Dennis Fernald called in from about 16,400′ after the team moved up to Camp 1 today.  They moved steadily up close to 3000′, but fortunately they could take advantage of the trail they put in a couple days earlier.  We mentioned in an previous post that there is much more snow than is typically found on the mountain in early December.  Snow can make for good travel, when you have solid steps kicked into it, and today they had pretty good steps to follow.  The image above shows the view down the valley that they ascended today.  Many groups camp a bit below our preferred camp, as seen in the image.  We feel there are some advantages to camping higher, when possible.

Dennis’s call was cut off, as there is a steep and very high ridge bordering the camp to the north, and the satellites that the phone transmits over are mostly to the north…  They had a tasty dinner of tacos this evening, and my recollection of Fermin’s tacos were that they were of thinly sliced beef, fresh peppers, cheese and a delicious sauce – muy rico!

The aforementioned ridge is somewhat visible in the image below, of one of our camps, looking to the northeast.

They will decide what to do tomorrow, but they might carry loads up to Camp 2 at 18,000′ or they might take an acclimatization day at Camp 1.  There are no bad options, and the view from camp are pretty darn nice.

Here’s Dennis: