Busy in South America

December 27, 2018

Camp 2 on Aconcagua (Luke Reilly)

Andy and his team woke up to strong winds this morning and the tents were rattling all night.Â This custom private trip did a heck of a job on the mountain this year and decided to play it conservative and head down to Plaza de Mulas this morning.Â This group had a great journey, stuck together as a team and enjoyed their trip regardless of the wide range of age and experience.Â They’ll be in basecamp shortly enjoying some pizza and maybe a hot shower.

Down at Camp 2, Jonathan and his team are in a bit of a holding pattern.Â It appears that the winds will begin to tapper in a couple of days and they’ll put together a strategic plan of when to move to Camp 3 and make their summit push from there.Â Their carry and cache today went well to Camp 3 and everything is in position.Â Everyone is healthy and will benefit from the extra days of acclimatization at camp.

Ilyushin IL-76 at Union Glacier (Luke Reilly)

In a different part of the continent, Senior Guide Austin Shannon has arrived in Punta Arenas, Chile to kick off the 2018/19 Mount Vinson expeditions in Antarctica.Â He’s busy packing away and doing a little food shopping.Â His group will be showing up this afternoon and they will be busy with gear checks and final preparations for the flight to Union Glacier on the Ilyushin IL-76.

Luke Reilly

Aconcagua Teams High on the Mountain

December 26, 2018

Camp 3 on Aconcagua (Luke Reilly)

Aconcagua teams are getting into position for summit day.Â Andy and his team made the move up to Camp 3 today and are in position to make an attempt at the summit tomorrow.Â The plan is to take a shot in the morning.Â We will be wishing them lots of luck with health and weather in the morning.

Down at Camp 2, Jonathan and his team are keeping an eye on the weather and looking for the right day to tag the top.Â Jonathan reported that it was sunny with a light breeze at camp today.Â They will be looking for a window in the weather to make a carry to Camp 3 and then move up to get their shot at the summit.

Stay tuned for news from Andy’s climb tomorrow!

Luke Reilly

Kilimanjaro Team up to Barranco Camp

December 26, 2018

Looking at Kilimanjaro from Barranco Camp (Eric Simonson)

IMG Guide, Phunuru Sherpa checked in from Barranco Camp (13,000 ft) on Kilimanjaro overnight. The team had a great day of trekking and are now ready to climb the Barranco Wall in the morning.Â The team trekked up to the Lava Towers (15,000 ft) before dropping down to camp. This is a great day for acclimatization for the team.

Greg Vernovage

The air gets thicker in Pheriche

December 26, 2018

: December Trekking Team at EBC (Sonam Dorje Sherpa)

Our December EBC Trekking Team had another great day on the trail today. The Team departed Gorakshep after breakfast taking the trail uphill for a few minutes which gets the blood moving in their legs. With the Khumbu Glacier on their left, the team winds their way to the hill before Lobuche Village. Once down the hill, the trail opens up and the team is free to move through Lobuche Village and down valley to Pheriche. The oxygen is a bit thicker down in Pheriche and the team will sleep great tonight, having climbed Kala Patthar and visited Everest Base Camp. Tomorrow, the team will head down to Phortse.

: Looking up valley from Pheriche with Cholatse (left) and Lobuche (right) (Sonam Dorje Sherpa)

: Descending from Gorakshep to Pheriche with Ama Dablam (Sonam Dorje Sherpa)

All is well in the Khumbu Valley!

Greg Vernovage

Everest Base Camp on Christmas

December 25, 2018

EBC from the lookout (Greg Vernovage)

Sonam Dorje Sherpa checked in from EBC this morning to let us know the Team is having a beautiful day. They were up early and took a very leisurely trek to EBC from Gorakshep. Today is a nice day of trekking with very little vertical gain but can be challenging with the trail and rock hoping as they get closer to EBC. Our Sherpa Team planned a slow and conservative trek today to allow everyone enough time to make it to EBC and feel good getting there! 100% of the team made it to EBC and the Sherpa Guides packed a nice lunch and some hot drinks so everyone could eat and drink along the way.

December Trek resting on the Khumbu Glacier at EBC (Sonam Dorje Sherpa)

The Team is now back to Gorakshep and will rest the remainder of the day before heading down valley to Pheriche in the morning.Â Congratulations to our December Trekking Team on making it to EBC and bringing great weather with them!

All is well and Happy Holidays from the KhumbuÂ Valley!

Greg Vernovage

The Holiday Kili team reach Shira Camp

December 25, 2018

Team at Machame Camp (Phunuru Sherpa)

Phunuru got 3G reception today from Shira Camp (12,500 feet) and was able to send out some photos. He reports the team had another very nice day for the weather, and that everyone are all doing well. Today’s climb took them out of the montane forest zone into the heath and moorlands. These parts of Kilimanjaro are characterized by lots of “weird plants” like giant heather bushes, groundsel and lobelia.Â Tomorrow, as they climb above Shira the terrain will become more and more alpine desert. As the local Chagga say, Poli Poli (which means slow and steady).Â Happy Holidays!

: On the way to Shira Camp (Phunuru Sherpa)

: Shira Camp (Phunuru Sherpa)

: Machame Camp (Phunuru Sherpa)

Eric Simonson

Carry Day on Aconcagua

December 24, 2018

Ready to climb (Jonathan Schrock)

Jonathan fired off this photo right before the team saddled their backpacks and headed to Camp 1.Â Everyone is acclimatizing well and they are ready for the move up to about 16,000 feet.Â They made good time up to camp and are settled in for the night.Â Up higher at Camp 2 Andy and crew are doing well.Â Â Both teams are planning on doing carries tomorrow; Jonathan will be caching gear at Camp 2 and Andy at Camp 3.Â There is a little snow flurry predicted in the forecast tonight, so there is hope for a white holiday tomorrow when everyone wakes up, but probably just enough to make things pretty and not be an issue to trudge through.

Luke Reilly

Holiday Kilimanjaro Trip on the way!

December 24, 2018

Kili on Christmas (Phunuru Sherpa)

Itâ€™s always a big relief to finally start walking, after all the travel. Today was a good day for the Kilimanjaro team. Phunuru checked in from Machame Camp (about 10,000 feet) Â to report that they were all doing well. The weather was nice today for their hike up through the forest. Now they are right at timberline, and will break out into more open scrub land tomorrow as they continue their ascent up to the Shira Plateau.

Merry Christmas to all!

Eric Simonson

Kala patthar summits!

December 24, 2018

December Trek Team on the summit of Kala Patthar (Sonam Dorje Sherpa)

The December EBC Trekking Team had a cool and crisp morning to climbÂ Kala Patthar (18,519 ft). The team was on the trail for the summit of Kala Patthar before the sun hit Gorakshep allowing for beautiful photos of the mountains. Another perfect day of weather for the team accompanied the team, giving them great views of Mount Everest and all of the surrounding mountains. Great job Team!

: Gorkashep in December (Sonam Dorje Sherpa)

: Ang Tseri Sherpa Jumping with Everest in background (Sonam Dorje Sherpa)

Tomorrow is Christmas Day and what better present than to visit Everest Base Camp. It is quiet in the Khumbu Valley this time of year and our trekking team has enjoyed very little traffic on the trail.

Greg Vernovage

Fresh Photos from Aconcagua

December 23, 2018

: The approach to Basecamp (Jonathan Schrock)

: The boys at Basecamp (Jonathan Schrock)

: Making a carry to Camp 1 (Jonathan Schrock)

Jonathan was able to jump on the internet this afternoon and shoot us some great pictures from the trip so far.Â They made a carry up to C1 today and are in position to move up tomorrow.Â As you can see from the photos, things look nice, but Jonathan wrote me an update and said “..weather was perfect for most of the day, warm, light breeze and sunny.”Â Jonathan’s team gave Andy and his crew high fives after they made their C1 cache and headed back down to BC.

Andy and his crew are hanging at C1 tonight after their carry to C2 today.Â Things are looking a little breezy in the forecast but let’s see what things do tomorrow.Â They will either make the move to C2 or hang tight at C1 and welcome Jonathan and his crew.

Luke Reilly