The team called in from the Plaza de Mulas Base Camp with lots of thoughts and good wishes for loved ones back home. They rested last night, following a tough descent from High Camp. This morning, they ate well in preparation for their hike out the Horcones Valley.

The hike will take about 6 hours or more, and while it is mostly downhill, it is still a tough day.  The trail departs Base Camp atop a “dead” glacier (a glacier that is covered with rocks and scree, which is no longer growing, but is losing mass).  After a short hike, they will drop down a rather steep section at the terminus of the glacier, switchbacking down loose scree to finally arrive at the river bottom below.  They roughly follow the river , with the occasional climb up from the riverbed, until they will reach a deep gorge where a tributary river joins the Horcones from the east.  A bridge makes crossing the river a breeze, but the steep hill beyond the bridge is a rough reminder that the trail is not ALL downhill…

They will take a break at a camp called “Confluencia” (Confluence) just beyond the bridge, before hammering out the last hour and a half to the trailhead.  The plan is to spend the night at the Penitentes resort where they slept the night before heading up the trail.

Here you go!!

They called back with a “P.S.” but we are left wondering, as the call was cut off just as Peter began speaking!!!