Tag Archive for: Penitentes

Plaza de Mules Base Camp

Climbers camping on a mountain in ArgentinaAconcagua 1/10 (C) Kurt Hunter 2010

Today the team reached Plaza de Mules base camp and got settled in.  The sat phone dispatch is a bit garbled but you can certainly make out that they like the comforts of the base camp:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Aconcagua expedition.  Today is January 28th and today we trekked from Confluencia camp up …[garbled]… great today and we are looking forward to taking a rest day tomorrow …[garbled]… clouded up a little …[garbled]… sun this afternoon …[garbled]… when we were in camp, but GREAT basecamp setup here — hot showers, excellent food, very relaxing and comfortable dinning tent, and great personal tents.  So, we’re really comfortable here and everyone’s doing really well.  Looking forward to a fun day tomorrow.

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archive)

By the way, it’s not too early to start making your plans to join us on other expeditions in the 2020 season!  Contact our office for details.

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates

– Instagram:

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South Face of Aconcagua Up Close

Aconcagua mountains in ArgentinaAconcagua 1/10 (C) Kurt Hunter 2010

The Aconcagua team took an active rest day near Confluencia camp getting a look at the south face of Aconcagua up close.  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, provides today’s expedition dispatch via sat phone:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua expedition with View from the Top, Ltd., a TV production company.  Today’s January 27th and today’s our second day on the trek into base camp.

We had a great day here at Confluencia camp on the normal route up the Horcones Valley.  Today we trekked out to Plaza Francia for an acclimatization hike to the base of the south face.  Beautiful day for trekking — clear, sunny, warm and stunning views of the south face of Aconcagua.

Then we made our way back down to Confluencia camp and had a nice afternoon and a great dinner.  We are just getting ready for bed now.

Tomorrow the plan is to wake up early and start the long trek up to Plaza de Mules base camp.  Everyone’s doing great!  All’s well here on Aconcagua.  We’ll check-in soon!

(photo:  Madison Mountaineering archive)

By the way, it’s not too early to start making your plans to join us on other expeditions in the 2020 season!  Contact our office for details.

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates

– Instagram:

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Aconcagua team treks to Confluencia

Aconcagua ready to trek

The Aconcagua team began their trek to base camp today and expedition leader, Garrett Madison, checks in with today’s dispatch:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua climb.  We had a great first day heading from Penitentes up to our first camp on the trek to base camp at Confluencia.

We left the Ayleen Hotel this morning at about 9:00 AM and then travelled to the cemetery to pay our respects to the Aconcagua climbers and then up to the Los Horcones trailhead and started trekking.  We had lunch along the way and arrived Confluencia camp in the afternoon.

We had a great barbeque dinner here at Confluencia camp – wonderful meat, vegetables, and fresh bread.  Tomorrow our plan is to take a rest day here and do an acclimatization hike up to Plaza Francia and back.

The weather is great here in Argentina — sunny skies and calm weather.  So, we’re having a great time.  All’s well on Aconcagua.  We’ll check in soon.  Thanks!

 

By the way, it’s not too early to start making your plans to join us on other expeditions in the 2020 season!  Contact our office for details.

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates

– Instagram:

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Aconcagua kicks-off

Team in Mendoza preparing to head to the mountain!

Our next adventure kicked-off today with the team assembled and heading out to the trailhead of South America’s highest peak, Aconcagua.  Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, provides this recap of the start:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua expedition with View from the Top, Ltd., a TV program about climbing mountains all over the world.

 

Today we drove from Mendoza up to Penitentes, which is near the start of the trek to base camp.  We got organized with all of our gear, had a nice team dinner, and getting ready to head off to bed here.

 

Tomorrow we’ll start our trek tomorrow morning around 9:00 AM and make our way up to Confluencia camp where we will spend two nights on the way to Plaza de Mules base camp.  Everyone’s doing well here, it’s been great weather – sunny, warm, beautiful, and we’re really excited to get the trek and the climb underway.

 

All’s well here in Argentina.  We’ll check in soon!

The team at lunch today in Uspallata, on the way to Penitentes!

The team at lunch today in Uspallata, on the way to Penitentes!

By the way, it’s not too early to start making your plans to join us on other expeditions in the 2020 season!  Contact our office for details.

In addition to these expedition dispatches, you can also follow our teams as they make their attempts on the world’s most formidable mountains on:

– Amazon Alexa devices with the Madison Mountaineering Flash Briefing skill:

  • Enable the skill and add to your flash briefing to hear Garrett Madison’s daily audio expedition updates

– Instagram:

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Team checks in from high camp on Aconcagua

Hey this is Eric with Madison Mountaineering just giving you a call from high camp up here on Aconcagua. We have set up our tents just over 19,000ft and it is cold. Snowing a little bit but not to bad. We are making dinner and getting ready to go to for the summit tomorrow morning it sounds like. Keep us in your thoughts we will keep you updated. We will talk to you later, bye.

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Successful move up to Aconcagua Camp 2 (5492m / 18,020ft)

Today Eric Salazar checked in to report that under great weather conditions the team made a successful second move of gear and supplies up to Aconcagua Camp 2 (5492m / 18,020ft) on the north flank of Aconcagua. Our team will now rest and prepare for the summit push in the days to come. Onward!

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Climbers moving up to Camp 2 today with decent weather

Hey everybody this is Eric with Madison Mountaineering, just calling in. We are going to be moving up to camp 2 today we have some decent weather it looks like and we are going to move up to 18,000 feet. Wish us luck we will call you when we get there. Talk to you later, bye.

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Audio dispatch by Eric Salazar

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Aconcagua climbing team reaches Camp 1

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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Madison Mountaineering

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Eric calls in from Aconcagua base camp!

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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Eric Salazar

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Team arrives at Plaza Argentina base camp

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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Acon3

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Acon4

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