Aconcagua Expedition Dispatches
January 21, 2009 – The Beautiful Day Continues
The teams next goal is climbing to Nido de Condores Camp
Dan’s teammate, Steve Whittington who grew up in Northern Manitoba, has spent a lot of time with his family in extreme conditions in the bush, is now an executive living in Alberta. Steve always find a lot of time in his life for fitness and his love for wilderness areas, new goals and helping other people. Steve was with us on a BAI Big Brothers Big Sisters climb last year in Tanzania and now he is back here with his energy and his card games. A guy who grew up in the bush knows how to play cards! Steve is our master team member of passing time in camp when there isn’t much going on.
We’ve got a couple of Alberta farm boys with us here as well. Cliff and David, who are our second father and son team, have had some experience, but both will be quick to tell you that they have never had anything like this. These boys are making a new personal altitude record step by step as they climb towards Aconcagua. They are both looking great and are solid team members.
We have Armando, who at only seven months ago, walked off American Airlines flight in La Paz, Bolivia from his home in Florida. He was nervously looking around wondering what kind of people came on these BAI adventures to climb the high mountains. On that particular trip I was happy to report that he quickly relaxed when he realized that he was a lot like the rest of the climbers, he felt like he was in the right place. Now Armando looks like a pro here on Aconcagua and his love for climbing has really added to the team.
As you can tell, we have a really solid team; 10 climbers; Leila and I; the 5 BAI staff; and our support staff. We’ve got a big team here, but sometimes you need that for a big mountain. Most importantly, we are having a great deal of fun together.
The goal today is to move our camp - Nido de Condores Camp at 5,500m/18,200 ft. We will keep you updated as the climb continues.