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CLIMB WITH PRIDE-ACONCAGUA 2007Last e-mail updates from Rene’e, Captain Zabil and Stephanie before they returned home to Malaysia. Greetings from Mount Aconcagua! Dear All, After we said our goodbyes to Zabil and Stephanie at the Penitentes, we became virtually cut off from each other as satellite communications became impossible due to poor weather conditions on the mountain. What little news we had came from intermittent radio communications between Andres and Grajales at Basecamp. It was not until many days later when we finally met up with Zabil and Stephanie again, that we got to hear their stories. The following is an account of life at the higher camps on Aconcagua as told by the Summit Team:
25 January 2007 After saying goodbye to the rest of the team, Stephanie and I continued our way up towards Camp 1. The weather seemed to be on our side as it was not as windy as it had been on the day that we made the first carry. We kept a good pace and after our first rest we put on extra layers of clothing and also another layer of gloves as we felt a bit cold. We could see in the distance that a storm was building up over Camp 1 and was heading towards us. It started to snow when we reached the beginning of the scree section, about 300m from Camp 1 (elev. 4707m). After securing our gear, we settled down in our tents. Laura did a good job digging a hole for our lavatory and Andres prepared dinner. Camp 1 is located adjacent to and slightly below Ameghino Peak. Nothing much happened during the night except that it was really cold.
26 January 2007 We were supposed to move to Camp 2 today but the weather has been getting worse, so Andres decided that it would be better for us to stay at Camp 1 and have a rest day. The barometic readings showed a huge drop in atmospheric pressure, indicating worse weather conditions to come! The river near our campsite was frozen and we had to use our ice axes to get to the water. It was so cold that we spent a total of just 15 minutes outside our tent today. The rest of the time was spent recuperating and conserving energy in our tent as there was nothing else to do anyway. The two porters came this morning, thinking that we were going to move to Camp 2 as planned. Unfortunately, we could not utilize the porters at full potential - they could only carry limited stuff to Camp 2 as most things were still needed at Camp 1. By evening, the temperature had dropped to below 0 degrees Celsius and it started to snow again.
27 January 2007 Today, we moved to Camp 2. Due to the noise of our tents flapping in the strong wind, I couldn't hear my alarm this morning. Luckily, Brad woke us up at 7:20am just in time to get ready for the move. The weather looked promising. By 8:45am, all our tents were down. Our packs were heavier than when we made the move to Camp 1 since we had to carry all our community gear with us. We could only utilize the porters to carry food the day before. The trek should have taken us about 5 hours but we did it in just 4 hours. We were moving relatively fast. I am afraid that this might cost us as the expedition continues because it is very hard if not impossible to regain energy at high altitude. We took a longer time to set up our tents due to the thin air. The view from Camp 2 (elev. 5478m) is awesome. From where we are, we can see surrounding peaks including Mount Mercedario which is about 200km away. We can also see the Guanacos Valley. Earlier this evening, we could actually see the curvature of the earth. It was beautiful. At about 6pm, another snow storm came in as we rested in our tents. The temperature in the tent dropped to minus 8 degrees celcius. We even had frost in our tent as a result of condensation from our breathing. Looking at our physical condition and knowing the weather forecast to be bad, Andres has decided to give us a break tomorrow. I am glad as I really need a rest.
28 January 07 Today was a rest day for both of us. We woke up this morning and discovered that a foot of snow had fallen since last night, covering all our tents and the entire campsite in a blanket of white. We collected water for the day at a nearby frozen creek and took some photos near our campsite since it was a beautiful day. We learned how to use crampons and how to fix them to our boots. Laura made a carry to High Camp alone. Once again, it was so cold that we only spent 30 minutes outside our tents. We tried our best to rest knowing that the next 2 days are going to be really tough.
So far our Summit Team had made it to Camp 2 at an elevation of close to 5500m. Listening to their stories, one of the most difficult aspects of life at high altitude appears to have been the need to stay within the confines of a two or three-man tent in freezing temperatures for almost 24 hours with nothing much to do! The attached photographs were taken at Camps 1 and 2 during the few minutes that Zabil and Stephanie managed to bear the cold and venture outside to enjoy the view. To find out more, look out for further updates from both the Summit and Support Teams. Regards,
Dear All, As you know from our earlier reports, we received news that the Summit Team would move to high camp today, Monday 29 January 2007. It has been difficult for the support team staying in Penitentes. In the morning the weather is usually good, and we feel confident that Zabil and Stephanie will make it to High Camp and beyond. But by the mid-afternoon, the mountains surrounding Penitentes are covered in swirling clouds and the winds have picked up even down here in this small ski resort where we wait anxiously for news from the Grajales radio. We are left wondering what our two team mates must be going through and there is often a general feeling of helplessness as we cannot be there to support them on the mountain itself. Still, we know that they are in good hands as Andres and Laura are experienced mountaineers. With the two Guides and two porters to assist them, we feel that Zabil and Stephanie have the best chance that we could have given any of our team members to go as far as the weather and climate will permit! In the meantime, we are making plans with Carlos and preparing to move to Confluencia tomorrow where we will wait for the Summit Team when they trek out from High Camp via Plaza de Mulas on the Normal Route. We are expecting them to do this either on 31 January 2007 or, at the latest, on the following day. More updates to come soon...
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