Since they are 5 hours ahead of us (Pacific Time), Scott & Aaron have already welcomed in the new year and have nodded off to sleep some time ago. They are staying in a hostel in Mendoza, where they celebrated an Argentinian-style BBQ with their fellow travelers.
I'm happy to report that they made it safely to Argentina, as did all of their luggage, and they successfully obtained their climbing permits, so they are ready to roll. They also did all their shopping (food and fuel for the stoves) this afternoon.
Tomorrow morning at 11am, they leave for Los Penitentes as planned. It will be a 3-4 hour journey and they will spend the night there on Saturday night.
Happy New Year!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
2011 Aconcagua Expedition is officially underway!
Scott has reunited with his friend and climbing partner, Aaron Saari, to make another attempt on Mt. Aconcagua over the next couple weeks. Aaron and Scott summited Denali (Mt. McKinley), the highest point in North America, together back in 2007 on May 16, which is also Aaron's birthday. [You can read more about that expedition in the Blog Archive and more info about Aaron in the May 16, 2007 posts.]
They have a LONG travel day ahead of them today. After leaving PDX at 8:30am, they have a couple stops in the U.S. (Texas, Florida) before they land tomorrow morning in Santiago, Chile and then finally in Mendoza, Argentina at 10:30am on New Year's Eve day. Whew!
The first hurdle will be to make sure all the bags containing critical climbing gear made it safely, and the second will be to make it to the Visitor's Center in Mendoza in time to acquire their climbing permit in person for Mt. Aconcagua! (It seems not everything can be done online! The office closes early for New Year's Eve, so it's important that their flight arrives on time so the guys can get there before they close up shop.)
Scott has rented a satellite phone, and he plans to call at least every other day with a brief update. So stay tuned and hope for safe and timely travels for both the guys and their gear!
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