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Title image - BAI takes you to: Aconcagua
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Aconcagua Expedition Dispatch

February 2, 2015 – Team Carried Loads to Nido and back at Plaza Canada

The first thing we did Monday morning at Plaza Canada at 16,600ft above sea level was call the Berg Adventures office and check with Leila to see the results of the Super Bowl yesterday. Now I would say first of all that our new Zealand team member didn’t care about the Super Bowl, the Brazilian team members didn’t care about the Super Bowl and I can say that the Canadians had only the mildest of interest and in fact for a group of Americans, the remainder of the group were not really that intent on hearing the result.

I know Melody and several others were very interested in the results; Melody was a Seahawks fan by the way, and I think that in our conversations prior to the game, it became clear that we’re a Seahawks’ team. We know that Bob Connor was calling in and checking with Leila regularly to see how Melody was doing and giving the results and I can tell that Melody was hoping for a second Seahawk win yesterday, but it didn’t happen that way so here we go on high altitude, what can we say? It is beautiful summer time in Argentina, the air is thin and we still have to climb Aconcagua.

Audio of Wally's call Listen to Wally's call

Monday afternoon and I am calling from Nido de Condor, the Condor’s Nest. The dirty dozen has made it to 18,311ft. above sea level and that’s about 5,580 metres.

Now this is a significant place, some of the group has climbed Mount Elbrus, in Russia, just a bit higher than this; some has climbed Kilimanjaro, a few hundred feet higher than this, some of them Kala Pathar on the trail to Everest Base Camp which is about exactly as high as we are right now.

Of course we are going to return here tomorrow night and go to sleep, this will be our Camp 2. We did a carry up here today, in very nice weather, once again. The whole team did great, we travelled in 3 groups so people can move at their own speed with 4 of the Bolivian staff climbing with us and carrying loads as well of course and Maria stayed down at our Camp 1 to keep things prepared ready for us and watch things down there.

We are on our way downhill now, Maria tea time, popcorn, snacks. I am really proud of the team; they looked a little lethargic as we lay around here in the thin air, just as they did the first day they went to Plaza Canada but the idea is maybe tomorrow, when we come back, we feel better and of course when we do come back tomorrow, we will be settling in to occupy our Camp 2 here at Nido de Condor to prepare to climb higher in Aconcagua.

Audio of Wally's call Listen to Wally's call

Speaking of news, we called in for Super Bowl’s news, now I am hearing that people are hearing about tremors and earthquakes in Mendoza. We’ve not had so much as a cup of tea spilled, or heard or felt anything on Aconcagua and everyone should know that earthquakes in Mendoza have a long history, that’s why there is no high building there, actually Mariela was describing that to us before we left that more than 80% of the building in the city now are up to most stringent codes due to the frequent tremors and earthquakes activities in the area.

We wish everybody there well, I have a feeling that this is not anything too out of the ordinary in Mendoza and we certainly are not feeling any effects of this in Aconcagua, it is news to us and we only know because of the satellite phone and because we found out calling to find out about the Super Bowl. No earthquakes on Aconcagua. We are doing great, the air is still thin.

Audio of Wally's call Listen to Wally's call

Our team happy at Plaza Canada

Our team happy at Plaza Canada

Lesley getting ready to climb to Nido de Condor

Leslie getting ready to climb to Nido de Condor

Jim and Ed

Jim and Ed

Team leaving Plaza Canada

Team leaving Plaza Canada

Trevor carrying a load to Nido

Trevor carrying a load to Nido

Team on the move to Nido de Condor

Team on the move to Nido de Condor

Katie

Katie

Dena

Dena

Johana

Johana

Christina

Christina

Elisa and her husband Pedro

Elisa and her husband Pedro

Leslie

Leslie

Jim

Jim

Trevor

Trevor

Melody

Melody

Arriving at Nido de Condor

Arriving at Nido de Condor

Ranger station at Nido de Condor

Ranger station at Nido de Condor

Returning to Plaza Canada after a long day

Returning to Plaza Canada after a long day

Good bye from our team

Good bye from our team