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Aconcagua Update: January 27, 2018

We last left off with the team heading to Camp 1 on Aconcagua. That day Adrian’s team made it up in a peppy 3.5 hours. The next team followed up with a nice time themselves, 5 hours to camp 1 and everyone feeling good. Our porter team keeps treating us well, and the climbers were super happy to see a spread of charcuterie for lunch upon arrival. Weather for the climbing that day was perfect – sunny and calm in the morning while they made their move. The wind decided to pick up in the afternoon though and was at 30 km/h by the time the day was over. Adrian relayed to the office that the mountain was very quiet – only one other team of 3 climbers at camp 1 that night.

Knowing the weather is in an unstable pattern, Adrian requested an updated forecast to look at the next few days before signing off for the afternoon.

camp 1 on Aconcagua with Alpenglow Expeditions

That night camp 1 endured some tough winds making for a restless night in the tents. The team was up early after a mediocre night of sleep and was enjoying coffee and taking in the views the next morning. A lazy morning was welcomed with open arms. Hanging in camp 1 means we’re spending most of our time in a big yellow tent together with plenty of room to stretch out – time passes by joking around, drinking water (gotta stay hydrated!) and telling stories. Meanwhile the weather report came in: it called for strong winds to comb the top of the peak in the coming days. A summit attempt was out for the next couple of days but the team decided to spend another night at camp 1 to further acclimatize.

The next morning the team moved down to base camp looking forward to showers, steak, and red wine. Another night in the wind had everyone feeling a little rough around the edges.

hanging in base camp on Aconcagua with Alpenglow Expeditiosns

The plan moving forward is to head back to c1 on January 28, c2 on January 29 and spend another night for the 30th. Move to c3 on the 31st and then push for a summit and descent on February 1, the last day of our window. The team will shoot to catch a ride off the mountain the evening of February 1, and if the timing doesn’t work there we’ll just head out and all the way back to Mendoza on February 2.

Good luck you guys!