Jan 31, 2025
Perfect place for recovery and acclimatization – camp 2! (T Nachand)
After a well-earned rest today, the team plans to carry gear up to Camp 3 tomorrow (19,587′) before returning to Camp 2 for the night.
January 30th, 2025
Tyler’s team has settled into Camp 2 after climbing from Camp 1 this morning. The team plans to take a rest day at Camp 2 tomorrow to prepare for the climb ahead!
January 29th, 2025
Tyler and the team carried to Camp 2 and are back at Camp 1 resting. The team is tired, but spirits are high as they relax at Camp 1 in the relatively warm temperatures. The team will climb to Camp 2 tomorrow as they continue to acclimatize. All is well in Argentina!
January 27th, 20
The IMG team descends back to Plaza Argentina after a successful carry to Camp 1 (Tyler Nachand)
The IMG team ascends to Camp 1 (Tyler Nachand)
The team carried to Camp 1 today and is back at Plaza Argentina. They will climb to Camp 1 again tomorrow and spend their first night on the upper mountain. All is well in Argentina!
January 26, 2025
The gang reached Plaza Argentina yesterday, they’re resting today to prepare for their carry to camp one tomorrow, all is well!
January 23, 2025
The gang hit the trail this morning and reached Pampa de Leñas in good fashioned under clear skies. They head to Casa de Piedras tomorrow, and base camp the following day.
January 22, 2025
Team dinner at Fuente y Fonda (T Nachland)
And we are off, let the adventure begin. (T Nachand)
Aconcagua Team 2, led by Tyler Nachand, departed from Mendoza today. The expedition is officially underway as they drive to Las Cuevas for the night, and hit the trail tomorrow!
January 21st, 2025
The team climbing to High Camp, with Mt. Shinn in the background. (Benny Lieber)
Mt. Vinson is an enigmatic mountain in perhaps the most far-off corner of the globe that a mountaineer can dream of. It’s allure has driven many a IMG team to travel far-and-wide to climb its inspiring, remote slopes, hoping to return with incredible stories, jaw-dropping photographs, and a few new summiteers. This year, Vinson delivered as it always has for IMG, ever since we started running expeditions to the “Big Ice” in 1988.
Making the most of the weather delays at UG, fat biking on the 10k groomed loop. (Max Bond)
The start of the expedition was a rocky one, with weather delays holding us back in Punta Arenas, and then again in Union Glacier as we awaited a Twin-Otter flight to Vinson Base Camp.
Fog lifting and sky clearing.
Finally seeing the mountain and moving up to Low Camp. (Max Bond)
Team moving up to High Camp.
Approaching the summit.
This was a great lesson in patience for our entire team, and the lesson paid off. The second-half of the expedition could not have gone more smoothly; our team seemed to move up the mountain with ease, gifted with excellent weather and a strong group of climbers. With 100% to the summit, we were back in VBC only 6 days after leaving.
The team on top of Mt Vinson 16,050 feet (4,892 meters). (Max Bond)
Summit success, strong team, strong energy, strong leadership. All come together for a stellar Summit Day!
January 8th, 2025 Summit success on top of Antarctica’s Mt. Vinson! (Max Bond)
The team raises a glass to the successful expedition (Max Bond)I want to thank and congratulate the awesome team we had on Vinson this year. Vinson Massif only sees ~100-200 attempts per year, with only ~1,200 summits since it was first climbed in 1966. That means our group is joining an elite club of international climbers. Congratulations, everyone, on the amazing achievement!
I also want to thank our outstanding team back in the states: Becky, for the expedition wouldn’t even leave IMG HQ without you; Porter McMichael and Justin Merle for contributing their invaluable knowledge and hard work setting up caches along the mountain in years past; and Eric Simonson for his excellent leadership and mentorship. We couldn’t do it without the whole team on board!!
January 20th, 2025
The west face of Aconcagua at sunset (Stu Johnson)
Round 2
Day one of the Aconcagua Expedition is underway! The team is set to arrive today in Mendoza Argentina, where they will meet Senior Guide Tyler Nachand at the Diplomatic Hotel for gear checks and introductions. They will spend two nights in Mendoza finalizing preparations, exploring the city, and checking in with the National Park to obtain permits.
Follow along as Tyler keeps us updated on the team’s progress!
January 15th, 2025
IMG team at the summit of Aconcagua (Stu Johnson)
IMG’s first Aconcagua program just wrapped up. Led by Stu Johnson and Tincho Lucero, the team had a successful trip, reaching the summit despite snowy conditions. Stu shared his experience guiding the trip with the following summary:
The feeling of climbing into the sky is difficult to describe, but it is one our team felt as we climbed through different layers of clouds to just under 23,000 feet and the summit of the tallest peak outside of Asia – Aconcagua in the Argentinian Andes.
After 11 days of the expedition, we could climb no higher. We began at Puntas de Vacas, where a shipping container houses the park ranger station. The setting is dusty, yellow, beige, with bursts of green from the sharp clumps of the spiked Yareta plant. We followed the Vacas Valley for three days, slowly acclimatizing and working our way towards the base camp – Plaza Argentina. The mules and yellow-capped Sierra finches are constant companions at the lower elevations. At night, we dine in geodesic dome tents; Argentinian barbecue fuels us as the air gets thinner. We walk from the domes to our tents under a vivid night sky.
Once at Plaza Argentina, we rest, continue to eat to our hearts’ (and stomachs’) content, and give our bodies time to adapt to 14,000 feet. The jagged, dark peaks rip the sky open around us, and the Polish Glacier is poised imposingly on the skyline that leads to the summit massif.
We began our sequence of gear carries and camp moves: strategically covering ground, giving it up, only to ascend again the following day. Following the sage advice of climb high, sleep low, we made our way ever upwards. The weather remained agreeable until Camp 2 (Guanacos Camp), with piercing blue skies and the kind of wind that cools you off when you need it. On our rest day at Camp 2, wisps of clouds began to grow around the summit – condensing quickly into dark airships that blocked out the sun. Shortly after, they let loose their artillery on our little camp, and the snow began to accumulate around our tents.
Tincho and I studied the weather and saw a break in the week-long high-pressure system – a day when the skies were open, the winds gentle, and the temperatures moderate. Our team was strong, and the route was snow-covered, which made for slightly quicker movement over a firm and predictable surface. With that information in hand, we moved to Camp Colera at 19,600 feet on the afternoon of the 9th.
We woke up to dazzling stars and the Milky Way painted across the night sky. By 5:30am we were moving up, and after 10 hours and 45 minutes of hard work and determination, we stood on top. We were in the clouds. Pockets of sun broke through, the clouds ebbed and flowed around us, breathing us in and condensing on our skin. We snapped our photos and let gravity assist us down.
Back at camp, we disappeared into our down sleeping bags, ate some ramen, and slept well. The following morning, we broke camp, descended over 5000 feet in just over two and a half hours, and were back in the relatively nutritious air of 14,500 feet, this time on the other side of the mountain at the base camp Plaza de Mulas. The next morning, we cruised downhill for 16 miles and were back at the road, completing an up-and-over of the mighty Aconcagua. An expedition worth experiencing by all!
