Trip Reports
Zach called in with an update from our teams summit bid. They are a couple of hours into their hike and have climbed up into the sun! the team has split into two groups, and Zach, Nick and Yasushi are all together at the ruins of what was once the Independencia Hut, at about 21,500′.…
Zach called in at 4:40 am local time to let us know that they were gearing up to head to the summit. This is a pre-dawn start in that part of the world, and they will hike the first hour or so by headlamp. Good luck to all the climbers! recording
The team moved up to high camp today! They had a good day to pack up and hit the trail and made good time moving the 2,000′ up to the area known as “White Rocks.” The trail climbs steeply out of Camp 2 and into a long, broad basin with an old, dead glacier covered…
Zach checked in this evening with a brief call from 18,000 on Aconcagua. recording
Hello everyone! Thanks for following our Mt. Vinson expedition blog. After 11 days of effort we successfully climbed Mt. Vinson. We waited for good weather on several stages of the trip and we were rewarded with a beautiful summit day! We are all back safely in Punta Arenas and enjoying civilization again! I want to…
I just got off the phone with Zach Johnson, who called to report that the team is taking a leisurely rest and acclimatization day at Camp 2 today (Dec 31). They will bring in the new year by moving camp up to 20,000 feet tomorrow morning. It sounds like everyone did really well yesterday on…
Our Vinson team flew off the Union Glacier late on the 29th and checked into the very nice Dreams Hotel in Punta Arenas. Yesterday morning, some of the climbers caught early flights home, however; most of the team remained and joined some other Vinson climbers for a celebratory dinner last night. Jacob Schmitz remained in…
Our team on Aconcagua made a carry today (Dec 30) up to high camp, so they now have plenty of food and fuel stockpiled at just about 20,000′. Everyone did well, but it is a tough day and they will undoubtedly enjoy relaxing for the rest of the afternoon back at Camp 2. An interesting…
Zach Johnson called in yesterday to bring us up to date on the progress of our December 19th Aconcagua team. They are going to make a carry up to high camp today, which means that they will pack some amount of their food and supplies up to the next camp, roughly 2,000 feet above. After…
Joe Butler just called in minutes ago. The team is all at Union Glacier, having descended from high camp yesterday to Vinson Base Camp, where they arrived to find an awaiting, ski-equipped Twin Otter airplane, unroped under its wing and stepped aboard! Apparently, the flight from Vinson Base Camp to Union Glacier was incredible, with…