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.
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Hey guys, we're following your progress with great interest and keeping you in our thoughts. Thanks for keeping us updated with all your reports. Buena suerta!
ReplyDeleteSus amigos de Glencoe, Minn: Longs
I am keeping you guys in my thoughts from Haiti. Thanks for these great updates.
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDeleteyou are writing about a German, who died at the weekend on the mountain. I am/was a friend of Stefan. at the moment it is very hard for me to understand what happened on the mountain, because informations from the newspapers are not clear. You write, he was together with a american. Can you help me to find out more details about what happend on the mountain? do you know some people who met him in his last days of live?