Aconcagua Climbing Expedition News Blogs Updates

Aconcagua Climbing Expedition News Blogs Updates


News of our recent Aconcagua expedition


Congratulations, 8 out of 11 members just reached the summit! We thank them for their strong efforts and all families, friends and colleagues for their support. We have four more Aconcagua climbs coming up in 2014. The next one begins tomorrow, there are 2 in February and one in December 2014. Please keep following our news and we welcome you to join us!


Blog posts: Please scroll down for more news


James Shipton (left) and Allan Taggard on the Summit of Aconcagua - Photo: Angel Armesto Strong white winds at the higher slopes of Aconcagua a day after the summit push - Photo: Max Kausch
 
James Shipton (left) and Allan Taggard on the Summit of Aconcagua - Photo: Angel Armesto. Strong white winds at the higher slopes of Aconcagua a day after the summit push

19 February -

Today is a sunny Saturday and we´re back to Mendoza.

I´m very happy to tell you that James and Allan just summited Aconcagua at 5pm on Feb 19th 2014! They took their scottish flag with them. I hope you all have received a message from our SPOT satellite device giving you some short news.

Looks like a miracle but the 19th was a perfect day with very low winds and perfect weather! During the whole previous week the weather conditions didn´t improve at all and somehow we have managed to snick to the top and come back down before the wind tripled its speed.

SummitClimb.com wants to congratulate Allan and James for the great effort and patiance during this long trip. Unfortunately we couldn´t follow the original plan which was to climb via the polish direct route and we had to take the normal route. The polish had received too many snow dumped on the 15th, 16th and 18th and it had almost 4 feet of powder snow.

Thank you for following the news at SummitClimb.com

 

Sunset at camp 1 before the storm on the 15th - Photo: Max Kausch James & Allan on the way down - Photo: Max Kausch

Sunset at camp 1 before the storm on the 15th. James & Allan on the way down

16 February -

Today is Sunday February 16th 2014 and we´re back to basecamp.

Our team reached 6150m on the first attempt yesterday. The weather was brutal! We had way too much snow and cold on the way to the summit. Half of our team started to really feel the cold and we had to turn around at 6150m. We joined forces with another 2 teams which also turned around. Eva, Dean, Gernot and Kristin went back to BC on the 15th and left on the 16th in the morning. They reached Mendoza a few hours ago.
James and Allan are already acclimatized and will start with the summit push tomorrow morning. Our goal is to reach the summit on the 19th but the conditions on the polish glacier look very bad. The glacier had a lot of snow dumped on it for 3 days in a row and if we don´t have a fairly strong wind within the next 2 days it will be almost impossible to climb it. Our plan B is to summit via normal route on the 19th when the weather seems very nice.

Right now at BC we have an amazing full moon shining over our tents but its extremely cold. Regardless of which route, our push starts tomorrow and we´ll go all the way to camp 2 where we have a 40kg stash of food, fuel and tents.

Thank you for following the news at SummitClimb.com.

Allan, James and Max below camp 3 - Photo: Max Kausch
 
Allan, James and Max below camp 3. Enjoying the beautiful day.

11 February

Today is tuesday 11th of February 2014 and we are going up in a couple of hours.

We have 2 teams this February, one for the normal route and one for the polish glacier. The first team will attempt the summit on the 15th and the second team will be up there around the 20th.

We will send short daily updates using our SPOT device. Wish us luck!

Thanks for following the news at SummitClimb.com  

Team members Aconcagua
Our team at 4100 m / 14,350 ft  - Plaza Francia.
 
8 February

 

Today is Saturday February 08th and the weather is perfect! We had 3 consecutive days of perfect weather on Aconcagua!

Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to Gyan Kapur who had a health problem and had to leave, we´ll miss him very much! Before he left we managed to reach Plaza Francia which is the basecamp at the South Face of Aconcagua. What a nice view!

The approach to Plaza de Mulas (Normal Route´s BC) was ok. The 18 mile walk went very smooth and a very light cold breeze kept us from cooking under the strong sun.

Today is our rest day at BC and we start carrying equipment up the mountain tomorrow morning. Our expected summit day for the normal route team is around the 18th of February.
Thanks for following the news at SummitClimb.com


2 February

Today is the 1st of February and some of the members are already in Mendoza. This is our 3rd expedition in a row to Aconcagua this year and we  have managed to have people on the summit in all of them!

Our February expedition is slightly different this time. We have a very mixed team from all over the world, but the main difference is that we´ll have 2 simultaneous expedition: 1 via normal route and 1 via the polish glacier which is a technical route. We plan to go together with all our members to camp 2 at 6000m then split the team for the 2 different routes.

Most of our members arrive on the 2nd of February. We really look forward to meet them!

Team roster:

Polish route team:

  • Maximo K. - UK/Argentina/Brazil
  • Angel A. - Argentina
  • Allan T. - UK
  • James S. - UK
  • Eva T. - Austria
Normal route team:
  • Maximo K. - UK/Argentina/Brazil
  • Angel A. - Argentina
  • Eduardo T. - Brazil/Argentina
  • Dean W. - US
  • Gyan K. - US/India
  • Kristín S. - Iceland
  • Gernot T. - Austria
  • Florian J. - Germany

Thanks for following the news at SummitClimb.com

Summit Photo. Summitclimb
 
Mike and George on the summit at 6962m - Photo Mike Fairman. Mike and George at the cave 6720m, this is the bottom of the canaleta or couloir - Photo Mike Fairman. 
 
View from Confluencia - Photo Mike Fairman
 
The start of the traverse at 6500m, the windiest place of the climb! '- Photo Mike Fairman.  View from Confluencia - Photo Mike Fairman.
 
We have to be flexible but not as much as Ashok - Photo Ashok Tripathi Way to camp 1 - Photo Ashok Tripathi
 
We have to be flexible but not as much as Ashok - Photo Ashok Tripathi.  Way to camp 1 - Photo Ashok Tripathi.
 
Our dome tent at BC - Photo Ashok Tripathi Mike and Max analysing the weather forecast - Photo Ashok Tripathi
 
Our dome tent at BC - Photo Ashok Tripathi.  Mike and Max analysing the weather forecast - Photo Ashok Tripathi.
 
Max during descent to BC - Photo Ashok Tripathi Chico at a routine check-up at BC doctor - Photo Ashok Tripathi
 
Max during descent to BC - Photo Ashok Tripathi.  Chico at a routine check-up at BC doctor - Photo Ashok Tripathi.

19 January -

Today is Sunday January 19th 2014.

We had to delay our summit push due to a 3 day storm that would complicate things up high. We decided to hold up at BC where we have good food and good shelter.

We are leaving BC today and want to sleep at C1 tonight. Then we plan to spend the nights of the 20th and 21st at camp 2 which is 5600m high. Our summit attempt will hopefully be around Jan 23rd in order to be in Mendoza in the night of the 25th and catch the flights on the 26th, what a mission!

Last night was interesting. The 8th Reel Rock Movie festival was showed right here at Plaza de Mulas! The event organizers brought a 25 foot inflatable screen with a projector and showed 4 amazing HD movies at 9pm right next to our camp! Quite an amazing experience considering how high we are! It was freezing cold last night but even then about 150 people sat at the front of the screen to watch the movies! What an experience!
Ok, we´re setting the loads and getting ready to go up, wish us luck! 

Thanks for following the news at SummitClimb.com

Art gallery at 4300m Our team at Camp1
 
Art gallery at 4300m. Our team at Camp1

Our team returning to BC Way to camp 1
 
Our team returning to BC. Way to camp 1

16 January -

We´re at BC again after taking a load to camp 1 at 4950m. Everyone is feeling strong and we are planning a summit push for around the 22nd of January. The weather is not great anymore. Is snowing everyday after 4pm and we´re expecting a storm very soon.

Komal is giving a yoga lesson today at 5pm and she´ll have 4 or 5 students for it! The trekkers went back safely to Mendoza and are already enjoying a wine tour there.

If the snow allows our summit push starts tomorrow. Our plan is to move to camp 1 on the 17th, then 2 nights at camp 2 (5600m) on the 18th and 19th. Wish us luck!

Thanks for following the Blog,

Our team at Plaza Francia, south face of Aconcagua - Photo Mike Fairman Our team entering Aconcagua - Photo Mike Fairman
 
Our team at Plaza Francia, south face of Aconcagua - Photo Mike Fairman.  Our team entering Aconcagua - Photo Mike Fairman.
 
Chilling at Confluencia 3400m - Photo Mike Fairman Komal and Waldyr at 4100m - Photo Mike Fairman
 
Chilling at Confluencia 3400m - Photo Mike Fairman. Komal and Waldyr at 4100m - Photo Mike Fairman.

14 January - 

Today we have a sunny Tuesday Jan 14th at Plaza de Mulas, Aconcagua´s BC at the west side.

All members are doing great and acclimatising super well. Mike, Ashok, Komal and the brazilians made it safely to BC yesterday late afternoon and we got here in time to enjoy a nice sunset while eating watermelon.

Today is our rest day and our load carrying starts tomorrow. Looks like the good weather might hold for another 2 days and bad weather is coming on the 17th. I hope we are at BC for that! Aconcagua hasn´t had any snow for 25 days now and high camps are dangerously dry. Our water comes from snow melting above BC so we depend on storms for success.

 Summit Aconcagua  What a sunset view. Photo Max Kausch

Members summit Aconcagua. What a sunset view.

10 January -

We´re back from a successful expedition in December where we had 8 of 11 people on the summit of Aconcagua.

Our january team is very diverse. We have 3 members for the trekking to BC and another 6 for the summit. We´re planning the summit push for around january 23rd so we should be back to Mendoza for the 25th. We expect low winds for the last week of the month and at least 1 or 2 storms for the time we are up there.
The last 2 members of our expedition arrived yesterday. Ashok and Komal arrived from India about 1 week ago and spent a few days in Calafate at Patagonia.

Thank you for following the news at SummitClimb.com

Our January team is:

  • Maximo K.- leader - UK/Argentina/Brazil
  • Eduardo T.- guide - Brazil
  • Jorge S.- guide - Argentina
  • Cameron M. F.- US
  • Ashok T.- India
  • Komal S.- India
  • Manoel P.- Brazil
  • Anderson D.- Brazil
  • Francisco F.- Brazil
  • Ivna G.- Brazil
  • Josemaria V.- Brazil
  • Waldyr B. - Brazil

Summit for Soldiers 

Photo courtesy of Mike Fairman, Summits For Soldiers

5 January

Hi

Today is Sunday January 5th.

I´m glad to tell you that 8 of 11 made it to the summit! We had a perfect day with no wind! Our acclimatization plan worked very well and we were able to walk to the bottom of the canaleta (the toughest part of the climb) in only 4 hours! Finally at lunch time on the 4th we reached the summit!

The view was amazing! We could see at least another 50 major mountains up to 150 miles away!
We´re now packing the loads for tomorrow to start the long walk to Horcones where there is a transport waiting for us.

Thanks for following the news at SummitClimb.com. Wait for more news, we have another Aconcagua Expedition starting on January 9th.

 Summit for Soldiers
Photo courtesy of Mike Fairman, Summits For Soldiers

31 December -

Hi
Today is December 31st and we are back to BC at 4300m.

Strong winds made us come back to BC and delay our summit attempt to January 4th. The weather forecast seems right and the wind right now is blowing at about 105km/h on the summit.
Our camp 2 is stocked with food, fuel, tents and equipment for our attempt on the 4th. We spent 2 nights at 5630m and I believe our team is now fully acclimatized for the summit. We ate some very tasty food up at high camps and saw amazing sunsets!

I´m still surprised on how strong our team is. No one has got sick and all feel very strong for one more attempt. We´ll rest here for one more day and move straight to 5600m on the 2nd.

Happy New Year!
 

Way to camp 1 Germans dancing on Xmas eve
 
Way to camp 1.  Germans dancing on Xmas eve.

26 December -

Hi

Today is thursday December 26th.

We made it to 5600m yesterday and have most of the loads already at high camps. Our camp 1 has about 100kg of food, equipment and fuel for our summit push. We´ll stock our camp 2 tomorrow with 150kg which will allow us to stay there for 3 nights.

We had an amazing christmas eve at basecamp. Our logistics company made us a BBQ with steak, pork and chicken. Quite an amazing meal considering we are at 4300m in the middle of nowhere. The steak and firewood made it to BC on the back of a mule. That took 2 days!

We´ll start the summit push tomorrow and our plan is to summit on the 31st december or 01st of january.
Everyone is acclimatizing extremely well. They made it to camp 1 in 2 hours faster than normal!
Thanks for following the news at SummitClimb.com

24 December -

Hi

Sorry for the lack of communication, we had a busy december so far with 2 expeditions running back to back.
Our Aconcagua December expedition is very strong. We have 6 members from Germany, 1 from Belgium, 1 from Switzerland and 1 from Brazil.

We left Mendoza on the 20th and slept at 2800m that same night. We then went to the base of the south face of Aconcágua for acclimatization and finally got here yesterday afternoon.

Our team got along very well and they are stronger than normal. We are thinking on summitting around December 31st. and go back to Mendoza around the 2nd of Jan. That means spending christmas day and New Years eve on the mountain!

We had a couple of hot days so far. Hopefully the mountain cools down a little bit by Christmas.

Thanks for following the news at SummitClimb News

Chrsitmas BBQ ao 4300m Team members resting and posing for picture. Photo Maximo Kausch

Chrsitmas BBQ ao 4300m. Team members resting and posing for picture. Photo Maximo Kausch. 

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