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Aconcagua
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Today I arrived at the Mendoza airport, and got picked up and taken to lunch at a small local sandwich shop. I then proceeded to try and speak a little Spanish, which failed. I let Carlos do the talking. This being my first trip to another country, I am completely amazed at how different another culture is and the people are. The people are awesome, totally accepting me at our first meeting. Carlos then drove me to Penitentes, a sort of base up in the mountains, about 150 kilometers away from Mendoza. I was given the keys to the apartment of Fernando Grajales, a close friend of Willie’s. I spent the afternoon running and climbing the rocky ridge of…a local peak, about 11,000 feet. Before today I had not met any of the people I was interacting with, but they made me feel right at home. That night I had the pleasure of finally meeting Fernando as I slept on his couch. |
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Aconcagua
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I woke up this morning to the sounds of birds chirping and sunlight streaming into the window. Fernando offered me breakfast, a shower, and whatever else I needed, then headed to work. I spent the whole morning sleeping off jetlag, and just resting. At about 3 Fernando and I headed back down to Mendoza where I met his mother, and felt right at home again with her. We then drove to the airport to pick up Willie--it was nice to see a familiar face. That night we went to dinner at a pretty fancy restaurant, playing Bocce Ball and drinking Coca-Cola until 2 in the morning. |
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Aconcagua
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Waking up bright eyed and bushy tailed, Willie and I headed out on the town for some breakfast and shopping. We ate at a classic little café and had coffee, orange juice, and pastries. It was all delicious. We planned out the trip and all the food we will need. Following breakfast, at about noon we headed to the supermarket to buy the food for the trip. I thought it was pretty cool to see the similarities and differences between Argentinean and American supermarkets. For lunch we went to another little street corner sandwich shop. While eating at these sorts of places I really get the chance to see how people interact with each other, it’s so much different than in the US. Here at the sandwich shop, Willie befriended a stray dog, and I had the largest, possibly best sandwich I’ve ever had, nowhere in the US do they put actual steaks in the sandwich. After a bouldering session on Fernando’s climbing wall, we headed out to a little all you can eat meat pub, which was run by a 9 year old girl. The meat was so amazing--real Argentinean steak, and later I got to have a taste of the blood sausage which is just clotted blood in a sausage tube, it was...interesting. |
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Aconcagua
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Sleeping in a little bit this morning was good, catch a couple more z’s before heading to the same café for some more breakfast today. We then went to Martin’s house, and I was surprised to notice razor wire on the roofs, and barred windows, so Willie explained the robberies that occur frequently around here. We then packed up some gear and made sure the tents were working properly. Willie had a meeting with an old friend, so me met for lunch, and then came back to Fernando’s house where we had another bouldering session. Willie gave me some helpful tips on technique.
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Aconcagua
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Today we woke up at 7:00 and drove about two hours to go climbing. After picking up some of Willie’s and Fernando’s amigos, we loaded up and finished the on pavement drive. We hit the dirt road, and began what was to be an hour journey, but after 20 minutes, we came to a rolling stop. Blown hose. We repaired the hose and did a couple other small fixes and drove on. We came up on a river and halfway across we stop again out of gas. We work on the car 15 minutes because the gas gauge still reads ¼ tank. When a man and his kids pull up in a small jeep, we ask to borrow some gas. Fernando siphoned about 3 litres of gas and we hit the road again. We couldn’t go to the planned climb because of the car problems, so instead we went to a dome with multiple routes. We climbed for about 7 hours on 7 different routes, many of them too difficult for me to finish. After we finish climbing, we hike to the car, and it’s out of gas again. We start it downhill pushing it, jump in, and roll away downhill. When we hit a flat section of road, the car stops and we pile out to push again, and a man pulls up and gives us a little tow, so then we jump in, and rally off down the dirt road, leaning out the windows yelling at people and cars to get off the road--everyone gets out of the way, looking at us, bewildered. After we reach pavement we get more gas and everything runs smoothly again, but what an adventure. I have come to realize that the days spent down here are very long, the kind of days when at night that morning seems like it was yesterday, so I guess the trip so far is a success. |
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Aconcagua
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Today was a restful day, mostly running around town picking up last minute items, last minute packing, and grabbing perishable food items. At 6 o’clock we went to the airport to pick up Willie’s client, Charlotte. Back at her hotel, we unload her gear and she is set up in her room. I go back outside, to where Willie was waiting, and there is a big commotion. I ask some attendants where Willie is, and they inform me that he has dropped his keys in the gutter, a two foot deep trench gushing with water. After a search and rescue session, we retire and Willie begins to call a lock and key joint. I then notice a man standing with a key ring in his hand. He had our keys. They got attached to the client’s baggage, and fell off in the hotel lobby. Afterwards at dinner we went to a local restaurant, very classic, rustic, with grapes hanging from overhead. We ate a meal of the most delicious pork, steak ribs, ham, and cow diaphragm that I could ever imagine--it was very good and tomorrow we drive to Penitentes, the beginning of the journey! |
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Aconcagua
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Today we got to sleep in, because we planned to start hiking about 1:00 p.m. We arrived at the trailhead along with the first views of Aconcagua. The mountain is beautiful, with steep snow fields and icicles hanging off of glistening vertical cliffs. The trek to Confluencia took us about 2 hours, and arriving there, it turned out to be a sort of tent city with about 100 tents. After we set up our tents we ate dinner and I was in the bag by 10:00 pm only to be reawakened by fireworks. Once in the mountains I had forgotten that it was new years eve! |
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Aconcagua
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Our trek today was up to Plaza Francais, at about 13,000 ft. From here we had a close up view of the south face. Although the mountain looks huge, it is even larger than it looks, with the south face stretching straight up nearly 2 miles. |
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Aconcagua
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Today was the first rest day, so we lounged about, ate some steak, and I read “The Shining Mountain”, a story of two men on Changabang’s west wall. Those guys had real drive, its pretty intense. I was also able to catch some sun which was really nice. For dinner we had homemade raviolis, they were delicious. |
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Aconcagua
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Today we trekked to Plaza de Mulas. It was a really long day, about 7 and a half hours straight walking. We did well, too, hiked it pretty fast. (looking at this typing, if anything is spelled wrong its because I’m typing on a spanish computer so the spellcheck is telling me everything in wrong). Anyways, we woke up at 5:30, the morning sun revealed beautifully lit orange clouds haloing huge moutain peaks. After about two hours of walking we had a river crossing, so that was a nice wake-up to our weary dusty feet. All day we were in a wide valley, and we were able to enjoy fantastic views all day. We arrived at Mulas/ Base Camp at about 2 in the afternoon. It is another tent city but this time directly under Aconcagua and the surrounding glacier covered peaks. |
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Aconcagua
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A rest day at Mulas. We used it well, too, packing up all our food into different bags for high camps because tommorrow we haul all the food and some of the down gear to Camp 1. At about 2300 hours Willie found it necessary to appoint me the mate server for the porters and cooks as they played a rowdy card game. Mate is a traditional tea drink with a special straw and cup. This particular cup is made of a cow’s hoof--it has the most character of any cup I’ve seen. |
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Aconcagua
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With our packs loaded up we set off in the shadow of the mountain at 7:30 am for the first carry to Camp 1. The journey is 2,060 ft. nearly straight up. At the top of the first cliff band I was readjusting my pack and teetered backwards hanging out over 50 feet. I nearly needed new underpants. It was a slow walk but when we reached our camp, lunch was a triumph. At 16,168 ft, the elevation of Camp 1, a storm decided to come through but it was nothing to worry about. Because we are climbing a different route, all of our camps are different, away from the people on the normal route. I’m excited to try this route, because it has only been climbed once, by Willie’s twin, Damian. After lunch we traversed to the normal Camp 1 and did a small clean up. We got a full bulging sack of trash and a stray dog. We decided to rescue the dog and he thought that that was a good idea, so he followed us back down to base camp. We named this skinny fellow “Gordo” (the fat one). Willie finds himself becoming attached to the fuzzball but as of now I don’t know where he is. The cold temperaturas tonight have also dropped to where my “pee bottle” is frozen. Yikes. |
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Aconcagua
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Today was another rest day. It was very nice but we believe Gordo ran back up to Canada--Camp 1. Even with that tragedy we still enjoyed a rest day until a storm front came through in the afternoon, cutting off communications and putting a beautiful layer of snow on the mountains that shone pink in the evening light. |
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Aconcagua
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After a nice long sleep, we woke with the sun at 9:00 and began packing our personal ítems to carry to Camp 1. We started up and arriving at the midway point, Conway’s Rock, we heard news of a party stranded on the “Polish Glacier”. This will be their 2nd night out and there is a great chance they will not survive--hopefuly they will make it. Willie said this could be the biggest disaster that has ever happened on Aconcagua, so its pretty big. |
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Aconcagua
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After a nice long sleep, we woke with the sun at 9:00, and began packing our personal ítems to carry to Camp 1. We started up, and arriving at the midway point, Conway’s rock, we heard news of a party stranded on the “Polish Glacier”. This will be their 2nd night out, and there is a great chance they will not survive, but hopefuly they will make it. Willie said this could be the biggest disaster that has ever happened on Aconcagua, so its pretty big. |
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Aconcagua
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I awoke this morning with a rush of thoughts, for Willie, for everyone still up on the mountain. 15 minutes later Willie burst into our tent, “good morning”!!. Immediately I was filled with relief and joy. It was so good to see his face, exhausted as it was. He spent all day up on the mountain the day before. Last night a storm had struck, dropping our tent at base camp to 20 degrees, and that is including our body heat and a small propane heater. As it snowed for hours, my thoughts were up with Willie and the crews. Willie told us this morning everything that happened the previous days. Of the stranded party, two have died so far. The guide, stricken with edema, was left on the mountain--a heartbreaking decision for his best friend on the rescue team. Another woman had died earlier, also from edema. All of the survivors have their wounds from nearly 3 below zero nights at 21,000 ft. All of them have extreme frostbite, and others also have snow blindness with other symptoms. Yesterday almost every porter and guide from base camp rushed up to help the rescue teams. That’s about 80 volunteers willing to help in the middle of a snowstorm, in absolute freezing temperatures, and all above 17,000 ft. All the people on this mountain, no matter their differences, were tied together the past days to help those in need--it’s incredible to witness. Willie also told us this morning that he found the “missing” Japanese man. Apparently he had been missing for five days, but really he was just having fun hiking around by himself, forgetting to check in. So Willie found him and shouted his name. “Yes!” the man replies. Willie inquired about him that yes he is missing. “No, I not missing, I know where I am.” Willie informed him that yes he is missing and that he must check in. “Oh, I must go down then. Bye Bye Aconcagua.” We all found it amusing how he was proclaimed missing when really he was just having fun playing on the mountain, oblivious to everything. It is also said that when he was at camp 2 he sent for a porter and gave him 270 dollars to bring him a sandwich and a bottle of water.Things are clearing up here at Base Camp, and the new snow on Aconcagua is blowing off in an enormous beautiful wind plume. |
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Aconcagua
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Today was just a walk back to Camp 1. I was able to experience the toilet facilities there, with the best views ever from a toilet; sharp mountain peaks with long flowing glaciers breaking off over giant cliffs. Today was the first day with no afternoon clouds in a long time. We were able to enjoy views of Aconcagua all day long. |
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Aconcagua
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Because of all the recent storms we sadly have to deviate from our intended route. Ours, “Flight of the Condor”, is now flooded with new snow. So today we walked the normal route to Camp 2, or Condoras. Here at 17,700 feet, I can feel the altitude. When we arrived I “hit the wall” as Willie called it. We finished setting up the tent just as a raging storm pulled in. We sat inside drinking away our headaches, dizziness, and nausea (with tea). Feeling chipper and refreshed, I was ready for dinner, but Willie and Charlotte were fast asleep, their appetite taken by altitude. I knew that I needed food, so I scrounged up some cookies and melted snow for hot OJ. Pretty exciting. |
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Aconcagua
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Rest day at Camp 2 today. Tried to hydrate all day because last night the pressure dropped about 200-300 feet, so we all woke with Grand Mal headaches. If that’s even how you could rate a headache…then as night hit, the winds picked up, scouring us with new snow and making it rather difficult to sleep, also making it quite an adventure. |
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Aconcagua
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Today we walked to Camp 3. This is the last camp of the approach, so hopefully we will summit tomorrow. I was feeling exceptionally fine on the walk, even as we camped at almost 19,000 feet. We hit camp and tried to force some food down, but it is not easy to eat at that altitude--it takes your appetite completely away. The high winds picked up again as we went to bed, a bad sign for our summit push tomorrow. |
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Aconcagua
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I learned the altitude also takes away your ability to sleep, so we awoke from our drowses at 3:30 AM by Willie. Charlotte was very nauseous, so we decided to wait until 8 to get up. At 8, with how we felt, and with the winds howling as they were, it would be nearly impossible to summit today so the only choice was to go down to Base Camp. I was pretty bummed but it was necessary and my flight doesn’t leave until the 23rd, so I have some extra time to work with. After some time at Base Camp we got our appetites back and then our ability to sleep. A plan was made after dinner. Luckily, Charlotte could hike out tomorrow with another group. As for Willie and I, in between high winds and snowstorms, Friday will be our only chance to try to summit. So tomorrow we will climb straight to Camp 2, rest a few hours, then begin our summit push from Camp 2 at about 4 AM. Hopefully we will summit, then drop all the way to Base Camp. Nearly 23,000 ft to 14,000 ft. Then we will sleep a night there and run all the way out, hoping to make an 8-10 hour journey in 3 hours, Wish us luck for all to go well! |
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Aconcagua
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Today after Charlotte began her journey out, Willie and I began repacking. We made our packs as light as can be, taking only things that are completely necessary except for a camera, prayer flags, and a nano ipod. We started up to Camp 2 at about noon moving as fast as we could. The army had an expedition moving up and we blazed past them, earning mixed looks of bewilderment, anger, but mostly tired. We reached Camp 2 (Condoras) 2 and a half hours after we started. The usual time for this journey would be 8-9 hours, so we felt pretty BAMF. We settled down to bed after eating the only meal we had brought with us. Setting the alarms for 3:30, we began our rest. |
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Aconcagua
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SUMMIT DAY!
After a completely sleepless night of waiting for the alarm, it finally rang and I was able to joyously raise Willie from his sleep. We melted some snow for tea and ate a couple of cliff bars. We then got fully dressed and headed out. We started off and looked up seeing about 15 other headlamps bobbing in the blackness. We walked at a very fast pace, earning Camp 3 only 1 hour after we set off, doing the distance in 1 hour instead of the usual 3. We breezed past all the other groups until we reached Plaza de Independencia. There we put on our crampons and got out our ice axes--the exciting part is beginning! We set off on the Traverse across the Camilleta, a huge steep scree slope stretching from just below the summit to almost 6,000 ft below. We were still passing people until we reached The Cave, a shelter in the rocks once you cross the Traverse. From there we began our nearly straight upward climb hugging the cliffs on the side of the Camilleta. The summit spire had been in view for quite some time now, but so large that it never seemed to be any closer. We passed one last French man, and tiring with each step, reached the Guanaco ridge. This ridge is at the top of the south face so we looked down, and the face is completely vertical--so hard to believe that people climb up it. The summit was now within 100 meters and breathing hard with each and every step we started the last push. We reached the summit, it came just in time, and I overflowed with joy to finally reach my destination. We had reached the summit in 5 hours 7 minutes from Camp 2, the usual time is 10-12 hours or more. Completely blown away by this, Willie and I stood looking at the gorgeous views of the Andes Mountains. I still could not believe that I was standing on the highest mountain outside of the Himalaya. We spent an hour on top then began the descent down, passing nearly 100 people, today is the perfect day to summit and we were the first to stand up there! We practically ran down, shoved the tent into our packs, and reached Base Camp 24 hours after we had left it the day before. Then we decided that exhausted as we were to run out today, a 20 mile journey. I am not completely sure what was going through our heads. We jury rigged some baggies into awkward fanny packs, said our last goodbyes to the staff at Base Camp, and ran off down the valley. We reached Confluencia thirsty and tired. Veronica, the chef, was overjoyed to see us again. She gave us a Coke and fruit, then we started off on the last leg of our run. Finally we reached Horcones, the pavement. I was completely tired, sore, and sunburned. It felt so good to look up at Aconcagua and know that I had been there that very same day.
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Aconcagua
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Today in Mendoza I had a pretty easy relaxing day doing homework, organizing the trip gear, and getting together some laundry. Willy on the other hand went out rock climbing with Charlotte, spending all day out there. Not much happened today, except Fernando had a barbeque. The barbeques down here are so much different than in the states. There is no 'burgers and ‘dogs--here they cook steaks, pork, and sausages--a full course of each; it fills you up big time. Later we went to a friend Martin’s house for another barbeque, Willie was almost falling asleep when he was eating. Charlotte came along and everyone was in good spirits, chilling, and talking about wine and Aconcagua. |
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Aconcagua
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We slept in today--it felt pretty awesome. So after we woke up, we headed out for some breakfast. We had to bring Charlotte to the airport at about noon, so we said our final goodbyes; she was off to the US, and we were off to lunch. I was then informed that Charlotte had paid for a massage for both me and Willie. After learning that I couldn’t refund and get the money back for something else, I conceded and we went for it. I don’t think I’m going for another massage anytime soon. Then (I forgot to tell you) we have a bus ride to Patagonia today leaving at 8:00, to go visit Willie’s family. So we headed to the bus station and tried to get on the bus with no ticket because we didn’t have a printer to print out a ticket. I thought Willie and Damian were about to get into a fight with the guys at the counter because they were telling us they didn’t want to help us. But we got what we wanted with no violence and wished luck to Damian who has a huge trip ahead of him, and got on the bus, the start of a 20 hour ride. |
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Aconcagua
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Waking up on the bus and looking forward to about 8 more hours, I decided to look at music on my iPod which had about 12,000 songs on it. It then proceeded to blow up in my face, which bummed me out big time. So I listened to Spanish movies for the rest of the time. We arrived at the bus terminal, and one of Willie’s brothers was there to take a taxi with us, because he doesn’t have a car. It’s the thought that counts though right? Anyways, we arrived at Willie’s mom's house and I met her, what a nice old lady. She is from America, so she spoke English. That night we went to one of his other brother's house for a barbeque and I met most of the family. Dor his mom, Rafa his oldest brother, Alex a brother, Sophia his younger sister, and many other nieces and spouses and things. They are all really really nice and it was an awesome dinner--I felt right at home with them. |
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Aconcagua
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We got ready to drive out the Peninsula this morning, where all Willie’s siblings have work. The Peninsula is an ocean paradise with a little tourist community, seasons of whale watching, and more just beach seasons. Right now it’s the beach season. Shortly after arriving we headed out to go sea kayaking--Sophie runs a sea kayak business, and it was amazing. We cruised the coast, paddling into caves, getting lost in mazes of water and rock. After about an hour we reached a seal colony. There were huge males with harems of females, just hundreds of seals everywhere. We paddled in and you could get within 20 feet of the animals. Sometimes they would roll into the water to come swim and play with us. After a beach lunch we went back to town and traded in the sea kayak gear for scuba diving gear. Another of Willie's brothers, Juan, runs a scuba business so he took us out. I learned the basics then we dove down, exploring cave systems and playing with sea anemones and huge crabs. It was crazy; from the top of the western hemisphere to the very bottom within a few days. We returned to the beach and played a game of rugby on the sand. It was pretty fun with all the guys that work for the family and the family; it was all like one big family. |
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Aconcagua
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We didn’t do much today, just hung out on the beach. I went for a little run/ fossil hunt, and we were hoping to go out and go scuba diving where a ton of wildlife was, but Juan was busy and we couldn't go. We just went cliff diving instead. You could jump off the cliffs, then either climb a rope, or try to climb the cliff. Climbing the cliff was really hard but fun because you could just fall off into the water. Later that night we had another game of rugby, and then with the whole family, went out for pizza at a local pub. |
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Aconcagua
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I woke up today, not looking forward to the bus ride ahead. I went to talk to Willie about it, and up until the last minute he forgot to tell me that no, he wasn’t coming with me; his brother had bought him a ticket right from Puerta Madrynn (where his mom lives). So I was to ride the bus alone, etc. He then informed me that I am to bring his luggage from Mendoza as well as mine. No big deal. I said my goodbyes to the family, and to my homey and climbing partner. Sophia then drove me an hour to the bus station, and I loaded up and headed out. |
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Aconcagua
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We arrived at Mendoza this morning at about 10, and I had no idea if Willie had remembered to talk to Fernando about picking me up. By the looks of the bus station and lack of people I knew, it looked like something didn’t work out. So I waited about 30 minutes and then decided to try to take a taxi. Bad idea. After a huge confusion, and arguing with the man who apparently didn’t want to speak Spanish with me either, I was promptly dropped off in the ghetto of Mendoza. I started to walk through the slums, regaining my internal compass. I then recognized a certain step on a building and figured out the direction I needed to go. After wandering through Mendoza, quite an adventure in itself, I finally reached Fernando’s house, it was 11:30. I guess he had arranged for a taxi to pick me up at 11:30, when the bus was supposed to arrive. So everything worked out, I took a shower, and started packing and repacking. I got everything together, and at 4:30 caught a taxi to the airport. Everything went well, until my flight was delayed. I waited and played cards with another guide from Aconcagua that was on my flight. The time crept on, and I thought I was going to miss my flight from Santiago, but finally they announced that we could board, and it worked out perfectly. Such is the end of my adventure in Argentina, an amazing place with an amazing mountain. |
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