December 30, 2017

Good news from Argentina and the summit of Aconcagua today, Saturday, December 30th. Jonathan Schrock called to let me know that his team had a great climb this morning and reached the summit of Aconcagua. Congratulations for a truly sweet job.

View from the summit of Aconcagua (photo: Jonathan Farnsworth)

They are already well on their way back to high camp. It’s cold but not super windy, and all members are doing well. They will spend the night at high camp and descend to base camp at Plaza Mulas tomorrow, Sunday, the 31st.

Aconcagua Sky (photo: Peter Adams)

Robert Jantzen and team will shortly be back in Mendoza, getting cleaned up and celebrating. New Year’s Eve in Mendoza is on their schedule.

Our third team for the season will be led by Nickel Wood with Rikki Dunn and Martin Lucero. Team arrives Mendoza on the 7th. Stay tuned.

Phil Ershler

December 29th, 2017

Summit Cross

IMG Guides, Robert Jantzen and Leandro Villegas, called in to report their summit of Aconcagua yesterday in pretty much great conditions.  Descent was slow, making for a very long and trying day but, at the end, everyone’s safe and on their way off the mountain.  All guides and members will be back in Mendoza by late evening tomorrow.  Congrats to the team for hanging in and working together during their long descent.  Well done to all.

Jonathan, Nickel and Martin texted just now to let me know they’ve made their move to high camp.  Time to pack, eat, hydrate and rest.  Summit day on Aconcagua is TOUGH.  There is nothing easy about this climb.  Priorities are always the same – safety, success and enjoyment – and in that order.  This team has done quite well so far and we’re hoping everyone stays healthy and can handle that long summit day with the extremes of the altitude.  Team has positioned themselves to take a summit shot tomorrow before the forecasted increase in winds occurs.  Forecasts are only ‘forecasts’ but worth taking a shot now.

Phil Ershler

December 27th, 2017

Aconcagua through the Clouds

Heard again from both IMG teams on Aconcagua today.  Robert, Leandro and crew moved up to high camp today.  Team is strong, weather forecast is optimistic and their plan is to take a summit shot tomorrow morning.  Wish them luck.

Jonathan, Nickel and Martin moved into C2 today.  May be time for them to take a day off tomorrow.  Team is doing very well and they’re looking ahead now 3-5 days to pick a possible summit date.

Again, happy to report that all members of both teams are doing well and spirits are high.  Aconcagua is a very big mountain but so far, so good.

Phil Ershler

December 26, 2017

Steady progress seems to be the mantra for both our Aconcagua teams over the Christmas holiday.

Robert called in Monday. They’ve moved to C2 and everyone’s doing well. Forecast for the 28th is quite favorable, so the plan is to move up to C3 tomorrow and see if they can’t take advantage of a little porter assistance, a good forecast and the fact that everyone continues to perform well and take a shot, possibly on the 28th. Sounds like a good plan for this crew.

Near C1 on the Polish Glacier route (Phil Ershler)

Jonathan, over on the Polish side of the mountain, checked in Monday also, after having made a carry to C2. They’ll spend another night at C1 and will likely take advantage of the continued good weather and the strength of the team and move up to C2 tomorrow.

Our two IMG teams won’t likely be shaking hands on the summit but close. Bottom line is that this holiday season on Aconcagua has been good to both our teams, and we can definitely be thankful for that.

Phil Ershler

December 22nd, 2017

Big Country

News from Aconcagua continues to be good.  Weather for the approach has been warm and dry.  Jonathan’s team should arrive at Plaza Argentina today, which is base camp on the Polish Glacier side and Robert’s team is making their carry to C1 on the Horcones Valley side.  Kind of interesting to have groups approaching the mountain from the two sides at the same time.  Everyone seems to be strong and healthy and that’s about as much as we could hope for right now.  Jonathan’s crew will take a day off tomorrow at base camp and Robert’s crew will likely move up to C1.

The teams seem to be in a pretty favorable weather pattern right now.  Forecasts don’t call for any precipitation currently through the end of the month.  We’ll take it.

Phil Ershler