So Long Argentina

No word from the guys today however it looks like their flight from Mendoza to Santiago, Chile left on time. Their flight from Santiago to Atlanta also left on time. As long as they made both flights, they will arrive in Atlanta at 6:10 am tomorrow and that is where they will split up - Dan back to Minnesota and Wes back to California. Thanks to all of you who tuned in to read about Wes and Dan's great adventure. I know they are looking forward to reading all the comments and well wishes from everyone when they get back. I'm sure Wes will do a final blog entry upon his return and add some pictures. Until the next climb....

Partying in Mendoza

Wes and Dan are having fun in Mendoza. Yesterday they spent the day walking around the city. They had a light lunch at a cafe. They are enjoying the warm weather. When they got back to the hotel they saw some more climbers from Aconcagua. Hans and Avred who are Dutch and Daniel who is Canadian. They all went out to a really nice restaurant called The Winery. They also met up with another group of climbers who were French Canadian. Apparently the group had a really good time since they didn't get back to the hotel until 7:00 this morning! They hung out at the restaurant until 3:00 am and then went to an Irish Pub where Daniel knew the owner. They stayed there until 6:00 am and then went back to the hotel. They celebrated their climb with cigars and scotch. There was a wine steward at the restaurant named Carlos (who looked like Elton John) who helped them out for about two hours picking out the wine for each course.

Today the guys didn't get up until about 12:30 pm. Hans and Avred stayed in Wes and Dan's room and slept on the floor. Wes, Hans and Avred went out to lunch and had some ice cream. Dan stayed at the hotel and relaxed. Wes just ran into Billy (one of the guides from their Denali 2008 trip). Billy is guiding for RMI and he is starting his climb tomorrow.

Dan and Wes are going to meet up with Hans, Avred and Daniel in about 30 minutes to go out to dinner. However, they are not planning on making it quite as late a night as last night. They have to get some sleep and get ready to catch their flight home tomorrow night.

Relaxing in Mendoza

Wes and Dan are back in Mendoza. They got back at about 12:30 pm and are enjoying being back in the city. During the afternoon they walked around an open air mall and had a big steak for lunch. Tonight they went to one of the best restaurants in Mendoza called Don Mario. They had another steak for dinner - this one had about 2 pounds of meat in each one. Wes said it was delicious. He said it was nice and warm there. It is currently midnight and he is hanging out in a park. Apparently there are a lot of people out right now. Dan is relaxing back at the hotel. Wes said Mendoza is very European in that everything shuts down around 1 pm, opens back up around 6 pm, and people eat dinner around 10 pm. They tried to change their flights to leave earlier but found out it was going to cost $500 each to change them. Plus, there weren't flights available tomorrow. So they will be staying in Mendoza until Saturday as planned and getting home on Sunday. They've seen a few people in Mendoza that were on Aconcagua with them. A group of Italians saw them and remembered them because of their beards. That's right, Wes and Dan have beards right now. Wes and Dan remembered the Italians because the group gave the guys some cheese. Wes just saw another group that they met at Plaza Argentina - a dad, son and daughter who were climbing with Alpine Ascents. They attempted the summit the day after Wes and Dan but didn't make it due to weather. Although the summit success rate is about 20% right now, it is only about 5% via the Polish Glacier route. The guys plan to see more of Mendoza tomorrow.

Back in Puente del Inca

Wes and Dan are back at Puente del Inca. They left base camp today at noon. They arrived at Puente del Inca at about 7:30 p.m. It actually was a 20 mile hike out instead of 15 miles. However, this is still shorter than their hike in on the route to Plaza Argentina. They got to see two sides of Aconcagua by climbing the Polish Glacier Route and coming down the Normal Route. The weather was pretty nice. When they got to the ranger station they met a guy named Jeff who guided a blind climber up Everest. Wes said he was an interesting guy. Jeff offered to give Wes and Dan a lift to Puente del Inca so they saved about three miles of hiking. Dan was enjoying a shower when Wes called. I'm sure both guys will be glad to sleep in their own beds tonight and not have to be squashed into a two man tent anymore. Tomorrow the guys will be heading out to Mendoza.

Plaza de Mulas

Wes and Dan are at Plaza de Mulas, base camp. It took about four and half hours to hike down there today. He said it feels good to be in the thicker air at about 14,000 feet (still higher than most mountains in the U.S.). Wes said they ended up spending about 15 minutes on the summit. They had to get down quickly because the clouds were rolling in. He said it was pretty difficult coming down from the summit but they both felt good. Wes said it really hasn't sunk in yet that they summited. They had dinner tonight provided by their guide service, Aymara. The dinner was "only" $25 this time and included soup, bread, lasagna and dessert. It was definitely worth it! Wes had gotten behind on his fluid intake so wasn't feeling too good this morning when he woke up. He said he felt like he was going to pass out a couple of times. He also has some cuts on his hands from the dry air that haven't healed because of the altitude. He was talking to some people in camp and was told there has been only about a 20% success rate of getting to the summit so far this season. In one group there were nine climbers and only one summited, in another group of five only two summited. There are quite a bit of people in this camp. Tomorrow they plan to hike out to Puente del Inca. It will be about a 15 mile hike. Wes says they plan to take off at about 10:00 a.m. The mules will leave with their gear at about 11:00 a.m. They have a room reserved tomorrow night at Puente del Inca. However, if they get down early enough and transportation is available they may try to get back to Mendoza. Wes said he really would like to get off the mountain so he can take a shower. Once again, the guys are both feeling good. Dan and Wes were very appreciative of all your well wishes!

Summit! Summit! Summit!

Here's the news that everyone has been waiting all day for: Wes and Dan have summited Aconcagua at 22,841 feet!!!!!! Wes just called at 1:30 am Argentina time. They didn't leave camp this morning until about 7:00 a.m. They had pretty good weather up to the summit. It started out clear but got really windy and there was a lot of snow blowing off the ridges. They summited at 3:30 p.m. It took about eight and half hours to get there. Wes said it was a really tough climb. The hardest section was the Canaleta (a long gully full of scree, talus and boulders). At the summit, normally the climbers take a left to get on top but there was a guide waiting that advised them to go right instead. The reason for this was that the English climber was still up there and the guide didn't want them to see him. Also, there was another climber up there collecting the English climber's belongings. The guys spent a few minutes on the summit and took some pictures and then it was time to head down. A dangerous part was still to come - the descent. Since Wes and Dan got to the summit so late there were a lot of clouds that came in and made it a whiteout condition in some parts. They had to use the GPS to do some trail tracking to get back to camp. Currently they are at "Camp Cholera." They made it back to camp at about 8:00 p.m. They immediately drank a lot of water and crawled into their tent and went to sleep. Wes said they are both extremely tired but feeling good. They will spend the rest of the night at this camp at 19,600 feet. Tomorrow they plan to hike down to base camp, Plaza de Mulas, at about 14,110 feet. CONGRATULATIONS TO WES AND DAN!

Camp Cholera

Wes and Dan are currently at "Camp Cholera" at 19,600 feet. This is not the official name of the camp but everyone calls it that. It is really dirty on the perimeter. Lots of people seem to use the perimeter as their personal toilet and don't clean up after themselves. They got to this camp yesterday. They were going to try and traverse over to the normal route at a higher altitude but could not do it because there was too much snow. They chose a lower traverse instead. It was a really hard day because they had to climb with 80 pound backpacks. Previously they were able to cache their gear and climb with about 40 pounds. It took them about three and a half hours to climb to Camp Cholera. There were a series of switchbacks toward the end of the traverse that led into camp. Wes said yesterday was his hardest day so far on the mountain because he started feeling bad when they got into camp (like maybe his friend, Montezuma's Revenge, was coming back) but he was able to get over it. Dan is still doing well. They have both had some headaches off and on. Wes said that they are both feeling as good as they can feel at 19,600. They have been trying to force food and water down. Wes spent today working on getting a frozen piece of human poop out of the bottom of his boot! He said that was just the way he wanted to spend his time on the mountain. There are a handful of people at this camp. Inca seems to be the main guide service on the mountain. They have a cooking tent set up and about a dozen tents set up for their climbers. One of their porters came all the way up to this camp in just a few days. Once he got there he began to feel really bad and had to be rescued and taken off the mountain. Again, that is why it is important to take your time and acclimate. Wes said that today the weather was very cold, breezy with a few clouds. The clouds tend to dissipate in the afternoon. He said they still have lots of food and fuel.

Wes and Dan both know about Fede. They found out yesterday. Wes had asked one of the guides about the identities of the people and they told him. Fede is still up near the summit. Hopefully they will be able to get him down soon. As if that news wasn't bad enough, the mountain claimed another life yesterday. An English climber was making his summit attempt and died about six feet from his goal. The mountain has claimed four lives in just one week.

On a more positive note, Wes was excited to hear that Ed Viesturs is climbing Aconcagua right now. He is one of the guides for the RMI team that is climbing the Polish route. They are currently at base camp. For those of you who are not familiar with Ed Viesturs, he is one of the finest mountain climbers around. He has climbed every 8,000 meter mountain in the world. Wes' motto is the title of one of Ed's books, "No Shortcuts to the Top."

Tomorrow Wes and Dan plan to go for the summit! The guys will get up at 4:00 a.m. and hopefully be out of the tent at 5:00 a.m. and on their way. Wes was talking to one of the guides who said that tomorrow should be a good summit day. It should take about seven or eight hours to reach the summit. Wes said this has been one epic trip so far.

Thinking of Fede

The latest update regarding the Italian group has now released the names of the two people that passed away. They were caught in an avalanche after summiting. Unfortunately, the guide was Federico Campanini. He was one of Wes and Dan's guides on their Denali trip in May. Wes always mentioned how much he liked Federico (Fede). Please keep his family in your thoughts.

Camp II

Wes and Dan are at Camp II at approximately 19,200 feet. They got there today at about 12:30 p.m. They retrieved their cache and again all their gear was intact. The campsite had some snow in it from the storm so they spent some time digging it out. They set up the tent and got it all tied down. They received quite a bit of snow today - very fluffy flakes. It snowed for about three or four hours. It then cleared up and the guys enjoyed a spectacular sunset. They could see all the mountains around Aconcagua. Tomorrow the plan is to climb across the Traverse and join up with the normal route. They plan on making another camp on the normal route at about the same elevation as Camp II. Wes and Dan are both eating and drinking a lot and still feel good. It looks like there will be snow showers coming in on Friday afternoon but after that it is supposed to be clear for the next five days. Another update on the Italian climbers. Apparently, it was not two climbers that died but one climber and the guide. They had summited but got lost in the storm on the way down.

Italian Climbers Located

Update on the Italian climbers from Allie's information. Two of the climbers have died but they rescued the other two climbers and the guide. There was also a sixth member of the group but she had descended before the storm hit.

The Mountain Strikes Again

Wes just called with another update. It is about 11:00 pm there. The guys relaxed for the rest of the day. They are both feeling very strong. Along with the Ramen and chicken they had as an early dinner, they dined on oatmeal and crackers in the evening before getting ready for bed. Yum. They got word today that a team of 5 Italian climbers got caught in the storm from last night and this morning. They are missing and presumed dead. This team was climbing the traditional (normal) route. A helicopter was flying around most of the day searching for them. Hopefully they are holed up somewhere in a makeshift shelter. The weather for the next two days is supposed to be clear with some clouds. The temperature will be around 7 degrees with 10 mph winds. The wind chill will be about -6 degrees. If this weather forecast is accurate, Wes and Dan will climb to Camp II tomorrow for sure. It should take two to three hours to reach camp.

Wild Times at Ameghino Col Camp

Wes and Dan are at the Ameghino Col Camp at 17,700 feet. They arrived there yesterday. It was about a 2 to 2 1/2 hour climb from Camp I. He said they spent about two hours building an ice wall to protect their tent from the wind. Wes was busy melting snow when he called (1:40 pm Argentina time). Dan was a little way off taking pictures. They got hit pretty hard yesterday and this morning with lots of wind and snow. They had about 35 mph winds last night with some gusts as high as 50 mph. A lot of teams are pulling out and going down today. They met four guys from Colorado who are heading down. One of their members has the early signs of HAPE (high altitude pulmonary edema - the lungs fill with fluid). Wes said there have been a lot of cases of HAPE and HACE (high altitude cerebral edema - swelling of the brain tissue) on the mountain. It seems that a lot of climbers are just going too fast up the mountain. That is one of the reasons why Dan and Wes chose to stay at the Col Camp instead of going straight to Camp II at around 19,000 feet. They are taking a rest day today. Last night it was so cold that they cooked inside their tent. That is really not a good thing to do but they had all the air vents open while the stove was on. Due to cooking inside the tent, the walls got all iced up. They woke up in an "ice cave." The sun is out right now but it is still really cold. There are some puffy clouds but it looks like the weather is getting better. Yesterday there were some lenticular clouds hanging over the mountain which looked pretty ominous. Earlier today Wes said there was a plume about 1,000 feet long coming off the summit from the wind. He said it was pretty spectacular. There is only one other group at the Col Camp right now. A team of eight from Alpine Ascents. The guides apparently weren't too happy to see Dan and Wes because they said most people don't stay at the Col Camp. I guess they expected to have it to themselves. One of the guides even told Wes to move his tent. He said that he would move it a little bit but that was it. He said their team seemed dazed - they attempted to build a wall but only moved a couple of rocks around. After that initial encounter, Wes said the group is really nice. The guys are still feeling great. They said they are mostly hungry. They have about two days more of food at this camp and could stretch it to three if they had to. They have eight days of food and fuel cached at Camp II. Wes said they were planning on eating an early dinner of Ramen and chicken (they have one bun left to share) and relaxing the rest of the day. Wes and Dan plan to move up to Camp II tomorrow if the weather holds.

Sitting Pretty at Camp I

Wes and Dan are at Camp I (16,200 feet). They climbed up there yesterday. They retrieved their cache and everything was intact. It took about four hours to get there. Wes said it was warm and clear yesterday. They set up camp and then relaxed for the rest of the day. There about the same number of people at this camp as there were at Plaza Argentina. Today they had a modified "rest" day by climbing up to Camp II at 19,028 feet. Wes said they got a pretty good campsite at Camp II. They cached half their gear inside a couple of duffle bags and covered them with rocks. It took almost five hours to get to Camp II. Around 18,000 feet it started to get windy and began to lightly snow so they hid behind a rock to get out of the wind. They took a break and had something to eat. They had to put on another layer of clothing - their warmer jackets and pants. They were both pretty tired when they got back to Camp I. Tomorrow the plan is to either stay at Camp I or they may move up to 17,700 which is the Ameghino Col Camp. They initially were going to bypass this camp and move directly to Camp II but have decided that they may stay one night at the Col Camp. It is snowing right now. They have received about three inches of snow today. There are ice crystals inside the tent. Dan and Wes had one of their freeze dried meals for dinner. They had to eat inside the tent since it was so cold outside. Either yesterday or today they watched the recovery of the German climber. Two rangers were up at Camp II and lowered his body down to two waiting rangers who had a Stokes basket. His body is about 200 yards from the guys' tent resting on a knoll. He will probably be helicoptered out tomorrow. Both guys are still feeling great!

Still Hanging at Plaza Argentina

The guys are still at Plaza Argentina. They discussed it and decided it would be better to have another day to get acclimated. They did climb to Camp I yesterday and made a cache. Wes said it was a great climb. It took about four hours to get up there. They cached half their gear and piled a lot of rocks on top of it. Hopefully that will keep out all the critters. The guide company, Aymara, that they are using while at base camp is pretty cool. They will cook anything you want them to cook. However, it comes at a STEEP price. Last night Wes and Dan had two pizzas and two cokes for dinner. It was $30 PER pizza and $5 PER coke! Today Wes asked them to make lunch for him and they cooked him up some beef that was breaded, soup and fruit - yet another $30. They like U.S. dollars there. Dan decided to eat some of the snacks that he had brought and save his money.

Aconcagua has not been very kind to climbers so far this season. About three days ago a couple of guys had to be helicoptered out due to cerebral edema. Another guy had to be rescued today because he twisted his ankle on the way down from the summit. A German climber fell and died today on the Polish Direct Route. His partner, an American, had to be rescued. The weather has been relatively warm so the glacier is melting and has uncovered two more bodies that died in previous seasons.

On a more cheerful note, Wes has recovered from his Montezuma's Revenge and now feels great. Dan still feels good, too! For the record, Wes and Dan are climbing the Polish Traverse (not the Polish Direct) Route. They will meet up with the traditional route to go for the summit. This is a less dangerous route than the Polish Direct. They will be climbing to Camp I tomorrow.

Happy 2009!

Wes and Dan rang in the New Year in Argentina. Wes spent the early hours of 2009 dealing with Montezuma's Revenge. He finally made it to bed at 5:30 am. He is not sure if it was from the water or from the food last night. He is feeling better now. He started a round of antibiotics. All Wes had to say was "thank goodness for portable toilets." Dan was able to avoid that particular condition and still feels great. New Year's Eve on Aconcagua was a pretty wild place. At midnight huge explosions began going off. Apparently people brought canisters with fireworks or explosives. There was a very large bonfire and congo drums were played until about 3:00 am. About 40 tents are set up at this camp. There are people from all over the world - a few Americans. There must have been drinking games going on in the Inca tent because Dan and Wes could hear people cheering in Spanish, "Chug, chug, chug." The games are the same no matter what language you speak. From another group came the telltale smell of marijuana. Are these people really going to climb this mountain? Today Wes and Dan were seen by the camp doctor. Their blood pressure, pulsox, etc. were checked. The doctor said they were both fine. Wes said one of the tents was rigged up with Internet access and satellite communication. It is sunny and breezy right now. They are glad for the wind because it cools it down a little bit. Today is definitely a rest day. Tomorrow they are off to make their cache at Camp I.