February 6th, 2018

Dinner in Mendoza (Eric Remza)

Time to introduce our fifth and final Aconcagua expedition team for the season.  Eric Remza, IMG Senior Guide, is at the helm.  He is joined from the US by Anna Hicks, and from Argentina, Leandro Villegas.  The entire team arrived in Mendoza on Sunday with minimal issues.  Only one or two delayed bags.

Final food shopping is complete, permits are in hand and the team is heading today to Penitentes.  Gear gets divided there into ‘mules loads’ and the team begins their three day approach to base camp on Wednesday.  Wish them luck.

Phil Ershler

February 5, 2018

Route Above Camp 1 (Peter Bilodeau)

Just a quick update from Luke and team on Aconcagua.  A little precip the last few days but nothing bad.  Certainly not enough to prevent them from making their carry to C1 and making the move today to C1, which is where they are spending the night.  Forecasts call for the precip to pretty much end tomorrow morning and stay dry for the next few days.  They’ll take advantage of that as they can but plan, currently, on making a carry to C2 tomorrow.

All is well on Aconcagua.

Phil Ershler

February 2, 2018

Last Stretch into Base Camp (Nickel Wood)

Two more days of hiking are under their belts which means the team has reached base camp, Plaza Argentina (13,600’).  Weather has been nice and quite warm on the mountain.  Luke, Jay, Martin and team say good-bye to the mules here and they become ‘the mules’ above base camp.  Three progressively higher camps will now be established.  One step at a time will get the job done.

Tomorrow’s a rest day at base camp.  Team also needs a little time to get gear organized for the mountain above.  Nothing gets carried up that the team isn’t pretty sure won’t be needed.  That’s OK as this is what they’ve been planning for, training for.

So far, so good on Aconcagua.

Phil Ershler

January 31, 2018

As Clean as They’re Going to Look (Luke Reilly)

Luke, Jay, Martin and team started walking today.  Pampas Lenas by this evening.  The 3 day approach to base is pretty much perfect from an acclimatization standpoint.  Mules carry all the gear so each member has basically a day pack to carry at this stage of the trip.  Packs get heavier above base camp.  Terrain is not super steep and the elevation gain is gradual.  Just what’s needed to work out the kinks and starting making more red blood cells.

Phil Ershler

January 30, 2018

Dinner in Mendoza (Luke Reilly)

The team left Mendoza this morning, heading to Penitentes.  It’s a 3-4 hr drive to where the trail begins.  They’ll make final gear decisions and sort loads for the mules.  Then it’s one more sit down dinner and a final night (for a while) in a bed.  The walking starts tomorrow morning.

Phil Ershler