Aconcagua Expedition Dispatch

January 25, 2010 – Heading Home to the Hyatt

On Sunday, we had a very relaxing morning in a world of white at Berlin Camp, still 19, 600ft/5,975m above sea level. Our high camp was made into a beautiful clean and white place by the violent snowstorm accompanied us on our descent from the summit, and it was made especially beautiful by the sunshine and the blue sky.

Don and Kelly reported to me that one of the only sounds they heard during their three-member summit bid was the word “Vamos!” which is Spanish for “Let’s go!”, coming from Juancho all the way up. They were grateful for the motivation and the simplicity of Juancho’s style on summit day.

Also, the group that was with me had a wonderful summit push. As I mentioned in the last dispatch, we were up for 16 hours from when we awoke until we returned to Berlin, and were actually moving for 14 of those hours. There were times when we weren’t sure we could do it, but we stuck together. At one critical point, not far above where the Canaleta starts, I reminded the group that we’ve done this before, meaning one-foot-in-front-of-the-other. That positive thinking paid off and step by step we got to the top of Aconcagua.

Now today, Monday, we are taking that long walk back down the Horcones Valley. Our legs will have to stretch out today to take us all the way to the bottom where our ride will be waiting to take us back to the Hyatt Hotel. For now, we’re going to enjoy the walk and savour the last moments in this beautiful park, all the while looking forward to a hot shower tonight.

We’ll keep you posted.