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Friday, December 14, 2012

A successful climb of Aconcagua!!!




Today we returned from climbing Aconcagua!  We are in Mendoza now relaxing and enjoying La Pura Vida!!!  We summitted on December 12th, it was a beautiful day with little wind on the summit.  We really were lucky because before and after the wind was very high and prevented climbers from going to the summit.  We 'hunkered' down in our tents during the windy days leading up to our climb to the top.  It was a great climb, & I look forward to making another lap on Aconcagua in a few weeks time!  Here are a few photos from summit day:

1. Ari making the final steps to the summit, the south face of Aconcagua in the back ground.

2. Ari & I in the back seat of the B 3 Eurocopter taking the scenic flight from Plaza de Mulas to Horcones visitor center the day after our summit.

3. Me on the summit in my Sherpa Adventure Gear down jacket! (warm & comfortable!)

4. The sunset looking west towards Chile on our way down from the summit to high camp.

-Garrett Madison

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

At Aconcagua Base Camp!

Yesterday I reached Plaza Argentina base camp with the team.  Aside from the strong winds we are all doing great! We rested today and will do a carry to our camp 1 tomorrow.  Hopefully the winds will die down after the 10th, but until then we are looking at 100+ mph winds on the summit, so our first possible summit day on the 14th we hope will be calm.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Aconcagua Bound!

Today I met up with my group and we checked our personal equipment and are ready to head up to the mountain and start climbing!  This will be my 9th Aconcagua expedition, and hopefully my 7th summit of the peak.  We will drive to Punta del Inca tomorrow, then begin trekking to base camp (3 days).  From there we will climb the mountain & hopefully summit around December 14-15 pending the weather and conditions.  I will be carrying the RainOn tracking system that will allow me to send short messages along with my location on the 3D map.

I'm excited to be climbing the highest peak outside of Asia, at nearly 7000 meters.  It's great training for high altitude climbing in the Himalaya.

Right now according to the weather forecast the wind speed is up to 130 kilometers per hour, that is pretty strong wind and not possible to summit.  Hopefully this weather will blow through and we will have a perfect summit day!