Merry Christmas from Mendoza

So it´s time for some updates here as the nature of the trip is changing drastically. We´ll start with how I wound up in Mendoza when I´m supposed to be on the summit.

Before we got to basecamp, we spent another night at the confluencia camp 10 miles down the valley. On this extra day we hiked up another valley towards Plaza Francia, a basecamp for other routes on the mountain, to see the awesome south face of Aconcagua.

After this extra day of acclimatization we headed off for basecamp (Plaza de Mulas) and settled in. After a rest day we all felt pretty good and decided to carry our fuel, food, and equipment for the upper mountain to our first camp and then descend. I probably already had a bug in my system, and this carry of about 45 lbs. to 18,000 ft is what broke the camels back.

After descending to basecamp I was exhausted and developed a really bad cough. The basecamp nurse diagnosed me with two things. One was a nasty respiratory infection. The other was possible Pulmonary Edema as she thought she heard some fluid in my left lung. Fortunately neither of the two nurses could detect any fluid on subsequent exams so all I was left with was the infection.

The decision was made that the others should go on up to the stocked camp and continue up the mountain since it was entirely unclear and pretty unlikely that I would recover in time to ascend. I stayed on at basecamp to try to recover but the problem was the altitude. The respiratory infection was getting better, but my body was utilizing too many resources and my acclimatization was taking a back slide. Each day I would go see the nurse and find that although I felt better overall, my blood oxygen saturation was dropping daily until it finally hit a level that the nurses said was getting to be unsafe. I had to go down.

As I was packing up and getting ready to leave basecamp Chris wandered up! After spending a very uncomfortable night at Camp 1 (Nido de Condores) he had taken ill from the altitude and decided to come down. This leaves Kevin and another German climber named Peter up on the mountain. We had met Peter on the way in and he had pretty much become a part of our group and us a part of his. As far as I know they are attempting to summit today. If not they have a reserve of a few days food and fuel and can stay on the mountain as late as the 30th before descending. They left me with the SPOT so unfortunately it is no longer tracking progress of the ascent party. It seems to have worked about 80% of the time which is pretty good though.

Chris and I parted ways yesterday as I descended to Mendoza while he stays on the mountain waiting for Kevin and Peter. I managed to make it all the way to Mendoza in a single day from basecamp. It´s amazing what a sick man can accomplish when motivated by wine and beef. After 16 miles of hiking I was still at 9,000 ft at the highway. Some locals stopped to let me hop in the back of their truck making the last 2 miles to town a breeze. Once there I only had an hour wait until the bus to Mendoza showed up and 4 hours later I was taking a taxi to my Hostel.

So here I am. The expedition didn´t go as I had planned but I should have a good time here in Argentina with the eight days I have left. The SPOT tracker may still get periodically used as I wander around Mendoza but don´t look for it religiously. I´ve found about 4 days worth of tourism around Mendoza already and am looking for a few more. Suggestions welcome!

Sorry if this post is messy and dissjointed, but I am still sick and am trying to get this in fast so someone else can use the computer at the Hostel.

I´ll update this again when I have word from Chris and Kevin on the mountain. Until then...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!

HELLO FROM MENDOZA!

Well we made it to Mendoza with all of our equipment. A little worrying after checking three large duffels full of expensive and crucial gear.

Mendoza is a beutiful city. They don´t call it the city of trees for nothing. After a fire ravaged the city they rebuilt this desert town with a system of canals and trees lining all the downtown streets and avenues. Each tree reaching it´s roots down to the water running 4ft below. Their not covered though so you have to watch your step after a few glasses of wine.

This is probably the last you´ll get from us as we head into the mountains tomorrow. We´ll let you know how it went when we get back!

Big old jet airliner

So you want to know where we're SUPPOSED to be huh. Well here you go.

This is a rough itinerary we put together that we will use as a guide in moving from place to place. This is by no means set in stone. Weather and feeling pooped with no air could hamper our efforts considerably. In fact we are pretty much scrapping one of our contingency days right off the bat and planning on spending another day at either base camp or camp one. But, if all goes well and nobody has any altitude problems, or the weather doesn't beat us down, we'll be back in Mendoza in time for the New Year. And I'm pretty sure that's going to be a party.

Well, it seemed to sneak up on me, but we're leaving tomorrow morning! We may find Internet in Mendoza but don't count on it. Just in case I'll wish everybody a Happy Holiday!

And then there were two

Kevin is already in the air. I said adios to him today. Chris and I are flying together and will meet up with Kevin again in Mendoza. I've got to thank Kevin for volunteering to be the expeditionary scout that is going to arrange our lodging and get us settled in so that all Chris and I have to do is show up.

If you haven't checked out the link on this page take a look at it sometime after Sunday or so. It's a link to a SPOT tracker that will let family and friends take a look at where we've been.

For those of you that already bookmarked it you may need to access it from the blog again since I started a new share page that won't have the local Tacoma bars marked out that I was testing the gear with.

Assuming the thing will work for us in South America you can probably expect one update per day.

Final packing is underway and we'll be off on Saturday!

Piles Of Gear

Here's a look at most of the gear I'm taking down to South America with me. Not shown in the photo are tents, travel duffels, and the kitchen sink.

Pre-trip Planning

My friends Kevin and Chris and I are going to Argentina this December to try to climb Aconcagua.

Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the South American Andes at 22,841 ft making it the highest mountain outside the Himalayas. It's also one of the "Seven Summits", or high points of the seven continents.

Our team will be flying down to Argentina in December and will spend about 3 weeks over Christmas and New Years trying to climb this mountain.