Entries from Aconcagua
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Well, after a lot of hustling around Mendoza; scrambling to both purchase and obtain permits (not done in the same location) and then go grocery shopping, we made it out of town and into the mountains! After a late evening and early morning of packing all our supplies at the Grajales facility in Penitentes, we were finally ready to hit the trail. We will spend tonight at Pampa de Lenas, our first trek camp.
Unfortunately, after a day of hiking we are still minus one Walter Hailes. Airline cancellations have kept him one step behind us for most of the trip so far. If all goes according to plan he should catch us at tomorrow's camp at Casa de Piedra. The weather has been spectacular and the team is in great spirits!
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
The team spent their last night on the trek out and has now reached the end of the trail. They will be making the drive back to Mendoza. Everyone is looking forward to good food, wine and a hot shower.
We are safe and sound at Camp 3 after reaching the summit with 100% of our team. The weather during the ascent was great and one of the best summit days I have had on Aconcagua. We started very early, at 4:35, because it was predicted to snow this afternoon. It ended up to be a good decision because we just got the beginning of the storm before arriving back at camp.
Now it's snowing hard, but we are cooking in the safety and comfort of the tent. We will enjoy an early dinner and we will go to sleep soon. The team is tired, but everybody is ok and very happy! Tomorrow we will descend to basecamp and the next day we will start the trek out to Pampa de Lenas.
Today the weather continues to be very good. Lots of clouds around the region, but very nice temperatures at Camp 2 and mostly sunny all day on Aconcagua.
The team took an active rest day today, we went for a short hike on the slope that is the first section on our way to Camp 3. Part of the group carried three days of group food, extra fuel and stoves to Camp 3 (Camp Colera). There we were able to talk with a couple of groups that just have returned from the summit, they passed along good news about the route conditions, it looks like crampons are needed above Independencia, which will make the climbing less difficult than the scree on the upper part of the route (Travesia and Canaleta).
Tomorrow we will move to Camp 3 (our higher camp) and prepare for our early summit attempt the next morning! We will be sending dispatches from Camp 3.
Today we moved to Camp 2, at 18,000', the team did again a great job climbing to this altitude. The weather had improved to the point that we climbed with a single layer of clothing. Hopefully it continue in this way for a few more days.
Tomorrow most of the team will take a rest day and a small group of us will carry fuel and food to Camp Colera (our Camp 3). This will allow us to move to Camp 3 with a little lighter pack.
Yesterday the weather deteriorated during the afternoon, wind picked up to 30 mph and clouds bringing snow arrived. It was the first time that we were forced to have dinner inside the tents. The weather this morning improved a lot at Camp 1, but we could see how hard the wind was blowing by the spin drift. The weather forecast that we got last night for the next few days estimates that the strong winds at 18,000' would continue until this evening and then they will drop significantly. So we decided to spend an extra day at Camp 1 today and to avoid moving camp in these windy conditions. Now, the afternoon conditions at Camp 1 are very nice, so hopefully we are enjoying the beginning of the good weather window that the forecast is calling.
Tomorrow we will move to Camp 2 and then rest a day there.
This is the Aconcagua team checking in from Camp 1. Last night we got more snow at Basecamp, not too much, but enough to get the camp completely white when we left this morning. The landscape was unique so we didn't miss the opportunity to take lot of pictures. The group did a great job climbing to C1 today, it took us 4:30hs to get here and everybody is feeling strong. Right now we have started the stoves and will enjoy a nice dinner with vegetarian couscous in a little bit.
Our plan for tomorrow is to carry to our Camp 2 (also known as Campo Lama, because of the remains of a helicopter Lama that crashed there a long time ago).
We hope that everybody there is enjoying the progress of our team, we will keep sending updates!
Today we carried to Camp 1 (16,400'). It took 4:30hs to get there and 2hs to get back to basecamp. Everybody did great work carrying the loads (food, fuel and some personal gear). This evening the mountain offered us a nice surprise, it snowed 1 or 2 inches so now the mountain looks brown and white, beautiful views!
Tomorrow we will rest and prepare for our move to Camp 1 the next day.
We will continue updating.
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Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
This is the RMI team checking from Plaza Argentina.
Today we had a beautiful day, weather was nicer than yesterday (no wind) and everybody arrived at basecamp in great style. At our new home here at Plaza Argentina, we settled in, setting camp and saying goodbye to our mules who have carried the bulk of our gear to basecamp. After a long day that we started very early, waking up at 5:45, we had a succulent stew and went to bed early to recover from our long day. Tomorrow we will rest and work on the food and gear that we will be carrying to Camp 1 the next day.
Now at 21:30 the night's calm, something that didn't happened yesterday. According to descending climbers we passed along the trail, high winds hit basecamp, damaging tents and reminding us that here in the Andes we have to be prepared and do a good job setting camp. We will be reporting more news from Plaza Argentina.
This is Gabriel checking in from Aconcagua, we are at Casa de Piedra at 10,700'. Yesterday and today we have hiked through the Vacas Valley and everybody in the team did great. Finally, this afternoon we caught our first view of Aconcagua. The spirit of the team is very high and everybody is enjoying the trip. Today we had a persistent front wind during the hike, but the good thing is that the winds on the top of the mountain and at high camps were much stronger these past few days and we were not there.
Tomorrow morning we will cross the river with the help of the mules, so we will see who in the team receives the "Best Mule Rider!" Award. Later in the afternoon we will get to Plaza Argentina, our Basecamp were we will spend a few days.
We will be sending more dispatches and some pictures from Aconcagua basecamp.
Gabriel, Tyler and Jake.
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