Aconcagua Expedition Dispatches

January 12, 2009 – Team Arrives Safely in Mendoza

Summertime in Mendoza, Argentina is a very pleasant place. This is Argentina’s wine country and the city of Mendoza; with its lovely shaded streets and irrigation cannels that date back from centuries, provides the city with its lush greenery which surrounds this town. This is a Mecca for South American tourists as well as many from further away. People come for cycling, certainly wine tours, and the lovely weather.

We are here for something else of course! We are here to organize our Aconcagua expedition; the headquarters are located at the Park Hyatt Hotel. I’m happy to report that all 12 members of BAI’s 2009 Aconcagua Adventure have arrived in Mendoza. The airport has been a busy place with the regular flights coming in from Santiago, Chile. Our team arrived into Santiago and connected across the mountains into Mendoza. They are traveling from the United States, Canada and Australia. Our five BAI staff members from Bolivia made the long drive down from La Paz, Bolivia to Mendoza to welcome the team members as they arrived.

One thing that all Aconcagua climbers will tell you about is their experience registering for their permit to climb South America’s highest mountain. Team members met for breakfast this morning, walked through the lovely plaza in Mendoza to get vouchers to change money into pesos which we then took to a place to make our payment for the permits. Finally we went to the border where our permits were issued. A pretty exciting time for climbers traveling from all over the world who are coming into this lovely city bound for a much higher, colder place, not too far away, Aconcagua.

Our goal will begin soon, the crown jewel of the Andes, Aconcagua. We have a lot of great adventures to come. We are taking off for the mountains today and will be reporting to you soon!