February 12, 2018
Aconcagua Summit Cross (Nickel Wood)
Weather has been our friend this season. Luke Reilly just called from the summit of Aconcagua. Essentially no wind on top. Crew will descend to high camp shortly for the night. Tomorrow’s goal is Plaza Mulas, base camp on the Horcones Valley side of the mountain. The team has to climb just a bit from high camp and then it’s a straight shot down to Mulas. The mountain boots come off there and the approach shoes go back on for the final day out to the road and Mendoza. Team should arrive Mendoza later on Wednesday. A BIG congratulations to everyone. What a great accomplishment!
Final team for the season is working their way through the camps now. Eric Remza and crew are making their move today to C1. That’s around 16,000’. Carry and a move, carry and a move and that will get them to high camp. Forecast is still favorable so they should be able to make good progress. Regardless of the weather, they’ll still need time to acclimate and the plan for a carry and a move to each camp is what makes that possible. You throw in a rest day, if needed, and weather days, if required, and you eventually arrive at high camp. We’ll keep tabs on their progress as Luke and his crew will be off the mountain and into Mendoza before we know it.
Good news today.
Phil Ershler