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Posted by: Dominic Cifelli, Ben Luedtke, Michael Murray
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 10,550'
Life is a series of stories, so you might as well make them good ones. We’re only three days, but pretty sure this will be a good one.
Fueled by last night’s asada feast and our bellies full of Malbec, and well rested after a night slept tentless under a show of stars unrivaled by any planetarium or AI manipulation, we set out this morning for 11 miles of the high desert’s finest.
Led by the galloping gait of our fine Irishman, an unreasonably large number of doctors, the poet who engineered yesterday’s post, a reformed lawyer and our hockey-stick-wielding air force officer, we owned the trail like the parking lot scene in Reservoir Dogs.
The Vacas valley treated us to long views of the mountains to come, galloping burrows, a lone guanaco and the Rio Vacas flowing with enough force to make us eager to walk upon the snow that must be powering it.
That same river forced us into our first sketchy scramble and our first bit of exposure. Good to get the juices flowing.
After finally rolling into our campsite - with another posh welcoming spread - Dominic choreographed a photoshoot in front of our first view of the great mountain we hope to summit.
All in all, today we showed that although we are dirty, and sweaty, and stinky … this group is STRONG and worthy of this mountain.
We are not, however, without weakness. In the last few days our greatest fears have temporarily shifted from “how are we going to handle the extreme altitude?” to irrational anxiety about the elusive scorpions, the phlebotomist black flies and whether we lost our toothbrushes.
Until tomorrow … onward!
Postscript: Best snack of the day - yellow bell pepper stuffed with leftover carne asada.
Climber Chris Lind
New Post Alerts:
Aconcagua Expedition January 12, 2024
The link in my previous comment did not come through. It was a story about 2 women who did the Rainier Infinity Loop: Climb from Paradise to the summit, descend the Emmons Route to White River, run half the Wonderland Trail back to Paradise, summit and descend to White River again, and run the other half of the Wonderland Trail—a total of 130 miles and 40,000 vertical feet. They were hoping to beat the record of 59.4 hours but had to turn back on at Camp Muir on their second climb due to the storm on Saturday. They went back to Paradise, had a nap, and then headed back up, ultimately finishing the loop in just over 4 days, not a record but still amazing. It sounds like they descended the Emmons Route the second time on Monday, not Sunday as I said in my previous comment.
Posted by: Bruce Burger on 8/6/2019 at 10:09 pm
Congratulations to Chuck, Jaquelin, and everyone else!
Did you happen to see these women descending the Emmons route on Sunday? https://www-1.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article233548707.html
Posted by: Bruce Burger on 8/6/2019 at 9:50 pm
Posted by: Steve Gately, Ben Ammon, James Bealer
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 14,200'
On The Map
On The Map
Posted by: Mike King, Nick Scott, Gloria Roe
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Aconcagua
Elevation: 18,000'
On The Map
Merry Christmas to everyone!
We very much enjoyed the Hungarian ring this morning that Kathy baked for us (the O’Dowd Christmas staple).
Love,
Michael. Olga, Dennis and Platon
Posted by: Olga ODOWD on 12/25/2018 at 11:34 am
Merry Christmas S&G! They were streaming in last night at St. John’s Parish (sat next to the obermeyers). We housed some donato’s last night and already enjoyed it Waffle House this morning. The boys are helping gma finish off the icing for the cinnamon rolls. Rowe was too excited to sleep last night, lol! Miss you!!!
Posted by: Chartbigs on 12/25/2018 at 7:54 am
Congratulations Julie and team!!!
Looking forward to some great photos!!!
Kathy Sands
Posted by: Kathy Sands on 9/10/2018 at 6:51 am
Well Done, Congrats to the entire team, happy birthday Daniel C
Keep the pics coming
Posted by: Lance Gore on 9/10/2018 at 5:17 am
Posted by: Tyler Jones, JM Gorum, Bryan Mazaika
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mt. McKinley
Elevation: 348'
Good luck up there! Have a great time and stay warm :-)
Posted by: Mitra M on 5/31/2017 at 10:33 pm
Good Luck up there! Hugs and kisses to John from all the Gunn Girls!
Posted by: Amanda Gunn on 5/27/2017 at 5:59 pm
Posted by: JJ Justman, Christina Dale, Jess Matthews, Lucas Haaland
Categories: Expedition Dispatches Mount Rainier
Elevation: 9,600'
Posted by:
Categories: Guide News
What a beautiful, desolate place. Enjoy the journey!! Wishing you a very successful trip. :)
Posted by: Mary on 4/16/2015 at 6:57 am
Seriously impressed! Well done!
Posted by: Sean M on 8/30/2014 at 7:14 am
Hammer, praying you will do your climb as high as you can go and come back safe and sound to your family. Hope your’re having a great experience! Mum-Z
Posted by: Irene on 8/29/2014 at 12:03 pm
Seems like the start of a great joke: “a doctor, a lawyer, and a poet go into a bar.” What’s not a joke is your team’s pace. You all are crushing it. Keep up the great work!
Posted by: Ed DaPra on 1/17/2024 at 2:57 am
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