CLIMB WITH PRIDE-ACONCAGUA 2007

Updates from the team in Argentina

It's oh so beautiful...
16 January, 2007

After breakfast, the team members, with the guides from Aventuras Patagonicas, set off to obtain the required permits for the expedition. As of today, The Guanacos Valley & Traverse route, the one that the team will be using, remained closed due to environmental reasons.

It was decided that an alternative - the Vacas & Relinchos Valley Route - would be the next best option. This route is also one of the best non-technical ways of climbing Mt Aconcagua. It ascends the Vacas and Relinchos Valleys Route, and at the base of the Polish Glacier, the climbers will traverse the mountain. Upon summiting, they will descend the Normal Route, offering a wide spectrum of the entire mountain by travelling through three different river valleys: the Vacas, Relinchos and Horcones, experiencing the entire mountain, and past the four tremendous main faces of Aconcagua.

The team will also have the services of two porters during the entire expedition. As the porters will return to the base camp every night, they will not be carrying their own equipment or bags. Thus, they can help take some baggage load off the team members. In a situation where every kilo of weight counts and backpacks become seemingly heavier with each passing day of the expedition, this is great news.

With the permits done, Rene'e and her team headed back to their hotel for the press conference arranged by Paola Estomba and her PR associates. According to Rene'e, the press conference went really well - the response from the Argentinean press was fantastic, surpassing everyone's expectations. The media were excited about the Climb with PRIDE expedition and for Rene'e. During the PC, nonetheless, translators had to help Rene'e and the team members to understand and be understood by the largely Spanish-speaking press! Even a TV station interviewed Rene'e, who's now, undeniably, the rising star of Argentinean TV! You go girl!

After the PC and lunch, the team members packed up and gathered for another briefing with the guides from Aventuras Patagonicas. Later this afternoon, at 4pm, the team departed for Penitentes, a winter resort near the Argentinean-Chilean border, about 180 kilometers from Mendoza, to begin acclimatization to the high altitude. At an elevation of 8,500ft, Penitentes would also serve as their starting point for the expedition. The drive to Penitentes took about three hours, winding along the Rio (River) Mendoza deep into the heart of the rugged Andes mountains. Arriving in the Penitentes ski area, the team was greeted by the sweeping vista of the mountains, in a colourful desert-like landscape. Not much grows here, except for some patches of mountain grass. It is unlike Mt Kinabalu or anything she has seen before, Rene'e told PRIDE over the phone. Weather-wise, it had been drizzling in Penitentes and raining up in the mountains.

"Better bad weather now than later when we are up there," said Rene'e. It would be less difficult for the climbers to walk on snow, rather than on icy or wet rocky surfaces, she added. "It's easier for the crampons to grip the snow. We are keeping an eye on the weather forecast but no one can really tell. It's not predictable and the weather changes very quickly in the mountains."

Rene'e has yet seen the peak of Mt Aconcagua and she's excited to do so. Perhaps tomorrow, when the team members go for a short day hike around Penitentes, they might just get to catch their first ever real-life glimpse of the mighty Aconcagua!

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