February 11, 2010
It’s always nice to hear from our teams in the field when there’s good news to report. Mike Hamill called in this afternoon (our time), just prior the team’s dinner (their time). Camp 2 is in, everyone’s there and weather is still holding. One camp remains and then it’s time to take a stab at the summit. This is when things start getting tough. Aconcagua is a VERY big mountain. It tends to wear people out. Heads, stomachs, lungs and legs have taken a lot of abuse already and there’s more to come. Such is the nature of high altitude mountaineering. Camp 2 is high, pushing 18,000 ft. Getting there is an achievement in itself. Each member is trying to do their share for the team and part of that means taking care of themselves. You have to work at drinking, eating and generally doing all those things which allow you to get up the next morning and keep climbing.
Mike also reports that the weather is still holding. It can’t last forever, but it doesn’t have to. It just needs to last long enough. That’s the big variable which is hard to control. So, you work hard to put yourself in position to take advantage of any good luck the mountain gives you. It’s the old idea of opportunity meeting preparedness.
We’ll hear next when the team hits high camp. It’s almost crunch time.
Phil Ershler