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

January 11, 2011 – Getting Ready for the Climb in Los Penitentes

Our first view of Aconcagua

Our first view of Aconcagua

It is Wally Berg reporting on Tuesday, the 11th of January. I am calling you from 13,000ft/3,962m above sea level, on a pass at the border of Argentina and Chile. We are literally at the border right now. This morning after breakfast in our hotel, Todd, Maggie, Stuart, myself and Osvaldo loaded into the Toyota 4-wheel drive that Osvaldo and the gang had driven all the way from Bolivia. We headed up for some acclimatization by vehicle. Sergio and Simon are back at the hotel still working to pack food and supplies and get everything ready for the departure of Osvi and the team to climb Aconcagua tomorrow.

Hotel Ayelen and the arid slopes under blue skies

Hotel Ayelen and the arid slopes

under blue skies

For our acclimatization program today we have perfect weather. We drove a short distance from the hotel and we stopped at a viewpoint of Aconcagua where we saw the stupendous south face rising before us in perfectly clear sky. We took some photographs and then we drove all the way up to the pass. Now we are standing around in quite thin air at 13,000ft/3,962m. We are just going to walk around a little bit and enjoy standing at the crest of the Andes. Then we will head back to the hotel to meet the other guys and have lunch. Now this afternoon we are going to pack our big duffel bags, our mule bags, that will be transported by mule for us all the way to Confluencia camp and then on to Plaza de Mulas. We will pack those mule bags and just keep our day packs in the hotel tonight for our hike tomorrow. I will go up with Sergio and Simon and we will give them to the mule drivers this afternoon. Meanwhile, Osvi, Maggie, Todd and Stuart will go on an acclimatization hike near the hotel.

Yesterday afternoon before we had dinner, but after we arrived in Los Penitentes, Todd, Maggie and Stuart walked up the ski hill that is across the road from the hotel. Overall, we are enjoying ourselves; it is pretty casual--especially in this kind of weather, the skies are perfectly clear, there is no wind and the temperatures are quite mild even though we are at considerable elevation.

The long approach up the Horcones River valley lies before us. Osvi and the team will get started tomorrow as they hike up to Confluencia camp at 11,400ft/3,475m. They will report to you each day as they make their progress to Plaza de Mulas and climbing higher on Aconcagua. Back in Mendoza, Mariela, our Mendoza support representative, is standing by. All of the support in Canada and Argentina is in place. The team is going to begin their adventure climbing to the very top of South America, Aconcagua. Stay tuned for Osvaldo’s daily reports as the team moves higher up the mountain.