given the bad snow and ice conditions that we had on the head wall, but we did put up a fight on a challenging climb. Everybody's doing great here. Looking forward to getting down to basecamp and eventually to Vaqueria tomorrow. So stay tuned for our full report on the trip in a couple days. Hopefully all are doing well at home. Thanks for following. Bye. RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos

Good evening from Artesonraju Base Camp. Today was a well deserved rest day here at Hauripampa after yesterday's summit on Paria. We're eager to start our final move towards our objective. RMI Guides Elias de Andres Martos and Eric Frank

Hello - This is Elias and Eric. We are on the summit of Paria North at 5,500 meters roughly 18,500' and it's a beautiful day up here. We can see a lot of the cool summits of the Cordillera Blanca. We just wanted to let you know that we are are starting our descent. We will let you know what happens in the next few days on the blog. That is all for now everybody's good and we are enjoying ourselves. Take care, RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos

Hello from Paria high camp at 5000 meter.This is a satellite peak of Artesonraju we've decided to climb to acclimatize. So far it's a Mars like landscape. All is good, stay tuned for our summit dispatch. RMI Guides Elias de Andres Martos & Eric Frank

All is good at Artesonraju Base Camp. We rested today to get used to the new altitude, as we saw the many trekkers of the Santa Cruz go by. We're headed to bed now excited for tomorrow! RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos

And we are at Base Camp! The second day of the approach was incredible, as the scenery went from beautiful to dramatic... The climb up to Punta Union pass at 4750m greeted us with the views of Taulliraju, one of the most radical peaks in the range, with a sheer west face that made our jaws drop just thinking of how could it be even possible to climb. On the other side, Artesonraju, our objective reigned over the valley with its top amongst the clouds. Now it is time to spend some time acclimating, all while enjoying the comforts and gourmet food of camp. Best regards, RMI Guide Elías de Andres Martos and team P.S. Rich wishes happy B-day to his wife Christina.

Good evening from Huaripampa, our camp on our way to Artesonraju Base. For the writer here, starting the Santa Cruz trek from this side has been a revelation of yet undiscovered beauty. We're currently enjoying an incredible dinner of fresh trout, zucchini soup and fried banana, fueling for tomorrow's hike. We're all enjoying social time and laughter inside or pyramidal dining tent. Stay tuned on our progress, RMI Guides Elías de Andres Martos, Eric Frank, Peter and team

Today was a great day for the first day of our RMI Artesonraju Expedition- incredible landscape on the acclimatization hike, a stellar crew, and great weather. We hiked up to 14,400’ to our traditional destination of Lake Churup, and we had incredible views of the range, the glacial lake and the mountain of the same name. We hiked back to town and had a team lunch before returning to our hotel for some packing and relaxing. We’re heading tomorrow to the trailhead, at the town of Vaqueria. Everyone is doing great and is very excited. We’ll be checking from the trail tomorrow, as we camp on our way to Base Camp. RMI Guide Elias de Andres Martos

Hello from the little Swiss oasis that is Huaraz's Hotel Andino! The Artesonraju team had a full day of acclimating. Early this morning we taxied across the city to a local rock climbing area and snuck in a few pitches before the sun got too hot. By noon we were spent and trekked back into the city to grab some lunch. An afternoon siesta left us refreshed to walk to the city overlook and enjoy the sunset. We are all packed up and ready to launch into the mountains tomorrow morning. Wish us luck as we embark on this adventure. RMI Guide Eric Frank

After meeting up for a phenomenal opening dinner of sushi and ceviche in Lima last night, the Artesonraju-Frank team was back up early this morning. We caught a 5:30 a.m. cab to the Lima airport, and had anticipated being in Huaraz for breakfast- a quick one hour flight away. Instead, our carrier LC Peru, had oversold our flight and despite having confirmed reservations we were told there were not any seats available for us. A terse hour of back and forth conversation with the ticket agent about finding additional seats for us, and the exact definition of of the phrase "confirmed reservation" yielded nothing. Eventually we gave in and did the only thing we could in such a situation - took a series deep breaths, bought a couple cups of burnt airport coffee and started looking for other options to cover the 300 miles to Huaraz. Three cab rides, four bus stops and ten hours later, were finally here in Huaraz only slightly worse for the wear. In many ways, developing world travel is a lot like the mountains. Things are always changing and if you wanna succeed, you have to stay on your toes! Thanks for following along. We be out of the city, and into the mountains in a couple days, headed for a ultimate objective- Artesonraju! RMI Guide Eric Frank and the Arteson Crew