Aconcagua Expedition Dispatch

January 15, 2017 – “Cozy” High Camp, Summit Attempt Tomorrow

It was windy and cold last night at Nido de Condor, Camp II.

It is hard to describe how challenging that it is in such conditions at high altitude, but the team is doing great and, as luck would have it, today when they climbed to “Berlin Camp” (elevation 6,000m/19,600ft) the wind had died down and weather was beautiful – “Awesome”, as Osvaldo reported to us when he called in via sat phone this afternoon.

The team is hunkered down in their North Face tents now. Maria has a kitchen set up in the larger, trusty North Face VE 45, an old classic that has served well on numerous Berg Adventures summit attempts over the years. Climbers are in the smaller tents.

Wake up call is 3:00 AM – Maria will have hot drinks and breakfast ready. The plan is for the team to begin climbing at 4:00 AM.

Inner boots are warm in the climber’s sleeping bags. “Calm” winds at Berlin Camp on Aconcagua still mean that the tent nylon is flapping loudly and you can feel the power of the mountain outside. The sky should be clear with stars overhead when the team starts out tomorrow.

Osvi will have the sat phone batteries warm and will call us with news – hopefully from the summit of Aconcagua.