Aconcagua Expedition Dispatch

January 13, 2016 – Mathes and Woodie Say Goodbye to the Team

Good morning from Plaza de Mulas on the 13th of January. Few clouds this morning, it is cold here, I got cold last night. But believe me; we got great conditions to move up. We’ve got a big climb in front of us. We had an eventful morning so far today. I told Woodie a couple of days ago, as team leader, that I didn’t want him to go any higher.

Woodie Vaughan and I have climbed around the world together for more than 15 years now. I feel that this mountain, on this particular trip for Woodie Vaughan at age 74 is too much. He took it with grace as he always did and after our trip to Camp I even though from the photos, Mathes did great.

I made a decision as team leader; I wanted her not to continue this climb this year now. Mathes has been around the world on mountains with me as well. Woodie basically when she was born that we started skimming about how she might travel the mountains with us someday. Age 10 she went to Everest Base Camp and climbed over 18,000ft. Two years ago she was what we called the Gazelle, with those long legs striding forward, she climbed all the way to the summit of Mount Ararat in Turkey.

Mathes has a big future in the mountains, as well as a big future ahead of her in all kind of areas. She is a remarkable young woman. I know that at the Lovett School back home, she’s been working while she was gone; she is going to get rolling with things soon when she is back home. She’s got a life before her and thanks to Woodie and I, I think the mountains will always be a big part of that. Aconcagua is not going away and this young woman’s aptitude and love for the mountains will only grow stronger I know.

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Now here on the mountain, Chris, Danny, Jason, Scott and Mac along with our Bolivian team and myself are going to move up and sleep at Camp I tonight.

We are all starting very early because we’ve got a long sun in the early evening hours. Mario, Javier, Sergio, Efrain, and Osvaldo will be working not only to help us carry our loads up but also to get camp in place at 16,000ft at Plaza Canada. I will try to give you a satellite dispatch from up there when we are in place.

It was an emotional party today as two members of our team left, lots of tears here; at high altitude at Plaza de Mulas but the team is doing great, heading in two directions now. But the spirit of this team, we will have Woodie and Mathes with us all the way to the summit I hope. We will be thinking of them, a lot of love the whole time and I know they will be thinking of us.

Here we go, we are going to move up to Camp I tonight and we will get a report when we get there.

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Well, I am calling you from Camp I, Plaza Canada above 16,000ft. There is a beautiful sunset about to happen here, still warm with the sun striking at this high altitude.

Chris, Danny, Mac, Jason and Scott and our Bolivian staff arrived up here mid-afternoon no problem, our second carry up here. Maria cooked one of her fantastic mountain meals; Chris remembers well what a great cook on the mountain Maria is.

The weather looks great folks. We are really optimistic now that we’ve reached our first camp above Plaza de Mulas. Of course it was a very emotional situation saying goodbye to Woodie and Mathes today but I got the good news talking with the Berg Adventures office, they were at the Hyatt Hotel and checked in before I even made all the way to camp I today. Really happy for them, their accomplishments on the mountain, we missed them but here we go, the team is going try to continue.

I am really proud of this group. We now spent a total of eight days with our acclimatization, two days about 9,000ft, tow days at 11,000ft and four nights at Plaza de Mulas over 14,000ft; that's how the body adapts, sleeping and taking the time as your body adapts at higher altitude. We've got the biggest mountain on the western hemisphere, biggest mountain on the southern hemisphere, and the highest mountain in the world outside the Himalayans. Big challenge, but we've got a team that is up for and I am really happy to be up here with these guys tonight. It is a beautiful evening in the Andes.

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