Aconcagua Expedition Dispatch

January 15, 2015 – The Condor’s Nest

It’s Thursday January 15th and I am calling you from Nido de Condors, the Condor’s Nest. We are at 18,300 feet.

The climbing team on the mountain now is Leah, Chuck, Doug and Gord.

Now yesterday I mentioned about the heart monitors. Of all the years Rob Macdonald has been climbing with me I knew that a few years back he could do almost nothing physically. He had to keep his heart rate below 100. He knows his symptoms and he knows what he can do really well. He climbed Kilimanjaro. He climbed Elbrus with me. This was a test and on the trip to Nido de Condor yesterday we discovered that Rob’s pain was there and that he was pushing it too hard and his heart rate was as high as it could go, too low on the mountain.

At the same time, Elaine’s knee braces were doing some good but she’s been having difficulty in the lower part of the mountain descending. It’s not in the cards that she would be able to come down all the way from the summit of Aconcagua.

So we called a helicopter. In fact today it went very smoothly. That bright yellow helicopter came into Plaza de Mulas. When I woke up the entire valley was chocked in clouds. When I looked down upon the clouds I could not see Plaza de Mulas and I thought well, maybe those guys are going to sit here for another day. But they did get out and Mariela had a driver there waiting for them and their trip back to Mendoza went well and we will see them again after we get off the mountain.

The team came up here in only about 3 hours and 20 minutes, carrying their full loads. Of course the Bolivians are carrying most of everything.

Listen to Wally's call