Aconcagua 4th January 2020

Aconcagua 4th January

Leader: Iain Bisset

21st January

The team rached base camp at Plaza Del Mulas last night and are trekking out to the road head today.

20th January

Summit success! The team set out for the summit early on sunday morning, with most of them making it to the top. Everyone is now safe and well at Camp Colera, and will be descending to base camp later today. Photos coming soon.

17th January

Iain just called in to say that the team are all in really good shape.

Yesterday they moved up from Camp 1 to Guanacos in a speedy 3 hours, singing “is this the way to amarillo” and a their version of the Beatles’ Let it Be (“lots of scree, lots of scree,lots of scree,lots of scree) the whole way.

Today they are having a rest day, and thier plan going forward is to move up to Colera tomorrow, ready for a summit attempt on Sunday

The team have all asked to pass on their hellos to all the people back home.

13th January

Team is ready (but reluctant) to leave the luxury of Base Camp and make the trek up to Camp 1. The team spent Sunday comparing weight of liner socks, trying to finish books and  cutting toothbrushes in half. We were treated to a fantastic final meal by the basecamp team and the team have a sense of nervous anticipation about Iain and Chico’s cooking. Unfortunately the normally good connection at base camp was overloaded so contact wasn’t as much as some people had promised. The team sends their greetings to their loved ones!

10th January

Team spirit is really good, we’ve been laughing all the way up to Base Camp. Windy weather and light rain didn’t dampen the spirits as we were treated to a BBQ by our mule drivers and also a fine pasta dish by Iain and Chicho. We arrived in good time as one group to base camp greeted by hugs, fruit and endless cups of tea. Today it is off for the medical check up and preparing the food bags for tomorrow’s carry to camp one. But mostly we are resting with tea and swapping stories of mountain trips.

6th January

The team arrived last night and we went straight out to a nice steak restaurant for dinner. Today they had a relaxed morning finishing the shopping for the food they will need on the mountain, then a coffee before driving up to Penitentes. Tomorrow they will start their trek in to base camp (with the appropriate sense of derring-do).