Will Devries called in the team’s first dispatch from the field! Expedition climbing is never dull (well – sometimes it can be!), and we really appreciate Will sharing some of the… less romantic aspects of expedition life.
The team had a nice breakfast at Penitentes before loading up and driving a short ways to the trailhead at the Park entrance to the Vacas Valley. They completed some formalities with the Provincial Park Rangers and began their trek into the Plaza Argentina Base Camp on the east side of the mountain. The approach will see them cover about 23 miles, the first 16 up the Vacas Valley and the final seven up a tributary valley, the Relinchos.
Today they hiked about eight miles along the west side of the Rio Vacas, deep in a valley surrounded by peaks and ridges soaring 4-5,000 feet above the river. Camp is at a spot known as “Pampas de Leñas,” Spanish for “Fields of Firewood.” Any firewood was long ago burned, but the flat, fairly protected camp makes for pleasant place to rest after a day on the trail.
Here’s Will!
