2,200' higher in the Andes is a noticeable change in temperature! While our mornings at Base Camp were chilly before the sun reached us, it was downright cold this morning at Camp 1 as we prepared to leave. The cold nip was softened a bit by the views: there wasn't a cloud in the sky and we watched the entire range around us soak in the morning light as we packed our bags. Once again we hit the trail as the sun reached us, following a long traverse out of Camp 1 towards a shallow basin at the head of the slope. After a few minutes we settled back into the rhythm of climbing and the time ticked by as we ascended. After several hours of climbing, traversing rock slopes, crossing small snowfields, and weaving around large boulders, we crested the gentle saddle on the Northwest Ridge of Aconcagua and arrived at Camp 2.
Known as Nido de Condores, or Nest of the Condors, Camp 2 sits along a ridge line of distinct rock towers and the views are impressive: to the north stands Mercedario, another 6000m Andean peak, to the east lies Chile, and to our south: our climbing route up Aconcagua. We sat up there in the good weather for a few minutes after unpacking our gear just to enjoy the panorama and get used to the ever higher altitudes. Once satisfied, and with our packs nearly empty, we descended back to our tents at Camp 1. Yesterday's snow squalls are a thing off the past and we've enjoyed sunshine all afternoon.
Tomorrow we will pack our gear and move up to Camp 2.
RMI Guide Linden Mallory
Just a brief note for now. It is almost midnight and these last couple of days have been quite busy... But we are finally right where we want to be, after a lot of flying and a lot of packing and preparing.
It didn't look so likely yesterday as we hung out in Punta Arenas. I took the gang up to the office of our logistics company ALE and Peter MacDowell was nice enough to give a tour and to explain just what lengths the company goes to in order to figure out flying weather in Antarctica. Winds at that time were still blowing too hard for a flight in. But as the afternoon progressed, things started to seem a bit more positive. At 7:30 we got the call to get ready in a hurry... Things were happening. We hustled out to the airport in our polar clothes... Waddled through security and onto our plane. The kazak crew politely directed us and we blasted out of Punta at 10 pm sharp. Four hours later the big jet roared to a stop on the blue ice runway at patriot hills and the tail lifted to offload tons of gear, food, fuel and machinery. And us. We got out snapping pictures of the 2 am sunshine and ice stretching as far as the eye could see. It was cold, but not unpleasantly so, since the wind had quit entirely. We walked the kilometer to Patriot Hills camp, enjoyed a fine bowl of beef stew (the traditional welcome in these parts) and then went out into the cold again to get our own tents built. At 5 am in the bright sunshine we went to bed. My head was spinning from seeing so many old friends among the camp staff and the climbers that were outbound on our jet. My old kiwi pal Sean Norman woke us at 9:30 to get us ripping down our tents. Time to fly again... This time in a Canadian twin otter on skis, to vinson. The flight through the Ellsworths took about an hour, the weather was fine and we landed at full power going uphill on the Branscomb. The day was then spent building another camp, getting a climbing kitchen going and sorting gear for a day of climbing tomorrow. Michael Horst and Vern Tejas are next door with their team, Willie Benegas is a few feet the other way with his. Scott Woolums is guiding a few folks as well. My team got to meet Namgya Sherpa who will be working with me. He came down in mid afternoon today from summitting Mount Shinn yesterday (Shinn is third highest in Antarctica).
It is calm and still at VBC as is often the case, but in the last hour or so it has gotten murky and misty and light dry snow is coming down while the temperature hovers around -10 F. Everybody is in bed now, deep in warm down sleeping bags.
We woke lazily to light snow this morning and had a leisurely breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, and smoked Alaska salmon. At 11am we set off downhill to retrieve our cache from 10,000'. We were back at camp by 2pm, with plenty of time for a nap and to gorge on lunch food. We also had some camp chores to attend to and some gear sorting in order to be ready for the next stage of the game: establishing a cache around Windy Corner at ~13,800'. We hope to make that happen tomorrow or the next day. We'll keep you posted either way.
We had a smooth departure from Moscow. We took a short flight which lands us in the district of Mineralnye Vody, well known for it's abundance of mineral springs, sorry team no spa time just yet.
Situated far right of the picture is our local mountain guide Johnny who will be assisting me throughout or adventure. We are here in the Baksan Valley at 5,500 ft. this begins our adjustment period to altitude before the summit push. We are staying in a nice chalet, used for skiers in the winter, now a very comfortable Basecamp for climbers from here and abroad. A few clouds around but not bad in the weather department.
Tomorrow we will ride a couple chairlifts to gain altitude then take a nice hike up to around 11,000 ft. Then we will return to our chalet for a second night. It is very nice to be here and out of the big city.
RMI Guide Mark Tucker
Did you have any fireworks yesterday? Tell Putin and Snowden hello for me. Ski chalet and chair lifts, I thought this was going to be hard? Enjoy the beet stew.
This is the RMI Alaska Seminar checking in from 7,300 feet on the Kahiltna Glacier. We awoke to another beautiful day, beautiful lenticular cloud over Denali this morning as we looked out tents. We quickly saddled up our gear and headed to training. We enjoyed some training on the fixed lines and were lowered into a crevasse.
All day it seemed like we were in a snow globe with warm sun on us through the clouds but continual snow. Kind of amazing up here how you can be in a base layer with it snowing and still feeling the warmth of the sun, but we somehow managed to do that today.
We are all settled in tonight and everyone is resting comfortably. It is another cool night. The clouds moved in and it was snowing lightly again when we went to bed. We are looking forward to another nice day tomorrow. Take care.
RMI Guide Andy Bond
Our night in Punta Arenas was short and loud... to be honest. It was Friday night and the town square was chock full of partiers and demonstrators beating drums and waving flags. We were out of the hotel by 5 AM and bound for the airport -sleep or no sleep. The team filed through security in an empty airport and then we walked out to our trusty Gulfstream IV to load up. At 6:40 we launched and left South America. We had fine conditions for flying, and the Gulfstream has plenty of windows, but for the most part, clouds blocked our view of Tierra del Fuego. Many of the team dozed or read over the Drake Passage, but all began to come alive when we first spotted icebergs... and then ice flows, ice shelves, and finally the glaciers of mainland Antarctica. During our final half hour in the air, we had ridiculously clear views of the Ellsworth Mountains and Mount Vinson’s less traveled Eastern flank. Then our all star pilots, Fred and Curt, had the G4 on final approach at Union Glacier. We were all paying pretty close attention as the wheels touched down on hard ice and the plane rolled along at high speed. Reverse Thrust did the trick nicely and the roll turned into taxiing into position for disembarking and unloading. Our first steps in Antarctica were a thrill. We were each a little surprised at how pleasant the weather was. No wind and relatively mild temperatures meant we were comfy in light down coats. Handshakes, fist bumps and highfives all around seemed the appropriate first order of business. But then we got the plane unloaded and said goodbye to Fred and Curt who rocketed down the ice and into the air again on their return to Chile. Our “ground team” of ALE staffers scooped us up in a bus with enormous wheels and brought us via ice highways to Union Glacier Camp. Our flight had taken 3.5 hours (by comparison, the “normal” Ilyushin 76 ride is about 4.5 to 5 hours).
We toured the camp around noon and then basically had some time to kill. Our Twin Otter flight to Vinson was planned for about 5:30 PM. We ate, played soccer, rode fat tire bikes and messed with electronics. Finally, we loaded onto two ski equipped airplanes and enjoyed a spectacular cruise through progressively bigger ice covered mountains. The Canadian pilots, Monica and Russ, flew alongside one another for much of the hundred miles. We landed going uphill at 7,000 ft on the Branscomb Glacier and hopped out at Vinson Basecamp. Things were quite busy for a few minutes as the planes were emptied of our gear and then filled by a team leaving the mountain. Once the Otters were in the air again, Vinson Base got extremely quiet and calm. We met our ALE staff and fellow guides, Pachi Ibarra, Namgya Sherpa and Lakpa Rita Sherpa (who, between them, have 32 Everest summits). We had an amazing dinner by Chef Murph who crushed it with Lamb Shanks and Broccoli. Then we settled into our tents and sorted a little gear. The travel is complete, the climb starts tomorrow.
My last experience on Volcan Lanin was two years ago, and it was severely windy. Since then I've yet to talk to anyone who has had a calm experience on this mountain.
Two days ago as our team was climbing a steep gully, with 7,000' of vertical relief above us, that Lanin wind taunted us. The weather forecast called for things to calm down in the late afternoon, but weather forecasts in southern Chile should be read with a degree of skepticism - there's simply a lack data points in these parts to expect much accuracy.
At 3:30 in the afternoon I thought to myself, we'll give it 45 more minutes. The wind needs to mellow out significantly. And we need to find a safe place to camp. Basically some alignment of the stars, or we're going to have to retreat to the monkey puzzle forest...
At 4:15 I scampered up the steep edge of the gully while our group took a break under a rock outcrop. On a protruding ridge I stumbled upon a perfect, safe, snowy ledge carved out by that Lanin wind. And then I thought wait a minute - where's the wind? Gone.
We had an amazing evening camped in our fortified perch, looking out on dramatic cloud layers. Darkness turned to what felt like daytime, with a very full moon illuminating our tent walls.
The next morning we started climbing - kicking steps in the frozen snow with crampons on our boots.
Our Chile Volcanoes trip landed in the middle of a very unsettled weather pattern here in Araucania. 1,500' above our camp on Lanin, the snow started to fall, the wind started to blow, the clouds came in, and my attention started to turn from my surroundings to my GPS.
Time to go down. Good thing skiing is so much fun in and of itself. We were smiling big by the time we rolled into camp, and smiling bigger by the time we hit the snow line on the lower flanks of the mountain. 3000' or so of perfectly smooth corn...
Thanks Chile for 8 awesome days of skiing, and thanks Lonquimay and Sollipulli for allowing us to visit your summits. Llaima and Lanin...we'll be back next year. And thanks to our awesome Chile 2015 crew: JP, Stephen, and Wendy. And a special thanks to our amazing local outfitter and guide, Sergio Perez.
RMI Guide Tyler Reid
A couple of days ago we hit an important benchmark, and had a successful day for the team. It was just as we did the previous morning we set out, only this time we actually left Basecamp. Everybody else did too...I've never seen quite so many in the Khumbu Icefall. Since it was effectively "closed" yesterday, the traffic of two days was wedged into one.
I was very excited for the great job that Erica was doing - but I'll admit that the crowding and congestion in dangerous places was something I was continually uncomfortable with. I suppose it was business as usual in the busy season - but as I said - I hadn't seen things quite so bad before. From small teams that seemed unacclimatized and unskilled blocking the route, to massive Sherpa teams of 30 and 40 coming down all at once.
Sure, there were plenty of the usual encounters with friends. I was happy to see Apa Sherpa gunning for his world record 19th Everest summit. There were Peter Whittaker, Ed Viesturs, Jake Norton and John Griber, who we hadn't seen for the better part of a week. And as usual it was fun to run into Vern Tejas, Scott Woolums and a sampling of the great cast of characters that Everest attracts every spring.
Mostly though, I kept my concentration on my small tight team of Erica, Seth, Kent and Ang Kaji. Our training and patience paid off. Even with the numerous hold-ups, we pulled into Camp 1 at 10 a.m., having spent a respectable and reasonable 4 hours and 45 minutes in the big jumble. I was especially proud to find that we had enough reserve energy to blast quickly through the dangerous avalanche zone near the top of the Icefall and the start of the Western Cwm. It was a great feeling to be in the Cwm itself - back on the glacier surface instead of continually being under large, heavy and unstable things. By that point, we'd found the sunshine and warmth and it was clear that we had passed our first big test on the road to the summit. And how!
At Camp 1 we climbed into the tents to escape the big reflector oven heat of the Cwm at midday. It took a few hours of running stoves to melt enough snow for the water we badly needed - but then we had not much else to do - just rest, relax, acclimate!
The following day our Sherpa team had the real acclimatization of the day. Lam Babu and Tendi were part of a cooperative team of Sherpas from different expeditions that set out for the arduous and important task of setting fixed ropes on the Lhotse face. They succeeded in a big way, fixing not one but two parallel lines to 24,000 ft. This will allow safer flow of traffic on the steep blue ice of the Lhotse face. Lam Babu and Tendi also sited the First Ascent Camp 3 location - an important milestone where flat spaces big enough for a tent are few and far between. The alternative - hours of chopping with an ice axe on a 40 degree slope - is best avoided.
We saw the tiny dots inching up the Lhotse face from Camp 1 at the other end of the Western Cwm. Our day was easy-and a relief after a windy and mean night. We were hit repeatedly with cannon blasts of wind rocketing down the 3,000 ft. face of Everest's west shoulder. The wind was noisy - and a strain - threatening to flatten our tents and uproot us from our moorings. Kent Harvey came out of his tent, smiling about the good sleep he'd gotten - but Seth and Ang Kaji didn't get a wink, Erica was somewhere in the middle, as was I. Even so, we took advantage when the wind quit in the morning-brewing up coffee and then stretching our legs with an hour-long walk up the Cwm. We knew we wanted to be back in camp before the sun made work in the Cwm unbearable.
It was good to see Gerry Moffatt and Melissa Arnot getting an early start down from ABC. They were bound for Basecamp and showers and comforts that our team isn't really missing yet. We kept in radio contact with Peter Whittaker and Linden Mallory down in Basecamp throughout the day.
Today we fired the stoves at 5 a.m. and left Camp 1 by 7:30 a.m., bound for ABC (Camp II). The route from C1 goes seemingly right under the summit of Nuptse. I know that isn't actually possible, but it is physically difficult to bend one's neck back far enough to take in the 5,000 ft. of vertical relief straight up to the summit.
We crossed a half dozen easy ladders over crevasses, and then got on "easy" terrain, clomping up the glacier in our crampons. Our biggest challenge seemed to be getting out of the way of the many friendly Sherpa on the route. The guys going up had come all the way from Basecamp under heavy loads, the guys going down had already emptied their loads at ABC, and so were moving fast down to Basecamp and smiling a lot.
Erica moved along as if she'd been to ABC a number of times. At such points I have a tough time reminding myself that she is seventeen - and an even tougher time remembering what I was capable of when I was seventeen (not this - but sometimes waking up on time and perhaps dressing correctly).
Erica is not the only 17-year-old on Everest this year. In fact, two "Johnnys" were both camped within 100 meters of us last night -one with Damian Benegas and one who is working with Scott Woolums. And they both appear to be doing great. But I'm pretty sure that Erica is the first 17-year-old that I walked into ABC with.
Erica, Seth, Kent, Ang Kaji, and I hit camp at 10:30 a.m., and celebrated with round after round of Tang toasts. We're here for 2 nights and I'll tell you all about the place tomorrow.
17,200 ft sure feels good! We pulled out of 14,000' at 10 AM. It snowed a few inches in the night but by morning the clouds were dropping down. We had a clear shot of the West Buttress and the South Summit. Our packs were a good deal heavier than when we carried. Today was tough climbing but the entire team did quite well. We reached our new home in 6.5 hours and set to building camp. Such work is tough enough, but it was double tough in the thin air. Eventually we had tents to take shelter in snd and a hot dinner out on the patio. We talked over the challenges we are likely to face going for the top tomorrow. It was a treat to greet Dominic Cifelli's triumphant team as they rolled back into camp -about when we were buttoning things up for the evening. Fingers crossed for one more perfect day.
The weather forecast looks good if I’m reading it right out of Fairbanks. If that holds you’ll smoke it. Got get ‘em safe and sound.
Posted by: Gregory Poulos on 6/26/2024 at 3:53 am
You’re almost there! Great job Jon and team!! We at work are thinking of you and cheering you on! Hoping for great weather and beautiful views tomorrow! Onward and upward!!!
Today was a day of rest and a small excursion. After breakfast we roped up and took a short stroll to the Edge of the World. From here we can see all the way down to the Kahiltna Glacier, thousands of feet below. Everyone got there hero shots on the rock and will have their new profile picture. The rest of the day was resting and organizing and of course more chess. The weather seems to be cooperating so tomorrow we are going to move up to 17,000' Camp and try for the summit on Monday. This is when we need all the good weather vibes, the strong leg vibes, and health vibes from all you loyal readers. This is what we have been training for. This is our moment. Tonight is our last sleep before we hit it hard for the next 4-5 days. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers! Goodnight all.
So glad to hear it is going well. Shane I’m sure you’re doing well in the chess games too. Our prayers are with you and everyone involved. Good luck on your next leg of your climb.
Posted by: Sonny Digiovanna on 6/17/2024 at 7:03 am
Looks and sounds spectacular. Stay healthy and strong!
Praying for all of you!
Posted by: Julie Morris on 5/17/2021 at 2:10 pm
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