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!!!!!!