Hey everybody this is Eric with Madison Mountaineering. Just calling to check in we had a long day, tough day up to camp one but we are up here, at 16,200ft. We had some burgers for dinner, lot of hot drinks and now everyone is tucked into bed. Looks like we will have some wind tomorrow so I think we may stay here and have a rest day. And then move on from there try to cary gear all the way up to 18,000ft. Tomorrow I think we will relax and wait out some wind. See you guys tomorrow, bye!
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Hey everybody this is Eric calling in with Madison Mountaineering. Just letting you know we did our first carry all the way up to Camp One, 16,200ft. Everyone did pretty well, it was a tough day but we did it. We are all tucked in bed now getting ready tomorrow morning to move all the way up to Camp 1. Tomorrow we will be calling you from 16,000ft. Talk to you tomorrow, bye.
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Hello everybody, we are really enjoying ourselves here in Plaza Argentina, base camp of Aconcagua. We are resting, relaxing, and eating well. We will continue our first carry up too camp one, then spend one more night in base camp before we move on to the upper mountain. The team is strong and doing well. We even already experienced some of Aconcagua famous wind.
Everyone says hello!
Talk to you soon.
Eric Salazar and team.
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Hey everybody, we have had a great stay in Penitentes, and a good drive up into the mountains. We are now at base camp just above 14,000ft. Hard hike up and pretty windy and snowy. The team is excited to get on the mountain.
Talk to you soon!
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Greetings from Argentina, our team has arrived and we are preparing to go to the town of Penitentes. Here we will have our last big dinner and head of toward Aconcagua the following morning. Everyone is excited and ready to start climbing. We’ll be talking soon on the dispatch.
Hello to our friends and family, back home.
Cheers!
To celebrate our successful Aconcagua expedition, we concluded with a team dinner, an Argentinean ‘Asado’ barbecue with a selection of meat and vegetables cooked to perfection over the open fire. All team members are now on their way home, after what has been a wonderful experience. We were very lucky with the weather, as our summit day on December 19th was perfect without any wind or clouds. Since then, the weather has deteriorated and the other teams have not been able to summit, let alone go much higher above base camp because of the high winds. This is typical of Aconcagua and the southern Andes, where storms can pass through and prevent climbing high on the peak for up to a week at a time. As a recap, we did the ‘Aconcagua 360’ route, trekking in the less traveled Vacas valley to Plaza Argentina base camp, then utilizing 3 high camps before reaching the summit, and then descending to the other side of the mountain to the Plaza Mulas base amp, and trekking out the shorter and more popular Horcones valley. We enjoyed a night before and after the expedition at the Ayelen hotel in Penitentes with our good friend Steve Allen, who does a fantastic job of managing the hotel, a rustic ski lodge in the winter that becomes a haven for Aconcagua climbers during the summer climbing season. A couple of nights at the Park Hyatt in Mendoza made our stay very comfortable, a great way to begin and end our time together in Argentina. We have had a fantastic time, enjoying the experience of climbing the highest peak in the Andes (and also in the Americas) as well and immersing ourselves in Argentine culture and cuisine. Onward, to the next mountain adventure! – Garrett Madison
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Hello this is Garrett calling in for the Aconcagua team today is Monday, December 19 and we are at the summit of Aconcagua. Beautiful day up here no clouds in the sky and no wind we really lucked out and just had a perfect day to get to the top of the mountain. First team up here have the mountain all to ourselves. Just hanging out taking photos and enjoying a few high fives and getting ready to head back down to high camp. Spend the night at high camp tonight then head down to base camp tomorrow. Everything is going well here and we look forward to getting down to base camp and then out to Mendoza soon for our celebratory dinner. Thanks for following along.
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Audio dispatch by Garrett Madison
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To review our climbing team’s summit route you can view our LIVE RainOn mapping platform HERE.
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Climbers reach the summit of Aconcagua at 6,961m / 22,837ft
“Hi, this is Garrett calling in for the Aconcagua team today is December 18th, Sunday. We are up at high camp on Aconcagua and tonight is our big night. We are going to leave for the summit early tomorrow morning probably around 5AM. And hope to be on top of Aconcagua the highest peak in the Andes midday or early afternoon. Looks like the forecasts are nice weather tomorrow not to much wind not to much snow so with a little bit of luck we will on top of the mountain and back down to high camp tomorrow evening. We will check in soon, thanks so much.”
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Audio dispatch by Garrett Madison
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To review our climbing team’s summit route you can view our LIVE RainOn mapping platform here.
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The Stone Sentinel
“Hi this is Garrett calling in for the Aconcagua expedition, today is Saturday December 17th. Today we did a carry from our Camp 2 up to Camp 3 on Aconcagua. We then returned down to Camp 2 to spend the night. Our plan tomorrow is to move up to Camp 3 and hopefully go for the summit on the next day, the 19th. Everyone is doing well here, had some good weather and a little wind, sunny and warm. We are enjoying the views of the Andes and eating a few good meals. All is well and we will check in tomorrow when we get up to high camp. Fingers crossed for good weather.”
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Audio dispatch by Garrett Madison
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Aconcagua Expedition December 17th 2016
Yesterday our Aconcagua climbing team successfully completed a carry to Camp 2. After moving equipment and provisions higher up the mountain they returned to Camp 1 for the night. Target summit date of the Stone Sentinel is December 19. The team is in good condition and excited to climb higher!