Return from the Mountain

Lenticular cloud above the summit-high winds, unstable weather

Base Camp: Plaza de Mulas

8.5 hour hike through the Horcones Valley to Base Camp

Aconcagua in background

Hello all-

Meryl and I have safely returned from our long long expedition from Aconcagua! We did not summit but we did reach about 400 meters (1800 feet) from the top. We are happy to have both broken our height records. On our summit day we climbed to over 6,400 meters (~21,100 feet).

Here is a rough breakdown of our numbers: We spent a total of 14 days in the park. We slept at 18,000 feet for 5 days at a camp called Nido de Condores. The highest camp we slept at was called Berlin at 5930 meters.

Aconcagua base camp is called Plaza de Mulas, is located at 14,000 feet and is the 2nd largest base camp in the world behind Everest's.

We witnessed a number of helicopter evac's and were told of a handful of cases of HACE and HAPE.

As the crazy wind ripped through our tent every night we dreamed of steaks and warm weather in Mendoza, our favorite restaurants in Missoula and a hot shower....after 14 days it looked as if i put a jar of grease in my hair...i could sculpt a mohawk in a few seconds.