Climbing for Learning: Aconcagua

Final Cybercast From Team Four

--From Eric Remza, Alpine Ascents Lead Guide

Hello Everyone checking in... We all arrived yesterday afternoon into Mendoza and man, what a wild ride this trip has been! Let me fill you in after our safe return from the summit and arrival into camp three.

First of all, John and Sue are two very focused and driven individuals... Although, safety is of their main concern, the two of them are mentally and physically adaptable to adversity. This was some of the worst weather I have ever experienced down here, yet, through 100 mph winds and freezing temperatures, these two stepped it up and kept it real.

After our first four day storm at camp one, almost every other team that was above us and with us during that epic ordeal decided do descend. This was probably a wise decision... Because, the next 6 days evolved into a rollercoaster of challenges, both mentally and emotionally with the onset of further storm systems rolling in. Imagine being stuck in a small yellow sphere for days on end, laying on your back and propping your legs against the tent walls to keep them from collapsing. Or, stumbling into a cyclone of wind in search for our water source that is frozen over... There are many stories like this, yet the only way you can really deal with them is to forgo your future and just except your current present situation. I tell my team members, to climb this mountain, all you have to do is just focus on one step at a time, one day at a time...

Also, I give anyone who ever signs up for a mountaineering expedition my utmost respect. To venture out of your current life situation and comfort zones is a tremendous step in personal growth. Mountaineering is a cumulative experiential adventure, it is a process, and each adventure builds on the next. Like the title of Ed Viesturs new book, their really are no short cuts in mountaineering. What you see is what you get, the mountain is indifferent, yet what separates us from the summit is one step at a time...one day at a time...

So in the hopes of not being too philosophical, let me rap up our trip for you...

After our summit, we arrived back into camp 3 around 6ish in the evening, a total time of 13 hours round trip to the summit and back. We awoke that morning to calmer winds, and the temperature was not as cold, a mere minus 16 wind chill. The traverse from C3 to C4 was arduous, but once at C4 the team was pumped to keep going. Each rest stop consisted of catching our breath and fueling our bodies with water and energy gels. Winds fooled with us all the way to the base of the Canaleta (Spanish for Couloir which is French for a gully). But the winds soon subsided and a balmy ascent of the 800 ft Gully soon placed us at the highest point in the Americas. All four of us were stoked (which is a feeling you recieve after you catch a really good ride on a wave while surfing), the summit was windless, and we were the only ones up there! 360 degree views of the Andes and some of the bluest skies you will ever see in your life. Plus a look our west into Chile and the Pacific Ocean beyond. When you are that high on a mountain like that, you can actually see the curvature of the Earth! Truly magical.

The next morning we awoke at 19,200 ft, C3. We packed up and dug ourselves out of our snowy world and began our descent down to BC. The weather was spectacular for our move down the mountain, and it took us all of 4 hours to make it down to BC. The deal was though, we couldn't stay at BC, our extended stay up high to give it one more shot for the summit exhausted our option for a rest day at BC. Therefore, we only had just enough time to repack our things, eat some really good pizza, and give Ellie a hand with breaking down BC. We then continued our descent another 8 miles and 3000 ft, down to the Vacus Valley to our second camp on our trek in, Casa Piedra. Halfway down the Relenchos Valley, were the canyon gets the steepest and most technical, our daylight emptied into night and we had no choice but to proceed with headlamps. Team Adapt, adapted and soon we were crossing the Vacus River by moonlight, another surreal experience... We finally arrived into Casa Piedra around 11 pm in the evening... No tents, it was a beautiful night, we just laid out our sleeping bags under a blanket of Argentinean stars. Dave hooked us up with cheese and crackers, and some quesadillas. We slept soundly that night, and I kept waking up and wondering why the inside of my tent had stars in it... In total we had dropped about 14,000 ft in about 12 hours... We were worked!!!

The following day (25th) greeted us with a calm morning, and Dave busted out some breakfast burritos, fresh eggs, onions, and garlic... Breakfast never tasted so good! We then packed all of our sleeping bags, pads, stoves, etc... into duffels and cached them there for the mules to pick up. With our lightened day packs, we banged out our 20 mile hike out to Penitentes.

Once we arrived into Penitentes, we again gorged on pizza, and Dave introduced the team to the "rest bite". That evening, we were able to stay at the hotel in Penitentes, were we took our first series of showers in over three weeks. Life is good...

The next morning we made our 3 hour bus ride back to Mendoza, again more showers!!! We arrived early enough that we were able to enjoy the afternoon in Mendoza. We topped it off with a dinner at Frances Mallman, the finest restaurant in Mendoza.

So today (27th), we are all leaving on our scheduled flights back to our homes. Talk about cutting it close! But the cool thing is, we don't need to leave till the evening, so we are getting ready to depart for a lunch BBQ at one of Mendoza's fine wineries. Nothing like indulging in some fine Argentinean beef and wine before you board a long flight back home...

So there you go... Another trip is in the books. I hope you enjoyed our dispatches and thanks to everyone who participated in our success.

Ciao y suerte

Eric, Dave, Sue and John.

Hello From Team 5

Hello to everyone checking in with Alpine Ascents Aconcagua 06/07 season. We are the final AAI expedition for the year and I am happy to announce that everyone has arrived into Mendoza. Unfortunately we have a few folks that are missing some luggage, but this sort of thing can happen from time to time...

We are just finishing up with our gear check and tonight we plan to have a welcome dinner at one of Mendoza´s fine restaurants. Tomorrow (6th) we will begin our travels to the ski resort town of Los Penitentes (9000ft), where we will meet our Mule outfitters and spend the night at a hotel to begin our acclimatization process.

On the 7th we will begin our journey into the Vacus Valley. We will leave Punta de Vacus and make our way along the Vacus River for about 8 miles to our first camp called Pampa de Leña. It is here that we will have an asasdo (BBQ) with our mule drivers.

On the 8th, we will continue up the Vacus Valley for about 11 miles to our second camp called Casa Piedra. This is a pretty part of the trip, since the valley really opens up and you really feel the expansiveness of the surrounding area.

On the 9th, we will cross the Vacas River and take a left hand turn and journey up the Relenchos Valley. The word Relenchos is actually the sound that a guanaco makes, and a guanaco is a mid-sized animal that is related to the Lama. If we are lucky, we may be able to spot these elusive animals on our trek in... It will be on this day that we will arrive into Base Camp`at 13,800 ft. Our plan will be to spend the following day resting at BC and preparing our loads for our carry up to camp one respectively. It will be on the 10th then, that you should expect our next dispatch.

Let me introduce the team: Nancy Egan, from San Francisco, CA; Patty Mack, from Arlington, VA; Janney Carlson, from Bozeman, MT; Sue Large, from Millersport, OH; Cathy Goodrow, from Orange, CA; Al Schumer, from Redmond, WA; John Carney, from Alexandria, VA; and Gene Bloch, from Reston, VA.

Guiding we me are Brent Langlinais from Salt Lake City, UT and Dave Heinbach from Bellingham, WA.

Again, thank you for checking in with us, wish us luck!

Ciao y suerte,

Eric Remza

Update from Team 5

Team five is at 8,800 feet and doing well.

The Jacks and Jills Arrive at Base Camp

Hello. This is Eric Remza with Team Jacks and Jills calling in from 13,800 feet on Aconcagua at Plaza Argentina, our base camp for this expedition. To give you a bit of a run-down of what has transpired since our last cybercast, last night we had a nice dinner of hamburgers and went to bed. Everyone slept pretty well, although we were awakened this morning by a helicopter coming into camp. The helicopter did two or three trips (hauling out garbage and bringing in empty canisters for the toilets), which definitely got us up kind of early but some of us were able to sleep through it. Everyone slept pretty well, with not too many headaches. It always takes a little bit to sleep at a new elevation but everyone is doing really well this morning. We had a very nice breakfast of fresh honeydew melon, and breakfast burritos prepared by Dave Heinbach. That was eggs, tortillas, sautéed onions, red peppers, and green peppers. It was awesome and very filling. Dave continues to amaze us with his ability to be the human garbage disposal for our group. We don’t know where he’s putting it but he’s able to eat a lot of food.

Today is our rest day, but not for the guides. Brent, Dave, and I are doing all the food packing for our loads to be carried up high tomorrow. This will be all our breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for up on the mountain. So we are organizing all that right now. Our plan is later to distribute all that, plus some other group gear to the group, and then give them a talk about how to pack their backpacks the correct way. Tomorrow our plan is to do a carry from our base camp here at 13,800 ft. up to the regular camp 1 at 16,200 ft. We’ll be bringing all of our tents and all of our food and fuel that we’ll be using up high. It will be a great way just to see how everyone does. We’ll take it nice and slow and hopefully everyone will do really well tomorrow. So we’ll give you an update about that tomorrow.

We do have some personal messages to pass on: Gene sends his love to his wife and daughters. Also a very special hello to Leanne on her adoption day 12 years ago today in China.

Al sends his love to Elaine and his family, and love and congratulations to new marine Alex.

We also have another website you can follow along. The son of John Carney, one of our team members, is doing a website and John has been sending dispatches along the way. His website is http://carneyblog.typepad.com/triandclimbforafrica. John has also been sending photos.

Cathy Goodrow also wants everyone to know that she singlehandedly saved the team yesterday, so we owe our lives to Cathy and her lifesaving skills. (Editorial comment from Ellie – what???? Sounds like there’s a story here but I haven’t heard it yet!!!)

Ciao for now from Eric Remza for Team Jacks and Jills

Feb. 12 We Carry to Camp 1

Ladies, gentlemen, and children of the worldwide web, thanks for tuning in to the cybercast from Alpine Ascents Aconcagua expedition team number 5, now calling themselves Team We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Lunch! Today we’ve enjoyed another day in Plaza Argentina, our scheduled rest day following a carry yesterday to Camp 1. This was a gain of 2,400 feet over probably a couple of miles to 16,200 feet, where we were met with some tremendous winds. We were able to set up two out of our four tents, where we stashed all of the group gear we carried and a few personal items. Nine hours later we returned to Plaza Argentina, with everyone a bit tired. We enjoyed a meal of quesadillas before hitting the sack and sleeping for some 12 hours. This morning we woke to clear skies and no wind, and enjoyed a potato fry for brunch. Most of us are lounging today, just relaxing. Everyone’s in good health. Otherwise today was pretty uneventful, except that team-member Nancy saved the group from imminent demise through her brilliant display of extreme strength and sharp wit. Other than that we are packing our personal gear and planning to do our move tomorrow, where we will commit to the mountain, spend the night at Camp 1, and begin working our way slowly up Aconcagua for the next week. There’s nothing else much to report. I was asked to say hello to everyone back home, and to wish Alex a happy departure for his next stint with the Marine Corps.

This is Brent signing off for the Team that changes its name daily.

The rest of the team has also submitted the following highlights from their expedition:
- Everyone was impressed with Jon’s bravery and acrobatic talent in recovering his hat, which was blown quite a distance by the wind. This is the same wind that apparently sent Cathy (one of our smaller members) sailing for a short distance as well.
- Everyone also noticed the pace set by Patty with metronome-like precision. Not even the Aconcagua scree flowing downhill under her feet could put her off her pace.
- Al stepped inside Tent 1 to secure it while team mates anchored it in the blasts of wind. Janney did her part for Tent 2 with rock anchors like none ever seen on the mountain – about ¼ ton per anchor and artfully placed to boot! Gene provided excellent supervision and kept team spirit high.
- Dave’s butterscotch candies provided the crucial burst of energy for all team members to return safely to base camp, where Ellie and Brent’s snacks, hot soup, and quesadillas awaited all.
- Words heard uttered by certain team members while lounging in the sun today included “helicopter”, “Mendoza”, “pub”, and “poolside”. (What, don’t they like our base camp beach??? I’m sure “beer” should be included there as well.)

Feb. 13 We Move up to Camp 1

Hello everyone out there. This is Eric Remza with Team We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Lunches. We are here at Camp 1. We did our move up today – everyone did really well. We actually left an hour later than we did on our carry, and we arrived at the same time. We have all of our tents set up and Dave is working on some tortellini with pesto with sun-dried tomatoes for dinner tonight. Everyone is also trying to stay warm – the sun just dropped behind Amaghino Col so it suddenly got chilly. I have my down parka on, and there is a bit of breeze coming down from the Col. Our plan tomorrow is to have a leisurely morning, and then make our carry up to Burrieza Col at about 17,800 feet. Then we will come on back down to Camp 1 for an evening of rest. Who saved the day today?? I believe it was Patty who saved the team today. She short-roped all three of the guides up to Camp 1, so all are thankful she was up here. Her short-roping skills are definitely appreciated. Everyone is doing well, and we will have another update tomorrow after we do our carry to Camp 2.

We are also changing our name from “We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Lunches” to “We Love Our Sandwiches Because They Got Us Up To Camp 1”. So that’s our new team name. That’s all for today.

Feb. 14 Carrying to Camp 2

Hello. This is Eric Remza with Team – I forgot our team name – so that’s our team name for today is “Team I Forgot Our Team Name”. I’m calling in from Camp 1 on Aconcagua at 16,200 ft. Everyone survived the night – everyone slept pretty well considering the new elevation gain. We had oatmeal and hot drinks for breakfast this morning, and now we are just about ready to begin moving up to Camp 2. We’re going to do a carry, taking all the food and fuel that we’ll need for up higher. It’s been very windy, not super windy but there has been some pretty good lenticular cloud buildup off the summit of Aconcagua. We’ve been looking up at Amaghino Col, which is where we’re headed for our carry today, and there have definitely been a lot of clouds blowing. Hopefully it will get all this out of its system and that there’s not a big weather system moving in. We did hear there might be some bad weather moving in tomorrow night, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Everyone is doing great. We would also like to wish everyone out there a happy Valentines Day. A special message from me (Eric) is that I have very fond memories from Camp 1 and am looking forward to moving up. So that’s all for this morning. We will give you another update tonight when we come back down after doing our carry.

February 14 and 16 The Team Hits Bad Weather

February 14 pm

This is Eric Remza and “The Team”, calling from Camp 1 at 16,200 feet on Aconcagua. We’re dealing with some snow and wind right now. Today we did our carry up to Burrieza Col at 17,800 feet. We had a pretty windy day to do it in – we had maybe 50 to 60 mph winds sustained, with gusts up to 80 mph. We took our time; it took us about three hours to get up there, which is good time. Everyone did really well given the nasty conditions. It definitely gave everyone a taste of what Aconcagua can feel like. Hopefully it won’t be still doing this up higher. It took us about 25 minutes to get back down to Camp 1, and right now we’re just finishing up dinner. Dave made a really good burrito meal, so we’re filling ourselves up with that. Our plan for tomorrow is to wake up and assess the weather. If there is a weather system coming in tomorrow it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to try to push up to the Col and set tents up in very high winds. But we’ll see how it looks in the morning. Either way it will be a productive day, either hanging out here or moving up there.

The person who saved the day today was Janney. She was able to use her horse training skills. Brent was very spooked this morning so Janney tied her jacket over his eyes, just like the arrieros do with the mules. She also enticed Eric all the way up to Camp 1 by tempting him with apples.

So we’re hoping for clear skies and less wind tomorrow so we can be on our way to a higher camp.


February 16

Sorry the previous report didn’t get out when it was supposed to – the website hasn’t been responding. Hopefully today everything will get through. The Team did not move on up to Amaghino Col yesterday, and it’s a good thing because the weather has been the worst that it has been all season. Yesterday there was a lot of wind at Camp 1 so the Team decided to stay put. Today things are worse. When I talked to them this morning they were battling high winds and snow. One of the tents was damaged and everyone is just hunkered down and holding things together. I’ll send in another report as soon as I have more news from them.

Ellie at Base Camp

Feb. 17 The Team Battles the Elements

This expedition is beginning to feel like the story of the three pigs with the big bad wolf trying to blow their house down. Yes, the wind is still blowing and it is still very cold. The team has been hunkered down at Camp 1 for the last two, going on three days now. When I talked to them this morning everyone was doing fine, despite winds strong enough to damage tents both at Camp 1 and here at Base Camp. Our team was smart to stay put and dig in - there have been reports of several cases of frostbite in people who tried to move and come down in the middle of the storm.

Today is a critical day for the team. They have already carried a lot of the food and fuel that they will need for the upper mountain on up to Camp 2, so they are starting to run a little short on supplies after spending several extra days waiting out the storm at Camp 1. The choices are to move up or to move down. The wind seems to be dropping a little this morning so they are going to attempt to move on up to Camp 2 at Burrieza Col today. I’ll let you know how that goes when I hear anything.

So for now we are bundling up to stay warm, and hoping the wind disappears soon.

Ellie Henke at Aconcagua Base Camp

Feb. 20 Team Adapt Moves to Camp 3

Hello everyone, this is Eric and Dave with John and Sue, the final four. We are up here at Camp 3 at 19,200 feet here on Aconcagua. Everyone was awesome on the move up under pretty trying conditions. This was a move up, not a carry. We haven’t been able to carry up to this elevation because of the bad weather. After spending two nights at 17,800 ft. at Burrieza Col we did the move up today. This morning it was pretty gusty. We got a little bit of a late start around 11:30 or so, and endured the cold all the way up. It was cold and windy, but we made it up here. We had to spend quite a bit of time excavating tent sites - we needed two tent sites with walls. There was a lot of snow accumulated inside the existing walls. Now we are in our tents and Dave has just finished chopping an 18 inch hole into our melt water pond. It was a trying ordeal for sure but we got to enough liquid water to get hot drinks going.

Our plan is to do a rest day tomorrow, and then we’ll let you know from there. We’re here and ready to go, so keep us in your blessings and hopefully this weather gives us a break. For now we’re just taking one day at a time. We’ve also decided that our new team name is “Team Adapt”. We’ve been adapting to everything this mountain has been throwing at us. That’s all for now.

Eric Remza for Team Adapt