Why not?
In June, Caron, my girlfriend and I met this couple at a going away party for my friend Liz. We ended up just chatting. You know, the usual; Where are you from? How do you know our friend Liz? What do you do? The conversation took a drastic turn when one of them glanced down at my feet. You wouldn't think the following question would be a life altering moment...but hey, take it as it comes. "Where are your big toenails?" asked one of them.
"Well, funny thing, I lost them climbing Shasta (again) this summer," I replied.
Next thing you knew we were talking about their trip to Argentina and their climbing trip up Mt. Aconcagua. After about 30 minutes of back and forth questions, we were duly talked into the idea of giving it a shot. We had already planned on spending 3 weeks in South America over the winter holidays. Now we had a destination.
So, now, after months of preperations, consultations, discussions, hikes, weight lifting, learning to pee in a bottle in a tent in the middle of the night, we are ready. We have spreadsheet upon spreadsheet of logistics, aclimitization schedules, calories per gram for the foods we are carying, and a plethora of other details that someday I will put into some sort of report and post it somewhere on the interweb.
What is an Aconcagua?
It's a beast of a mountain. All 22,841 feet. It happens to be the highest of all mountains in both the Western and Southern Hemispheres. We are taking the Normal Route up to the top. We are departing today for Buenos Aires. On Monday we fly to Mendoza and buy the last of our delightful trail food, hire some mules to carry our 200 pounds of stuff to the base (2 days trek in), and get a good night sleep in a nice hotel. On Tuesday, January 16, we embark on our journey. We will be hopefully summiting on the 28th if all goes perfectly. Regardless, we have hotel reservations in Mendoza on the 2nd, so one way or another, we are back, eating the best beef in the world and drinking Malbec wine by a pool.
"Well, funny thing, I lost them climbing Shasta (again) this summer," I replied.
Next thing you knew we were talking about their trip to Argentina and their climbing trip up Mt. Aconcagua. After about 30 minutes of back and forth questions, we were duly talked into the idea of giving it a shot. We had already planned on spending 3 weeks in South America over the winter holidays. Now we had a destination.
So, now, after months of preperations, consultations, discussions, hikes, weight lifting, learning to pee in a bottle in a tent in the middle of the night, we are ready. We have spreadsheet upon spreadsheet of logistics, aclimitization schedules, calories per gram for the foods we are carying, and a plethora of other details that someday I will put into some sort of report and post it somewhere on the interweb.
What is an Aconcagua?
It's a beast of a mountain. All 22,841 feet. It happens to be the highest of all mountains in both the Western and Southern Hemispheres. We are taking the Normal Route up to the top. We are departing today for Buenos Aires. On Monday we fly to Mendoza and buy the last of our delightful trail food, hire some mules to carry our 200 pounds of stuff to the base (2 days trek in), and get a good night sleep in a nice hotel. On Tuesday, January 16, we embark on our journey. We will be hopefully summiting on the 28th if all goes perfectly. Regardless, we have hotel reservations in Mendoza on the 2nd, so one way or another, we are back, eating the best beef in the world and drinking Malbec wine by a pool.
Read up on the mountain if you would like. We will have more to come once we get around a computer after the climb.
Until then, enjoy the ride (or climb)
