Aconcagua, round 2

Whew! It's a lot of work getting ten people up a big mountain, but that's exactly what we did! We had a great, strong crew - many thanks to them for sticking it out. Working with the same lead guide and another guide who stayed on the mountain from the previous expedition, we successfully got ten climbers and three guides to the top. Lovely and all, but it's essentially a big rock pile, and I'm glad I'm working to help others reach their goals.

(These pictures don't have the same panache of those from the previous trip, but they're what you get with a disposable camera - enjoy!)

The weather wasn't quite as supremely cooperative as on the first trip, but was still good enough to summit at the beginning of our time window. Mendoza is a nice little city, even if I don't eat meat, one of the Argentinian specialties along with good wine. But it's time to get back to the north and catch up with winter rather than hang out here for another week.

It was surprisingly painless to get my ticket changed - I should be getting back to Seattle sometime on Monday. Missing one of the best winters of snow in quite some time has been killing me - there's actually powder on the ground in the great Northwet from what I hear! Time to get some skiing in. See you soon!

Back up the hill...

Ushuaia was great - nice to get some time in the forests and mountains and greenery, and some time to myself. Ironically, the weather was great there (where Mary got snowed on several years ago) while it rained buckets every day in Mendoza. Unlike my winter season coordination (it is dumping snow now both at Alta and in the Northwest while I'm down south), I actually picked the right time for the weather here.

After much more relaxed preparation this time around, we're getting ready to head back up for our second expedition. The group is looking strong, and the weather good, and it's time to climb a mountain! Keep an eye on Aconcagua's Team 6: http://www.alpineascents.com/aconcagua-cybercast.asp and check out the previous Aconcagua post below for a couple of pictures. See you on the other side!

Ushuaia unwind

A quick ¨later"...

At the risk of this turning into a real blog (ie self-important ramblings to take the place of actual conversations with those I care about), an afternoon of reading Three Cups of Tea and a wander on the waterfront have done a world of good. There´s something about the ocean that brings calmness: perhaps the finiteness of land. Like a peak, which, when reached, denotes a concrete end to effort, the ocean is an undeniable boundary, unlike rivers or ranges that merge into others to draw you ever onward. Tierra del Fuego (if not Ushuaia itself) is indeed an end of the earth.

Speaking of which, Erratic Rock is a local company which runs expeditionary trips to the southernmost tip of South America, not a drive-to-it destination like that of Africa or Australia. Check it out... Which got me thinking - Point Barrow in AK is slightly lower in latitude than Murchison Promontory in Canada, and it turns out a place called Cape Chelyuskin in Russia is the northernmost point in Asia. It´s a 5-day trip here to the southern land´s end - wonder what adventures would be involved in getting to the north? Think about that til I get back...

Aconcagua, round 1

Back down from the mountain, everybody safe and sound. Aconcagua is, indeed, both harder and easier than expected - for a tall mountain, involving lots of acclimatization and attention to potential altitude issues, it is intensely non-technical. The carries to higher camps and rest days in between were uneventful, especially since we had great weather. Last year was crazy windy, but this first trip was pretty mellow - only one day of wind and a moderately cold summit day.

I was not able to summit this time around, having brought down two climbers who didn't have the energy to continue to the summit and back. I turned with them at 21,000 feet, which is my high mark, hopefully just until the next trip. My body seems pretty happy at altitude, so I´m looking forward to summiting with the next trip. (And the ones next year, and the next...)

These are just two of several amazing photos lent by one of the climbers on the trip. (Thanks!)

After three weeks with people, I booked a quick (and expensive!) flight to the southern end of the continent and am in Ushuaia, Argentina, for a week or so. It´s not so easy to rent a kayak independently, so I´m headed to Tierra del Fuego National Park for some hiking and may do a kayaking trip early next week before returning to Mendoza. A funny little tourist town down here, but beautiful, with green and water and spiky peaks, a much-needed contrast to the driness of the Aconcagua area. More later...

Off to the big hill...

One spanish-speaking country to another with a completely different (and therefore less useful to my Mexico-enhanced comprehension) set of words and pronunciations...

Back to work after three months off - a little strange since it´s essentially the same environment but with more demands and people! We´ll be calling in cybercasts for friends of those climbing to keep track of our progress on the mountain (talk about contrary to my personal philosophy!), so if you care you can track us, Group 3 on their cybercast page here: http://www.alpineascents.com/aconcagua-cybercast.asp

Catch you on the flipside of Aconcagua...

Down from Las Montañas

Climbing the Mexican volcanos was a complete success! Despite the heat and noise typical of much of the rest of the country, the high mountains were cold and quiet, as we have come to expect of them.

We warmed up on Nevado de Toluca (15,100´), a huge crater with two lakes in the center. A cold little alpine refuge provided shelter before and after our climb - a hike up to the rim and mile-long traverse to the high point. Beautiful with the lakes down below at sunrise.

Next was Ixtaccihuatl (17,400´), next to erupting (and therefore offlimits) Popocatapetl. The park has a much warmer hut to stay in, with beautiful views of both mountains. A long hike leads to a couple of benign glacier traverses, finally accessing the summit. The only bad weather of our trip prevented any good views and provided some snow for the way back, but we had the place entirely to ourselves and made it back just after dark, hiking down through snow and rock to grasses and scrub and finally trees again. Happy Christmas Eve!

A day of travel over Christmas, and on to the highest peak in Mexico, third highest in North America, El Pico de Orizaba (18,700´). The huge Piedra Grande hut at 14K´was all but empty when we got there, but quicly filled as climbing club groups from Mexico and Guatemala poured in. We ended up sleeping in a tiny falling-down hut nearby to escape the festivities... Hiking at 2am through talus and scree over hard ice to the start of the Jamapa Glacier at sunrise. Having hauled them all the way just for this glacier, we elected not to rope up and hiked the gentle volcanic slope to the crater, first ones up and enjoying the solitude and calm after a cold windy ascent. Perfect snow on the way down, and back in time to wait for our shared ride, inexperienced climbers who had bonked thinking they didn´t need many calories.

Despite the vehement warnings of our guidebook to avoid the Christmas season at all costs, we had almost no company in the hills, and transportation was never an issue, even on Christmas Day. We definitely hit a good weather window, looking back at Orizaba with its head in the clouds, but acclimatized well and enjoyed the people and places we encountered. Street food and cheap travel seem to have agreed with us, and we finished with all our extra days unspent!

Ironically, the hardest part of the trip was finding a nice beach to relax on, and we ended up going back to Mexico City and spending a day at the pyramids of Teotihuaca (or something like that), which was actually quite peaceful.

There´s always more mountains and places to climb in the world, but these particular ones were as advertised and expected, and an altogether pleasant experience, which is sometimes rare. Many thanks to Mary for the pictures (it´s not my fault that they´re all of me!) and climbing!

A quick weekend ski...

Back in Seattle, I immediately headed to the Wallowas to check out a gig for coming winters. The Wallowa Alpine huts (http://www.wallowahuts.com/) are stashed way in the corner of northeast Oregon, and provide access to nice powdery backcountry skiing. There was much discussion and study of snow stability, yurt geometry, tranceiver technology, and even a bit of skiing. Some cool folks hanging around these parts - looking forward to working here in March!

Now off to Mexico to climb some volcanos with Mary, then Argentina to work Aconcagua for two months. Season-hopping is odd...