So....as many of you may know Matt has been in Argentina for just about a month....and he'll be there until mid February. He's guiding two trips on Aconcagua for Alpine Ascents International (AAI). He flew to Mendoza on December 14th to take a spanish immersion course, prepped food for the 20 day trip with the lead guide Mark over the Christmas Holiday, then met the clients and started for the mountain on 12/27.
So...I finally did my due dilligance today and found out just how tall Aconcagua is, what it looks like, and just what Matt is in for. :) (see image below)
So...I finally did my due dilligance today and found out just how tall Aconcagua is, what it looks like, and just what Matt is in for. :) (see image below)
First, Aconcagua is the tallest summit outside Asia at 22,841 feet (in comparison Mt. Everest is 29,029 feet and Mt. Hood is somewhere around 11,240 feet). It is one of the seven summits and is located in the Andes Mountain range (between Argentina and Chili). A map is provided below.
Second, the standard trip itinerary for and AAI trip up Aconcagua can be found here: http://www.alpineascents.com/aconcagua-dtd.asp
They climb Aconcagua via the nontechnical Vacas Valley Route (Polish Variation). If you go to the following link and scroll down until you see the Google Maps image, they are taking the route marked with blue flags.
http://www.purebound.com/aconcagua/
Third, AAI gives about 17 days to get to high camp and 2 days to get back (I'm going to have to ask Matt about the math on that one). There is actually a pretty cool webcam of the basecamp that you can see here (disclaimer: I'm not sure this is the basecamp that Matt's team used): http://www.aconcaguanow.com/indice.php
This is the 3rd highest webcam in the world. The image is updated ever 3 minutes during daylight hours....and there's even a timelapse option. Watch out on this site because there are links to other webcams ALL OVER THE WORLD. If you start exploring you won't get to read the rest of my post. :)
Fourth, each AAI group does an update via satellite phone approximately every evening (it's about 23 seconds on average..........and depending on wind conditions you may or may not hear it). According to the most recent update Matt's team (Team 5 or "pee pee....coo coo", although honestly I can't understand the last words and I'm not sure I want to given they're using "blue bags" for this 20 day treck) made it to camp III at 19,200 feet today. There has been snow for the past few days and they were breaking trail through 5-9 inches. I wonder if Matt wishes he would have hiked up to Council Crest a few more times right about now....
Fifth, judging by the standard AAI itinerary Matt and his team should get opportunities to summit between Wednesday (1/11) to Friday (1/13) of next week. According to local guides - there's approximately a 30% success rate for summitting the mountain. One reason for this is that Aconcagua is only 80 miles from the Pacific Ocean, so it can get hit with extremely high winds and storms like Denali in Alaska. [can you tell I just stole that from another website?] A few other reasons might include: altitude related illnesses causing climbers to descend before the summit and poor fitness. However, the really good news is that there are few fatalities on Aconcagua each year (by few I really mean "few"...the annual average is 3 according to internet sources).
So...it's been fun to gain some insight into Matt's reality today. I'm got a little listful as I watched the sun rise and set on the basecamp timelapse video today. There's also a nice YouTube video someone posted of the hike in to Plaza Argentina (the 30 mile trek in to base camp). The images remind me of hiking in the Wallowas...except we didn't write in spanish. :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAzDNj_4SyY
I'll keep you posted as I learn more! Until then, enjoy exploring these links and living vicariously through Matt's adventure (i.e., work). :)
Second, the standard trip itinerary for and AAI trip up Aconcagua can be found here: http://www.alpineascents.com/aconcagua-dtd.asp
They climb Aconcagua via the nontechnical Vacas Valley Route (Polish Variation). If you go to the following link and scroll down until you see the Google Maps image, they are taking the route marked with blue flags.
http://www.purebound.com/aconcagua/
Third, AAI gives about 17 days to get to high camp and 2 days to get back (I'm going to have to ask Matt about the math on that one). There is actually a pretty cool webcam of the basecamp that you can see here (disclaimer: I'm not sure this is the basecamp that Matt's team used): http://www.aconcaguanow.com/indice.php
This is the 3rd highest webcam in the world. The image is updated ever 3 minutes during daylight hours....and there's even a timelapse option. Watch out on this site because there are links to other webcams ALL OVER THE WORLD. If you start exploring you won't get to read the rest of my post. :)
Fourth, each AAI group does an update via satellite phone approximately every evening (it's about 23 seconds on average..........and depending on wind conditions you may or may not hear it). According to the most recent update Matt's team (Team 5 or "pee pee....coo coo", although honestly I can't understand the last words and I'm not sure I want to given they're using "blue bags" for this 20 day treck) made it to camp III at 19,200 feet today. There has been snow for the past few days and they were breaking trail through 5-9 inches. I wonder if Matt wishes he would have hiked up to Council Crest a few more times right about now....
Fifth, judging by the standard AAI itinerary Matt and his team should get opportunities to summit between Wednesday (1/11) to Friday (1/13) of next week. According to local guides - there's approximately a 30% success rate for summitting the mountain. One reason for this is that Aconcagua is only 80 miles from the Pacific Ocean, so it can get hit with extremely high winds and storms like Denali in Alaska. [can you tell I just stole that from another website?] A few other reasons might include: altitude related illnesses causing climbers to descend before the summit and poor fitness. However, the really good news is that there are few fatalities on Aconcagua each year (by few I really mean "few"...the annual average is 3 according to internet sources).
So...it's been fun to gain some insight into Matt's reality today. I'm got a little listful as I watched the sun rise and set on the basecamp timelapse video today. There's also a nice YouTube video someone posted of the hike in to Plaza Argentina (the 30 mile trek in to base camp). The images remind me of hiking in the Wallowas...except we didn't write in spanish. :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAzDNj_4SyY
I'll keep you posted as I learn more! Until then, enjoy exploring these links and living vicariously through Matt's adventure (i.e., work). :)
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