New Year's Eve at Plaza Argentina

Wes and Dan have made it to base camp, Plaza Argentina (elevation 13,750 feet). Yesterday they hiked to Casa de Piedra. It took about six hours. It sounded like the day went smoothly for them. Today they left Casa de Piedra at 7:30 am. They followed a river along the cliffs all the way up to camp. Wes said the scenery was spectacular. They also had a river crossing today. The water was about 35 degrees. They saddled up a couple of mules and crossed the river. They arrived at Plaza Argentina at about 2:00 pm. Wes said the weather was really nice today. It was sunny and mild. It wasn't hot but they felt like they were roasting due to the radiant heat. Right now it is about 40 to 45 degrees (at 10:00 pm). Wes said there are quite a few tents in camp - mostly large expedition type igloo tents that belong to the various guide services. They got their tent set up in a very nice spot. Their guide service cooked them dinner. Dan and Wes were able to eat in one of the expedition tents and sit on real chairs and eat at a table - a nice little luxury. Wes said they had meat, potatoes, eggs, and peppers. He said the meal was really good. Dan bought two beers so they plan to bring in the New Year with a toast! The mules are now gone. They won't be back until it is time to go down the mountain. The guys are on their own now with all of their gear. Tomorrow will be a rest and acclimatization day. On Friday they plan to climb to Camp I (16,200 feet) and make a cache. They will then go back down to Plaza Argentina and spend the night. On Saturday the plan is to move to Camp I. Wes and Dan are both feeling great. I have passed on the messages that have been posted so they know you are thinking of them.

Pampa de Lenas

Wes and Dan have had a couple of busy days. Yesterday they left Mendoza to travel to Puente del Inca. It took about 3 1/2 hours to get there. They traveled there with their guide (driver) and his wife and two daughters. Apparently the wife got sick on the way and was throwing up. Wes was hoping it was not something that was contagious. The children were about 13 and 3 years of age. There is a military checkpoint on the way to Puente del Inca. All of a sudden as they neared the checkpoint the older daughter pulled the 3 year old into the backseat and laid down so no one could see them. Wes and Dan could not figure out what was going on. Once they passed through the checkpoint the girls got back up and resumed their previous positions. Very strange! Once they arrived at Puente del Inca they checked into their "hotel." They were the only ones there. Wes said there were three bunk beds, a sink, toilet, shower and some toilet paper and that was it. Very sparse. He said there were shacks around that were restaurants. They had a delicious dinner of chicken and french fries. He said french fries are a really popular thing there.

Today Wes and Dan met up with their mules. There were about three different teams of climbers heading up the mountain. There ended up being 20 mules in the group carrying all the gear. The guys left Puente del Inca at about 11 am. The mules left two hours later but ended up passing them. They didn't have any river crossings today. The guys hiked for 5 hours and arrived at Pampa de Lenas around 4 pm. There are 16 tents currently in camp. Most of the climbers are with guided groups. Wes and Dan are the only "knuckleheads" that are going it alone. That was Wes' word, not mine! The climbers are mostly American from Alaska, Colorado and Minnesota. There are also some climbers from the UK. The weather was about 70 degrees today. Right after they arrived in camp a thunderstorm came on strong and it rained for about 30 minutes. It didn't take long for it to clear, though. The elevation at this camp is 9,400 feet. They had burritos for dinner tonight - chicken, green chiles and rice included. Both Wes and Dan are doing well and feel great so far.

Tomorrow the guys are heading for Casa de Piedra. It should take about six hours to hike to that camp and they will climb approximately 1,000 feet in elevation to around 10,400.

Arrived in Argentina

Wes and Dan have made it to Argentina! Their flight from Atlanta to Santiago actually took off an hour late but they were still able to make their connection to Mendoza. They flew over the Andes on their way to Mendoza and were able to see Aconcagua. He said that was pretty cool. They were met at the airport by Lucia, a representative of the guide service that is helping with the logistics of the climb. She drove them around and took them to get their climbing permits. They are checked into the hotel. Wes said that all their luggage made it and their food made it, too. Wes had heard that you should really hide your food because a lot of climbers end up losing their food in transit between Chile and Argentina. The airport workers like to rummage through the luggage. Wes said Mendoza looks like a pretty nice city. They plan on going out to get a bite to eat and then taking a long snooze. Tomorrow they meet their guide service at 8:00 a.m. They will be driven to Puente del Inca. They will spend tomorrow going through their gear and making sure they have everything. They get to stay in a hotel tomorrow night before spending the next couple of weeks up close and personal with each other in a two man tent. On Monday they plan to get their mules and start their 30 mile trek to base camp!

The Adventure Begins!

Wes and Dan have begun their trek to Argentina. Wes' flight left SFO on time this morning at 11:50 am. He said it was quite a bumpy flight due to storms all the way across the U.S. We all know how much he must have enjoyed that! Dan's flight was due to leave Minneapolis at 1:55 pm but did not end up leaving until about 4:00 pm. He was very smart and planned a long layover just in case his flight was delayed. He originally was supposed to arrive in Atlanta at 5:30 pm but ended up arriving at 7:30 pm (the same time as Wes). Their flight to Santiago, Chile is on time. It is leaving at 9:10 pm. They will arrive in Chile tomorrow morning at 8:40 am. Wes and Dan aren't sitting together on this flight - they are about 10 rows apart. However, they will get to spend plenty of quality time together over the next three weeks! Once they arrive in Santiago they have a two hour layover and then will fly out at 10:35 am to arrive in Mendoza, Argentina at 11:30 am. It will be a very long travel day for both of them but I know they are excited to get there and start their "vacation." 

And the verdict is in, La Sportiva won again. It's funny how some of their boots can absolutely destroy my feet while others such as their mountaineering boots are a perfect fit. The use of what is known as a double boot is best for this type of climb. It consists of a soft moldable inner bootie that provides most of the insulation and a more rigid hard shell outer boot that gives it strength. The nice thing about double boots, at the end of the day the booties get tucked away deeply inside your sleeping bag to dry out while the hard shells stay outside. A couple hours before our summit attempt I'll bring both boots inside the bag to warm up so I start out with warm feet. If you start out cold then good luck.

Something relatively new to me is a GPS device. I was able to acquire topo maps with GPS way points and add them to my software. I'll still bring a couple maps with a compass for back up, but GPS orientation gives a whole different approach to route finding. Also, the use of Google Earth has immensely helped in gaining a bird's eye view of the mountain.  I should say "condor's eye view." Something different this time is having to worry about our food caches being rummaged by eagles and condors. These condors have up to a 10 1/2 feet wing span. We'll need BIG rocks to cover our stuff. It'll be nice to finally get there and just have to worry about climbing. I talked to Dan today and he said he's ready for a vacation. I tell people the same thing. We have a sick way of relaxing.  The exciting and perhaps the more relaxing part is that we're taking a route less traveled. We did that in hopes to see more of the local wildlife such as guanacos (a llama looking animal), perhaps condors, and to have cleaner climbing conditions.

One of my favorite companies and they're local to the Bay Area is Mountain Hardwear. They picked up where "The North Face" had left off.  Their clothing line and equipment is designed by climbers for climbers. No extra pockets where they shouldn't be, extremely durable, and my favorite feature...light.  My outer Gortex hard shell layer along with the tent we'll be using are products of Mountain Hardwear.  The backbone of all my trips is the stove. Dan is also bringing his stove as a back up. It's what provides food and water, especially higher up where we'll have to melt ice and snow. This particular stove burns many types of fuels including diesel, regular unleaded, white gas, and even jet fuel. I seriously doubt we'll be blasting off burning jet fuel. The only downside to this type of stove is that it's all or nothing. There's no turn knob for flame adjustment.

Just a couple more days

Here's a good start towards the amount of food we'll need. We'll have 15 to 20 lbs each of lunch food and somewhere in the range of 10 pounds each for dinner. Four of our nights will be something other than freeze dried and spaced out every couple days. What's on the menu? Dinner one will be spaghetti with red and green peppers, meat sauce, chicken, and a side dish of french bread rolls dipped in olive oil. Next we have burrito night. Simply beans, rice, cheese, diced green chiles all wrapped up in a flour tortilla. This will be followed by Quesadilla night...chicken, cheese, diced green chiles, and a lump of rice. Our final special dinner night will be Ramen with chicken. All of these dinners have one common denominator....chicken. It can be bought in small individual bags just like tuna and it's full of energy.  As we get higher on the mountain the dinners get less exciting and easier to make. Most of the food higher up will be freeze dried. Just boil water, add to your silver packaging container, wait ten minutes and force it down. There's nothing quite like forcing yourself to eat at altitude. Actually, Dan can vouch for this, on our last trip I couldn't seem to stop eating. The guides said they had never seen someone eat so much food. Let's face it, I love to eat!

Getting ready to climb

Plane tickets, hotel reservations, and mules.....I even had to worry about lining up mules for this trip. Our first three days will be spent hiking over 25 miles in to base camp and we'll need mules to pack in most of our gear. Dan and I are still doing some last minute planning on what to bring and giving some deep thought on items that can be left behind. We're hoping to keep everything to 80 pounds per person. Almost half the weight will consist of food and fuel, so that doesn't leave us much wiggle room for the other necessities. I would hate to be in position for summit day and realize it's not going to happen because I skimped on one piece of warm clothing. Our workouts have been going well with no real injuries. Now if we can time it just right not to get sick before the trip. I already had my battle with some type of congestion a couple weeks ago. In about a week I'll start going through my gear list and being a nut by weighing everything. Wendy gets a kick watching me weigh and then deciding if it's needed, or is it something that can be swapped out with something lighter. My main concern is fingers and toes....gotta keep those babies warm.