Lorenz and Fermin reached the summit of Aconcagua today! It was a beautiful day, light winds and blue skies on the highest mountain in the Americas. It was a big day, over 13 hours of hard work at high altitude, but they had a wonderful day and are back at high camp resting and ready…
Lorenz called in from high camp today! The satellite phone call is very garbled, but we’ll include the link for you anyhow. They moved up in nice weather today and are preparing to leave for the summit early tomorrow morning. Weather forecast is looking good and it sounds like a few teams have been trying…
Lorenz called in this afternoon from Camp 2 during their rest day. They worked hard breaking trail through the deep snow to high camp yesterday, so decided to take a day to recover and acclimatize a bit before making the push to high camp and on to the summit. They are looking at a pretty…
It was another challenging day today due to the deep snow on Aconcagua, but the guys were able to enjoy beautiful weather and almost no wind as they carried a load of fuel and food up to almost 20,000 ft where they will place their high camp. They returned to Camp 2 for the night,…
Lorenz called in from Camp 2 at 18,000 ‘ (5500m) this afternoon. The move up to what is often called “Chopper Camp” was very challenging today, as they had to break trail through knee deep snow all the way. Breaking trail at over 17,000′ is HARD!! Strong work guys! The plan is to make a…
Today, amidst deep snow, the team pushed up to 18,000′ in very difficult conditions. It was an extremely challenging day, with the team first needing to dig their tents out of the thigh deep snow and then break trail uphill for hours, “post holing” with each step. In a phone call to our office this…
Lorenz called in from Camp 1 at 16,400′ (5000m) with an update after he and Fermin made a carry up to Camp 2 in very, very difficult conditions. The hike up to Camp 2 generally takes about three hours, but the deep snow resulted in a six hour trip up today. Snow has fallen to…
Jack called in today’s post, although it is, unfortunately, largely unintelligible. Camp 1 is in a valley that drains from a large bowl that separates Aconcagua from Cerro Ameghino, it’s 20,000′ neighbor. Ameghino sits directly to the north of camp, and it’s towering height interferes with satellite connectivity. Communication from the next camp, at…
Amidst blustery winds, our Aconcagua team packed up and hiked 3000′ up to their next camp, located below a very large basin at an elevation of about 16,400′ (5000m). Lorenz called with an update and from the sound of his voice, it was a bittersweet departure. Base Camp is a pretty comfortable place, with good…
Jack Strickland called in today from the team’s Base Camp at Plaza Argentina, on the east side of Aconcagua. Today was a rest day, spent lounging around Base Camp, resting and acclimatizing. Tomorrow, the plan is to head up the mountain, moving up to sleep at 16,400′ (5000m) at their Camp 1. The weather has…