South America Is The Place To Be

January 10, 2014

Heading for the barn.

Lots of movement regarding IMG teams and the Southern Hemisphere.Â Greg, Aaron and team returned from their 100% successful Vinson expedition.Â The IL 76 actually came in last night and was able to return the crew to Punta Arenas, Chile early this morning.Â They need some sleep.Â Weâ€™re all working on getting flights changed so the gang can get home.Â Good weather on the east coast would sure help.Â Congratulations, team.Â And, good luck on Everest this spring, Ellen, Paul & Jim.

All calm on the Aconcagua front.Â Josh Tapp and crew are pulling into base camp, Plaza Argentina, even as we speak.Â Hasnâ€™t been much precip on Aconcagua this season and that trend continues.Â Breezy but thatâ€™s not hard to deal with down low.Â Peter Anderson and Peter Adams, working with Leandro Villegas, are about ready for the seasonâ€™s 4^th departure.Â Peter and Peter fly tomorrow morning to Mendoza after last minute prep today.Â And, Mike Hamill will be heading down this weekend with a strong, custom crew going up the Horcones Valley side.Â Josh McDowell and his 100% successful crew return to the States today after their great summit of Aconcagua.

Last, but not least, heard from Luke Reilly and his Ecuador team late last night.Â All have arrived in Quito and are getting in some quick sightseeing in Old Town this morning prior to heading for Otavalo and the famous Saturday market there.

Great to see so many folks getting out and enjoying a new adventure in 2014.

Phil Ershler

Aconcagua Team 3 Gets First Look

January 9, 2014

The first good shot of the mountain.

Josh Tapp and team just finished their second approach day on Aconcagua.Â Fun part about this walk is that the team gets their first full on view of Aconcagua as they approach camp.Â Itâ€™s a pretty exciting time, to look across the Vacas River and then up to see most of the Polish Glacier and the summit.Â Casa Piedre is typically a little windy and it is tonight.Â Longer pull tomorrow into base camp at Plaza Argentina.Â As always, so far, so good.

Phil Ershler

A Ouray Haiku For The Ice Climbing Poets Out There

January 9, 2014

frozen waterfall
my legs burning, toes are numb
climbing in ouray

A Ouray Wonderland (Greg Luethe)

Team 2 Leaves; Team 3 Arrives

January 7, 2014

: Dinner in Mendoza.

: All smiles!

After a long day of packing yesterday in Mendoza, the team had a late dinner at one of the many side walk restaurants in town.Â Got up this morning, paid hotel bills and drove up to Penitentes, at the start of the climb.Â They met Josh McDowellâ€™s team in Penitentes as his group was heading for Mendoza. Â Josh Tapp and crew had an afternoon of preparing mule loads and getting ready to begin their approach to base camp tomorrow.

Phil Ershler

‘Tina’ The Freeloader Summits Aconcagua

January 7, 2014

From: Josh McDowell
Sent: Tuesday, January 07, 2014 1:41 PM
To: Phil Ershler
Subject: Last blog post…the clients liked it.

: Tina the super pup.

: The Team

Hey Phil,

Attached is a photo of our group, at the Horcones Vally entrance of the Aconcagua Provincial Park. In the photo, you will notice there is a dog with us. The dog, who was appropriately named Tina (short for Argentina), appeared out of nowhere, on the second day of our trek to Plaza Argentina.
On the subsequent days of our trip, she followed us from camp to camp, without prompting by anyone.

On the morning of January 5th, she began walking toward the summit of Aconcagua. Along with about thirty people, she reached the summit of the mountain at 1 P.M. She took a much needed nap on the summit, then descended back to camp 3.

The next morning, she followed us to the base camp, at Plaza de Mulas.

Finally, today she made the 18 mile trek out, to the entrance of the park.

Tomas, a local Argentine guide, has decide to adopt Tina, in hopes that she does not have to climb to the summit of the Americas again, in order to find a loving family.

Josh

Southern Hemisphere Checks In

January 6, 2013

We heard from all our teams in the field today.Â Josh McDowell called to say his team is down at Plaza Mulas, base camp on the Horcones side of Aconcagua, eating pizza.Â Plan is to walk out to Penitentes tomorrow and drive back to Mendoza for a late dinner.Â Nice job, gang.

Staying with the Aconcagua theme, Josh Tapp reported all his team has arrived and with all their luggage.Â Shopping is done, packing is done, permit is in hand and they head to Penitentes about noon on Tuesday.Â Again, all good.

Mt. Shinn, Antarctica

Then thereâ€™s Greg Vernovage and our Vinson crew.Â They made the big pull down from high camp and are now ensconced in Vinson base camp.Â Itâ€™s foggy right now but they hope to fly to Union Glacier before long.Â No problem, everyone summited and without a scratch.

Phil Ershler

100% Summit On Vinson

January 5, 2014

The peak in the middle is the summit of Vinson

Good day at the bottom of the world.Â A little cold and a little breezy was the report from Greg and Aaron as they were standing on the summit of Vinson Massif with their entire group.Â 100% on top.Â Always great to hear.

Phil Ershler

100% Summit On Aconcagua

January 5, 2014

Summit cross

Josh called at 9 am Seattle time Sunday morning.Â 100% on top of Aconcagua.Â Shirt sleeve summit day.Â Thatâ€™s about a 1 in 100 occurrence on Aconcagua.Â Great news.

Phil Ershler

Vinson Team In Position At High Camp

January 4, 2014

Old guide heading for the summit

Greg, Aaron and team are at high camp on Vinson Massif.Â They made the move today from Camp 1 and are now melting ice like crazy, rehydrating, eating and prepping for a possible summit attempt in the morning.Â Theyâ€™ll wait until the sun has begun to warm up high camp before setting off.Â Of course, itâ€™s all weather dependent, especially with the winds.Â As of now, it looks like they may have a shot.Â And if not tomorrow, thereâ€™s the next day or the next.Â The trick now is to pick the right shot.Â Keeping our fingers crossed for the weather to cooperate.

Phil Ershler

Aconcagua Team 2 Prepares For Summit Bid

January 4, 2014

Josh, Leandro and team arrived early today at high camp.Â Resting, eating and drinking have been the order of the afternoon.Â Forecast calls for winds to be their lowest tonight and tomorrow morning.Â Itâ€™s time to take a shot at the summit.Â Team feels good and ready.Â Wish them luck.

Phil Ershler