February 9th, 2025

Looking good team! (T Nachand)

After 18 days at altitude, our group of climbers progressed through a myriad of terrain, conditions and aspects of the mighty Cerro Aconcagua along the 360 route. We quickly became a tight-knit crew through sharing bottles of Malbec, go to trail snacks, delicious meals, histories of our lives and blister care tips all the while acclimating and enjoying the stunning views of the Vacas Valley approach to Plaza Argentina BC. We were treated like family at each Grajales camp and soon we were surrounded by climbers from every corner of the globe. After a bit of R&R at BC, we began inching our way up the mountain where at C2 Guanacos we ultimately waited out a high wind storm system that stuck around for a couple days. Luckily Leo is an expert in high altitude cooking so we kept the team well fed while waiting for our weather window.

With forecasts improving, we moved to C3 Cholera for our final push. The weather conditions were on our side and we had a low-wind and even warm at times summit day filled with highs, lows, early morning alpenglow, breathtaking views and a level of camaraderie that is difficult to find outside of the mountain arena. After soaking in the thin air along the summit and congratulating one another with a strong embrace and tears of joy or from the wind whipping our faces, we began our steep descent back towards C3. Fatigued but with an immense feeling of satisfaction we crawled into our tents for one final night of restless slumber at altitude.

The following morning we made our way down to Plaza de Mulas BC giving our knees a beating while descending over 6,000ft. Celebrations ensued with the other teams making their way into camp and the amount of joy was vibrant. Opting for an express but gorgeous exit to the valley, the team flew out via Heli before catching our transfer back to Mendoza. Now as we head off towards our homes and families, our soreness begins to subside, and memories of endless scree slopes fade, let’s take a moment to reminisce on the strength and determination that the mountains demanded of us. I feel truly blessed to have shared this experience with our team and I look forward to the next adventurous objective. Cheers! (Tyler Nachand)