Aconcagua Expedition Dispatch
January 22, 2012 – Life at Plaza de Mulas
Our first 24 hours at Plaza de Mulas went extremely well. Plaza de Mulas is a fascinating place at 14,400 ft/4,390m. Mules come and go bringing supplies. A bright yellow helicopter flies in and out frequently to bring supplies, ferry out waste, and even handle rescues when necessary. The camp is busy with climbers from all over the world, some who are coming down the mountain after their summit attempts and of course climbers like us who are acclimatizing before climbing higher.
Group photo taken four days ago, as our journey on the mountain began.
We live in North Face VE-25 tents which sit just behind our dining tent where we take our meals. The meals have been excellent. We had very large steaks with mashed potatoes. Yesterday at lunch we had quiche and we had spinach pie. Last night’s dinner was homemade ravioli with tomato sauce. It is a good sign of acclimatization when your appetite is good and this group is indeed eating very well. We’ve had no headaches so far and I feel that at this stage of our acclimatization we are doing great.
In addition to the great food here, we have been introduced to an Argentinian favorite, Mate de Coca. Juan, who is the base camp manager here, introduced us to the tea, the national Argentine drink.
The doctors wanted to see us 24 hours after we arrived at base camp so we went down late yesterday afternoon. We waited in line for a little while and we each had our exam which is required at Plaza de Mulas at this stage of the climb.
We have seen all kinds of weather since we arrived here at Plaza de Mulas. It is Sunday morning now, so we have been here 36 hours. In that time, we have had light snow, lots of sunshine and we woke this morning to moderate winds with the tent nylon flapping. We have also seen still air. We will continue to monitor the weather and soon we will be moving higher. It is too soon for us to sleep higher, but we will climb higher today to see how our bodies move above base camp.
We arrived at Plaza de Mulas, 14,400ft/4,390m on Friday, Jan 20th.
Our meals are served in a comfortable tent. Juan the camp manager demonstrates how to make Mate de Coca to drink.
Sipping this Andean tea is a national pastime in Argentina and is said to promote acclimatization.
Paule holds a large bag of the Yerba Mate leaves. We all agreed that we would not want Canadian Border Services to find this in our luggage when we return home.
Howard enjoys his Mate.
Just after sipping our Mate in the dining tent, we went to check in with the Plaza de Mulas doctors for our checkup.
It is great to be here in the mountains. Paul and Lisa outside the clinic with “The Horn” or “El Cuerno” behind.
Paule and Linda outside the clinic
Left: Howard just before going inside for his checkup; Right: Winston with “The Horn” behind
BAI staff members Sergio and Maria had done a carry of equipment to Plaza Canada camp before we went to see the doctors on Saturday.
During some of our down time on Saturday Paul picked up a notebook and took it off to do some sketching. We were amazed to see him return with this sketch of The Horn.