Tag Archive for: Plaza de Mulas

Aconcagua Summit!

Photo pulled from Madison Mountaineering Archive.

We’re ecstatic to announce that the Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua expedition team successfully reached the summit of South America’s tallest peak and have returned safely and soundly to their comforts in Camp 3! While it was a long day, the team had great weather on the ascent, and was able to enjoy a hot meal before crawling into their tents this evening. Expedition guide, Ed Viesturs, checks in with this dispatch after a successful summit on Aconcagua:

Hello everyone! This is Ed Viesturs reporting for Madison Mountaineering. We’re back at Camp 3 (5989m/19,650ft) now, we had an amazing day!

We reached the summit (6961m/22,837ft) today after an eight and a half hour climb. We had spectacular weather – it was sunny, very little wind, and once we reached the summit, the afternoon (inaudible) kind of rolled in and we got a little snow and it got a little spicy. But all in all, it was a great climb! 13 hours round trip and we’re safe and sound back at Camp 3. We just had a nice hot meal, called guamen, and tomorrow we’re heading down back to base camp (4367m/14,327ft).

Thanks for checking in!

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 our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

/0 Comments/by

Smooth Climbing on Aconcagua!

Tomahawks for dinner at Aconcagua Base Camp!

The team has successfully made their first carry up to Camp 1 to cache some of their load, in preparation for the move up to Camp 1 to follow! Making multiple carries between camps not only lightens the load each member has to carry between camps, but also helps in the acclimatization process as they ascend the tallest mountain in South America. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, checks in with this dispatch from Plaza de Mulas:

Hello! This is Garrett calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua (6961m/22,837ft) expedition. Today we did a carry up to Camp 1 (5060m/16,600ft), brought a load of gear up there and cached it. It was a beautiful day, great views all around, the team did awesome! We came back down, and had a restful afternoon and then dinner here in base camp (4367m/14,327ft), and now we’re off to bed.

Our plan tomorrow is to have breakfast and then move up to Camp 1, set up camp, sleep there, and then the next day, move up to Camp 2 (5522m/18,117ft) for a couple of nights. Check the weather, hopefully we’ll have a summit weather window sometime around February third or fourth!

Everyone is doing well! We’re enjoying Aconcagua, having a great time here in Argentina! It’s great to be here with so many good friends – old friends, some new friends and really great times here in Argentina!

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 our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

/0 Comments/by

Plaza de Mulas

Clear skies over base camp!

The Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua expedition team has arrived in Plaza de Mulas (Aconcagua Base Camp). On their trek over the course of the last few days, the team enjoyed more great weather and the absence of light pollution, which has made for great star gazing at night! Everyone on the team is doing great and is preparing to move up the mountain in the coming days. Expedition leader, Garrett Madison, checks in with this dispatch from Plaza de Mulas:

Hey! This is Garrett checking in for the Aconcagua (6961m/22,837ft) team, here with Cacho and Ed Viesturs, we’re at base camp (4367m/14,327ft). We got here yesterday and had a great trek into base camp over three days! Nice weather, enjoyed some great views, and nice acclimatization hike the other day. It was good to roll into base camp yesterday, had a wonderful dinner, beautiful stars last night here in base camp…

Today we’re just taking a rest day, going for an acclimatization hike, and organizing some gear for our first carry up to Camp 1 (5060m/16,600ft) tomorrow.

So, happy to be here, great weather at the moment! Everyone is doing well and we’re looking forward to another great day here in Argentina – highest mountain outside of Asia.

At the dining room table in base camp!

At the dining room table in base camp!

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 our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

/0 Comments/by

Preparing for the Carry to Camp 1

Alpenglow on the upper mountain. Photo: Terray Sylvester

The team brought in the New Year with an acclimatization hike around Base Camp, as they prepare to make their first carry up to Camp 1 tomorrow! Expedition leader, Terray Sylvester checks in with todays dispatch from Plaza de Mulas:

Hello and happy New Year from Aconcagua Base Camp (4367m/14,327ft)! This is Terray calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua (6961m/22,837ft) expedition – it’s January 1st.

We had a great day today! The weather was really nice – clear skies all day with great views of fresh snow on the upper mountain. We spent the morning acclimatizing by walking above base camp, beyond the historic hotel here near Plaza de Mulas. And then, in the afternoon we got some showers and started sorting gear for our first carry to Camp 1 (5060m/16,600ft), which will happen tomorrow.

So we just finished dinner! It was great – shepherds pie and then nice, chocolate mousse dessert. We’re getting ready for bed and tomorrow the plan is to carry up to Camp 1.

So, all is well here in Argentina and we’ll be in touch tomorrow!

Snow in the mountains above base camp!

Snow in the mountains above base camp!

Our climber, TJ, acclimatizing above base camp. Photo: Terray Sylvester

Our climber, TJ, acclimatizing above base camp. Photo: Terray Sylvester

Lunch in base camp.

Lunch in base camp.

Lunch is served!

Lunch is served!

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 our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

/0 Comments/by

New Years Eve on Aconcagua!

Our team in the Horcones River Valley, en route to base camp. Photo: Terray Sylvester

Happy New Years Eve from the tallest mountain in South America, Aconcagua! Today, the team moved up from Confluencia Camp to their Base Camp, where they plan to take a rest day tomorrow. The team hiked through snowy conditions today, but looks forward to sunshine in the forecast in the days coming! Expedition leader, Terray Sylvester checks in with todays dispatch from Plaza de Mulas:

Hello! This is Terray calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua (6961m/22,837ft) expedition – it’s New Year Eve, December 31st!

Today we made good time from Confluencia Camp (3436m/11,273ft) to Base Camp at Plaza de Mulas (4367m/14,327ft)! There’s a little storm system moving through, so we had some light snow on the way. But, it was actually really nice hiking conditions with no wind and no dust in the Horcones Valley.

So, now we’re at Plaza de Mulas! We’re just about to sit down for dinner. All is well here and we’re looking forward to a rest day tomorrow. The weather forecast is sunny, so it should be a really nice day here at about 4,200 meters on Aconcagua!

We’ll be in touch tomorrow.

Gaining elevation en route to Plaza de Mulas. Photo: Terray Sylvester

Gaining elevation en route to Plaza de Mulas. Photo: Terray Sylvester

New Year’s Eve dinner in base camp: salmon and roasted potatoes.

New Year’s Eve dinner in base camp: salmon and roasted potatoes.

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 our daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions.  Just say, “Alexa, play my flash briefing.“

– Instagram:

/0 Comments/by

Back Down to Base Camp

Full team on the summit of Aconcagua

The Aconcagua team are now all back down to base camp safely after standing on the summit of the highest point in South America.  Here’s expedition leader Garrett Madison with today’s expedition dispatch:

Hello, this is Garrett calling in for the Aconcagua team dispatch.  Today’s Friday, February 11th.

Today we descended from Camp 3 (5989m/19,650ft) on Aconcagua down to base camp (4367m/14,327ft).  We had a nice day.  Got down in the early afternoon, set up camp, took some showers, had a nice barbeque lunch, and a celebration dinner this evening.  Everyone’s doing great, we’re happy to be down here in base camp after our summit day yesterday where everyone made it to the top and had great views from the summit.

We’ve heading out tomorrow, hiking back to the Horcones trailhead and then driving to Mendoza.

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

On the way up to the top of Aconcagua

On the way up to the top of Aconcagua

Celebration toast in base camp for 100% Aconcagua summit success!

Celebration toast in base camp for 100% Aconcagua summit success!

Climbing to the top of Aconcagua at sunrise

Climbing to the top of Aconcagua at sunrise

View from Aconcagua high camp of the moon and sunset

View from Aconcagua high camp of the moon and sunset

Sunset on Aconcagua

Sunset on Aconcagua

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 our guide’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

/0 Comments/by

100% Aconcagua Summit Success!

Fantastic news!  The entire Aconcagua team stood on the summit (6961m/22,837ft) today and are now safely back down to Camp 3.  Here’s team member Krisli Melesk reporting the happy news:

This is Krisli calling in from Madison Mountaineering 2022 Aconcagua expedition.

I have some excellent news!  The whole team who we started with in Mendoza has just summitted and we are back safely in Camp 3!  We just has some nice beverages and also some snacks.  Everybody is in high spirits and we’re looking forward to heading back to base camp for some warm showers tomorrow and some more beverages, maybe. Haha.

Everybody’s doing great and we have an excellent team.  Everybody been super casual and super nice.  The weather has been amazing today, we were so lucky – clear skies and beautiful views.

I think that’s me over and out.  Lots of love to everybody, family, and friends.  Bye now!

(photo from the Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua archives)

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 our guide’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

/0 Comments/by

Aconcagua High Camp (C3)!

Sunset on Aconcagua

Our 2022 Aconcagua team has moved up to High Camp (C3) (5989m/19,650ft) and is in position for the summit attempt tonight! Here’s team member, Todd Ammerman, with today’s dispatch:

Hello!  This is Todd Ammerman checking in from the Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua expedition.  Today we had a marvelous day.

We moved from Camp 2 to Camp 3 which I have now learned is at approximately 19,700ft (6005m).  We are getting well hydrated and fueled up.  We’ll start tomorrow for an early summit push.  Everybody is here and in good shape and good spirit.

We are looking for a wonderful day tomorrow.  Hopefully this next dispatch will have great success stories.  Until then!

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 our guide’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

/0 Comments/by

Dialing in the Best Summit Day

Mount Aconcagua

Making a slight change of plans to optimize the summit day forecasted weather, our Aconcagua team made a light carry up to High Camp (C3) (5989m/19,650ft) and returned to Nido de Condores Camp (C2) (5522m/18,117ft) for the night.  Calling in via sat phone, here’s team member Peter Horsman with today’s expedition dispatch:

Hey everyone, this is Peter Horsman calling in for the Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua expedition.  Today is… (what date is it?) …February 8th maybe.

Instead of moving to Camp 3, we actually had a change in schedule because it looks like weather is significantly improving.  So instead of summiting on the 9th, we are now summiting on the 10th, hopefully.   So today we actually had a great day.  We had, again, a wonderful breakfast by our Agentinian guides Neno and Cacho.  Then we took some gear and food and clothing up to Camp 3.  A pretty nice hike – wonderful weather, great scenery.

Overall the team is doing really, really well.  We’re all feeling very strong and are very excited to move to Camp 3 tomorrow where we will then spend a couple of hours of sleep and then the day after tomorrow we’re going to go for a summit attempt.

All is well here in Camp 2 and Melina, I love you.  Bye bye.

(photo from the Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua archives)

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 our guide’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

/0 Comments/by

Nido de Condores Camp (C2)

Aconcagua

Our Aconcagua team moved up to Nido de Condores Camp (C2) (5522m/18,117ft) yesterday and are enjoying a rest day today.  Here’s team member, Peter Horsman, with today’s dispatch and the plan for the days ahead:

Hey everyone, this is Peter Horsman calling in from the Madison Mountaineering Aconcagua expedition.  We are at Camp 2 on Aconcagua at 18,000ft or so (5500m).

Today we are having a really nice rest day.  We’ve just been served amazing pizza by Neno and Cacho, who are our Argentinian guides and are amazing.  Everything is going really well!  The team’s feeling well.  It’s a really nice, sunny day here.  We’re all feeling the altitude a little bit, but that’s normal at this altitude.

Our plan is to move to Camp 3 tomorrow.  And then, hopefully, try for the summit on the 9th, so the day after tomorrow.

Everybody is feeling really strong.  Garrett‘s doing well, he’s smiling, cutting the pizza for us!  Maybe the whole team can say something like… I don’t know… shout something.  “Yee-haw!”  That was [garbled] in case you were wondering.  “Viva Aconcagua!”  Viva Aconcagua, that’s good.

All right, well thank you.  You’ll hear more from us tomorrow.  Melina, I love you and I’ll see you soon.  Bye, bye.

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 our guide’s daily audio expedition updates on select expeditions

– Instagram:

/0 Comments/by