January 22nd, 2018
-
- Heading for the Barn (Peter Bilodeau)
-
- Plaza Mulas (Peter Bilodeau)
Nickel, Rikki, Martin and crew are at Plaza Mulas, base camp on the Horcones Valley side of Aconcagua. The summit and traverse are complete and they are down. Living is large at this lower altitude with Grajales Expeditions, our service provider on Aconcagua (and long term friends) are doing all the cooking. Life is good.
They’ll do some serious gear sorting and readying loads for the mules. Tomorrow is the walk out to the road with light packs. Another ‘gear shuffle’ in Penitentes and then the ride back to Mendoza. It’ll be a long one tomorrow but no one cares. These horses are heading for the barn.
We’ll call it a wrap for this expedition. A safe, successful and fun expedition. Everyone did their part and gave it all they had. By any measure, that’s success.
Team 4 finalizes prep in Seattle this week and then meets up in Mendoza this weekend. Luke Reilly, fresh from a successful Vinson expedition, Jay Lyons and Leandro Villegas will be meeting their team of IMG climbers in Mendoza.
One more time – congratulations to all the climbers and guides on this trip. Just another great job.
Phil Ershler