August 14, 2014
A beautiful view of Huayna Potosi. (Greg Vernovage)
Luke Reilly just checked in from Tambo Condoriri. This is the teams first camp as they start moving closer to the mountains. After the typical dirt road drive towards Pequeno Alpamayo Base Camp, the team had a good acclimatization hike today and are relaxing before a home cooked meal. The Team is doing great and the plan is to pack up and move into Condoriri Base Camp tomorrow. Tonight, they will enjoy their first night in the tents at about 14,000 feet. They won’t be alone though, the llamas will bed down all around them and help carry their gear tomorrow. This camp is great, Huayna Potosi’s West Face is great to look at. It is a big mountain and will give the team a little incentive to be acclimatized and train on Pegueno Alpamayo. As the team sits around the dinner table, sharing some laughs, someone will take a deep breath and say finally, we are going to get ready to go climb now. They have done a good job of taking things slow at the beginning of the trip and staying strong!
Tomorrow is Base Camp and organizing their harnesses and climbing gear!
Greg Vernovage