From Sean: Although the winds are still high, 3 of us (Ant, Nico and I) are giving it another shot.  On our way to the high camp (Colera) at 5870m and will attempt the summit tomorrow morning.  

Pics courtesy Ac 2010 group

A snow storm and howling winds forced the group to turn back just a few hours after leaving the high camp. Sean said the weather was too volatile to continue safely to the summit.

They are all on their way down to base camp where they will spend tonight.  Most of the climbers have decided […]

Received a brief call from Sean earlier saying that they were about to leave Nido and head to Colera (5870m). Winds are picking up. Its going to be a long night for the group as they try to rest before the summit attempt tomorrow morning.

The first milestone tomorrow will be Camp Independencia at […]

The group will leave Base Camp today for Camp Nido where they will spend tonight.  Tomorrow they will head up to the last upper camp – Camp Colera at 5870m.  Strong winds and low temperatures are a constant at these heights.  After spending Wednesday night at Colera, they will push for the summit very early […]

The group spent yesterday getting their gear and food sorted for today’s climb to Camp Nido at 5500m.  They will cache (store) their high altitude tents and food at Camp Nido for when they return later on in the week.  After spending a few hours acclimatising at Camp Nido, they will descend to Base Camp this afternoon.

En route to Canada

Despatch from Sean: This morning (Sat) was warmer than we expected. Just below Zero. Everyone had a great nights sleep except me. Adjacent my tent there’s a snorer… a real snorer. The sort that sounds like a 3 month old baby crying. Incessantly! So my night was […]

Despatch from Sean: Yesterday (Thurs) we got into Plaza in 9.5 hrs…a long day but a rewarding one. Base camp is home for the next ten days and we have settled into our little yellow tents beautifully.

Today we went ice training in preparation for pushing up higher. Boots and crampons, ice axes and gloves […]

Sean called at lunch time today (SA time) to say that they had just had breakfast (Argentina is 5 hrs behind SA) and he was about to give everyone a ‘technical’ – which means showing the team how to use their crampons with double boots, ice axes etc  – for when they leave the relative comfort […]

Sean called yesterday to say all going strong and were on their way to base camp.  They had picked up 2 and 1/2  horse shoes (or mule shoes) which he said means good luck for the team.    They had done  a 10hr round trip acclimatisation walk to Plaza Francia the day before.  […]

Today, the group will leave Confluencia and trek for approximately 8 hours to base camp – Plaza de Mulas at 4250m (Plaza de Mulas means mule place in Spanish). The trek to base camp is long but the terrain is mostly flat until the last hour.

Thanks to Rose for the use of […]