Aconcagua Expedition Dispatch

January 26, 2014 – Preparations for Summit Day

We woke up the morning of the 25th at Nido de Condors and it was cold. We found out when we checked later that it had been -25°C overnight, our second night at 5,580m (18,300ft). The sun came early though and our weather was very good. As we were looking at everyone getting ready for breakfast we realized that Martial had not had a good night, his pulse oxygen saturation was at 48% and it was clear he was developing or had developed pulmonary edema and it was time to get him down.

We got everything organized, went over and reported to the rescue service, the decision was made to bring a helicopter. So the first part of our morning was spent talking to everyone involved through the communication chain to get him airlifted down, first to Plaza de Mulas, where Veronica checked him again. Remarkably by this time his pulse oxygen saturation levels had already gone back up to 80%. When you have a life-threatening altitude related illness descent is always the therapy you need and it virtually always works. It did in this case.

We then flew Martial down to the clinic that Doc Martin knows well at the Harcones base where he was picked back up and taken to the Hyatt hotel. Last night Deirdre talked to him after he had checked in and were told we would check with him again today. We will follow up with the doctors to see what the effect of the illness was but he is fine.

Now back on the mountain. The rest of the team remains: Martial’s wife Marie-Jo, Margaret, Rafael, Simon, myself and the four Bolivians Osvaldo, Alex, Sergio and Maria who will be staying here at our high camp in support. All of us are getting ready to start our ascent of Aconcagua and we are feeling sure we picked the right date. Not a breath of wind here at 5,960m (19,550ft). The best weather I have ever seen at Berlin, our high camp. So we have had our breakfasts and we are all suited up. Our crampons are in our packs but we do have our climbing harness on and we are going to set out for the summit of Aconcagua.

We were dreaming of the Hyatt hotel but now what a wondrous night! We have clear skies overhead a quarter moon. We know our reward is coming a couple of days down the line back in Mendoza. But for now our dreams are coming true, we are climbing to the highest point in the continental South America and in the western hemisphere. We are quite sure there is no one higher than us on earth, if you think about it; there is no one higher then 6,000m in the Himalaya this season. We are literally the highest people in the world probably as we climb towards the summit of Aconcagua.

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