Aconcagua Cybercasts: February 2014

Hey there friends, family, and loved ones, this is the Team Pelados/Peludo. We’re calling in from beautiful downtown Penitentes.

We had a great day hiking out. It snowed all night long and continued to snow in the morning on us, which was fortunate because it kept the clouds at bay and that meant that we could walk out in the cool of the day. Got down and actually had one of the best dinners I’ve ever had at Ayelen Hotel. Everybody was in joyful spirits as we celebrated our successful ascent of Aconcagua and our successful descent to Penitentes.

Tomorrow we’re heading into Mendoza and hopefully you can join us there. Ta ta for now!

Hello there friends, family, and loved ones, this is Vern Tejas reporting for Team Pelados/Peludo, and also known as Team Budin calling in from Base Camp on the west side of Aconcagua. We’ve dropped a vertical mile today and we’re down at Plaza de Mulas enjoying the oxygen, and the good food, and camaradarie of other climbers who’ve succeeded as well.

Our timing seems to have been almost perfect. We climbed yesterday in clear blue skies and today it is stormy. Clouds set in and now it’s snowing and lightning, and a pretty big event here on the mountain, lots of snow coming down. We’re hoping that the mules will be able to come in tomorrow, pick us up, and pick up all our gear and take it to Penitentes. However, we’re not even sure if they’re going to be able to get through the snow it’s coming down so thick right now.

So stay tuned to the further adventures of Team Pelados.

Hey there friends, family, and loved ones, this is Vern Tejas reporting in for Team Pelados/Peludo and also known as Team Budin because they love the dessert, the local dessert of all of Argentina.

We have good news. Even though the winds didn’t drop today, the sun burned on us all day long and we were able to leave bright and early this morning at 5 o’clock (am) and summited at about 2:45 this afternoon on the highest point in all of South America and make that outside of the Himalayas. We went to the top of the continent and everybody’s very happy; got lots of photos of us and lots of great views from up there, distance that went on for hundreds of miles in all directions. So everybody is really happy and really tired and most of us have already gone to bed, and I should do the same thing.

So thank you for tuning in for the successful conclusion of our trip. Tomorrow we’re going to be heading down to Base Camp and then out the following day. So please stay tuned, no telling what could develop in the next couple days. So ta ta for now!

Hello there friends, family, and loved ones, this is Team Pelados Pelugo (spelling?) calling in from High Camp.

We’re at about 20,000 feet and we’re enjoying stellar weather. The wind has abated and it’s clear blue skies and we’re having a great rest day. Currently our plan is to head to the summit tomorrow morning quite early before the next snow storm comes in. It’s supposed to drop enough snow that we’re a little bit concerned about avalanche conditions in the canaleta, so hopefully we’ll get up there before that happens and down before it happens as well.

Everybody’s feeling the altitude, but they’re in good spirits and raring to go, looking forward to a big push tomorrow morning. So keep us in your hearts and minds, and we’ll be doing the same. Thank you very much, ta ta for now!

Hey there friends, family, and loved ones, this is Team Pelados calling in from Camp 3.

We were able to get our camp in a very nice position amidst the rocks up here out of the wind. And we had a great dinner and are heading for bed pretty soon.

People are feeling the altitude but still feeling good and up for it.

Hi, this is Garrett Madison calling in for the Alpine Ascents Aconcagua Team 10 cybercast. Today’s Thursday, February 20th and we’ve descended down from our High Camp to Base Camp.

We had a great summit day yesterday and a nice walk down today to Plaza Mulas Base Camp. And tomorrow we’re looking forward to walking out to the Horcones entrance and then spending the night at Penitentes.

So everyone’s doing great and we look forward to heading back to Mendoza soon.

Hey there friends, family, and loved ones, this is Team Pelados reporting in from Camp 2.

It’s been a very windy day here. But we’ve been able to get up and get on the move; took us a little longer than usual because we had to deal with the wind. But we ended up carrying food and supplies all the way up to Camp 3, otherwise known as Colera (that’s about 19,000 feet up there). So we’re making some progress, hopefully tomorrow we’ll move up to that Camp.

We don’t have a very good weather report, so keep your fingers crossed that the winds can start terminating and start dropping down. Right now they’re calling for sixty-seventy kilometers per hour, which makes climbing a challenge. Everybody in the group was climbing real well today though, so they seem to be in good spirits and good health.

Hello there friends, family, and loved ones, this is Team Pelados calling from Camp 2. We’ve been able to work our way up the hill. We’re pretty high now (5,400 meters) and have just had a good dinner. We’re tucking into bed. Everybody’s feeling the altitude, but strong and in good spirits.

We’re hoping tomorrow to move our food and fuel even higher up the mountain to our next Camp. You can join us tomorrow and see how we do.

Today actually was quite glorious, clouds burned off, snow stopped coming down, and the winds even died down for awhile and it was quite a glorious day. We had breakfast outside and lunch outside, of soup and quesadillas, and now we’re, like I said, just tucking in after a good dinner.

But like I say, it’s getting a little thin up here and we’re a little more breathless, but we’re doing fine. So thanks for tuning in and please come again tomorrow. Ta ta for now!

Hi, this is Garrett Madison calling in for Alpine Ascents Aconcagua Expedition #10.

Right now we are all standing on the summit of Aconcagua, highest peak outside of Asia, highest peak in the Southern and Western Hemispheres! We’re all doing great.

We lucked out with the weather. We had a great day here amidst the many, many days of high winds and snow. And we’re looking forward to heading down together and going back to Mendoza for some much-deserved rest, relaxation, and great food.

Extremely lucky to be up here on the summit of The Stone Sentinel and we’ll check in soon.

Hi, this is Garrett Madison calling in for the Alpine Ascents Aconcagua Expedition Team #10.

And today we moved up to our High Camp on Aconcagua. We had some winds and some snow today; it deposited about a half foot of snow on the mountain. But we’re tucked in now at High Camp and tomorrow looks like a great day. Good forecast, best forecast we’ve seen in over a week.

So we’re going to make our summit attempt tomorrow. So our plan is to get up early, leave by about 6:30 in the morning, and hope to summit around noon or 2 o’clock in the afternoon and be back down for dinner here at High Camp around 6pm.

So we’ll check in tomorrow. Wish us luck. Hopefully we’ll have good weather with low winds and clear skies. We’ll check in soon.