From Aconcagua Base Camp

Hola from 13,800 feet on the east side of Aconcagua, at the base camp called “Plaza Argentina”. Courtesy of solar power, I am trying my hand at blog posting via iPhone. Please excuse format errors and other glitches. >
> It’s been a great five days since I left Mendoza. The drive up into the mountains was even more beautiful than I expected. Spectacular high desert valleys reminiscent of the U.S. west, with dramatic peaks on all sides. We spent the night in Penitentes, which is a ski area (of sorts) in the Argentinian winter and the main jumping off point for the Aconcagua Provincial Park in the Argentinian summer. Penitentes is on the main road from Mendoza to Santiago and has a desolate, low key feel that I liked. We stayed in a desolate, low key hotel that I also liked.

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> The next day, we hit the trail for the three day trek into base camp. Mules carried our heavy gear, so the walking was very pleasant. But it was still work, as the trail is constantly ascending river valleys and your body is adapting to the increasing altitude. >
> The scenery is beautiful.

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> On the third day we climbed quite steeply and travelled through spectacular mountain valleys with Aconcagua and it’s neighboring peak Ameghino in front of us. Gorgeous and exhilarating. Reminded me a lot of trekking through the upper Khumbu valley toward Everest. High, glaciated valleys with spectacular snow covered peaks rising above you.

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> Base camp is a small tent city scattered around a glacial moraine. The living is civilized by mountains standards. We have a dome tent with a table a chairs to eat in, a cook staff preparing meals, and solar power available to charge our various devices. A very international scene with climbers from all over the world. In the photo below, my tent is in the foreground. The yellow tent behind me is occupied by some amiable Norwegians.

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> It is interesting how your mood can swing on climbs like this. As we approached base camp yesterday, I was exhilarated by my surroundings, how good my body felt with each step, and how happy I was to be doing what I was doing. After dinner, I headed to my tent and lay in my sleeping bag reflecting on the days ahead. Out of nowhere, I suddenly found myself feeling a bit low. I missed Jill, felt a headache from the altitude coming on, and was bugged by the uncertainty around what route I will end up climbing. I thought about how much this climb and Everest are taking me away from my family in a self- centered way. Then I zipped up my sleeping bag and tried to get a good night sleep. I largely succeeded, despite getting up multiple times in the night to pound water and pee, which is an inherent part of the acclimatization drill. When I got up this morning, I had a strong cup of coffee, looked around in every direction, and was back to feeling great about things. >
> As on other big mountains, acclimatization is a huge deal on Aconcagua. We are taking a rest day here today. Tomorrow, we will carry loads up to Camp One at 16,200 feet and then return to base camp. We will take a second full rest day here to further acclimate, and on the following day head up to sleep at Camp One. From there on, we will move successively higher on the mountain, following the same pattern of carrying a load up to the next camp, dropping back down to sleep at our current camp, then moving the next day to the higher camp. >
> After I leave base camp, I will not have internet access until I have summited and dropped down to the “Plaza de Mulas” base camp on the other side of the mountain. That should be in roughly 10-11 days time, depending on what weather we get. So my likely next blog post will be when I am off the mountain. No news yet on whether I will be able to go for the Polish Direct Route. My gut says it’s 50-50. I will be weighing safety and probability of summiting against a strong desire to climb the Polish route if possible. I will not compromise on safety. I am prepared to accept lower odds of summiting, but I’m not really sure how much lower. We’ll see when we get there. >
> Continued thanks for following along, and for your support and encouragement!