Jussi Westergren’s Aconcagua Expedition Dispatch
February 6, 2011 – A Decision is Made
This morning, Sunday, February 6, began with our daily routine. The sun does not arrive here, or at any of our camps, until about 9:30am and it is very cold, so we remain in our tents until it gets light. While the sun is still hiding out behind the ridges, it is very cold. So at about 7:30 one of the guys, usually Simon, comes around with hot drinks. Jussi always has mate de coca, the famous drink of the Andres that is made with coca leaves. Reportedly, it is very good for acclimatization, but I think Jussi just likes the flavor. It is very routine; I always hear him getting his mate and then we talk between tents about the morning before we actually get out of our tents.
The sun warms our tents in the morning
Now this morning when I did get out of the tent, I saw a very ominous looking lenticular cloud hanging over the summit Aconcagua. These clouds mean bad weather and there will certainly be high winds on the summit today. Obviously, the weather forecast today was of great interest to me. We sent away for a detailed forecast from Guilherme, the normal Berg Adventures forecaster. He lives in Nova Friburgo, Brazil which has had its own weather problems in the last weeks with very heavy rains, severe flooding and serious landslides. He is back operating and back online, and he and I talked about the weather picture at length today over satellite phone. He was looking at the satellite imagers on his computer screen and describing to me what he saw. He thinks that the weather will be getting better, but he did think that at our level on the mountain the winds would be 22mph/35km and there would be fresh snow.
After some discussion, Osvaldo, Jussi and I decided that rather than wait out the high winds, we would head down the mountain to Plaza de Mulas. Osvaldo has arranged for the mules to meet us tomorrow to carry out our gear and we are hoping to take a helicopter back into Mendoza. While slightly disappointed, we're happy with our decision and excited for the next part of our adventure. Jussi's father will be joining us in Mendoza in a few days to tour the vineyards. Stay tuned because we will have more dispatches to come as we enjoy our time in the Argentine countryside.