Erik and Aaron arrived at PDX yesterday evening as planned. Hopefully by the end of the weekend there will be some pictures posted.

They have started their long journey home and will be in Lima Peru by tonight. Unfortunately, they weren't able to change any of their flights and unless there is a last minute change in Lima, they will be there for >24 hours before flying to LAX.

 

I got the call after a few beers, cribbage games, and a martini (over the course of 6 hours) before they boarded their flight from Santiago to Lima. They recognized some fellow climbers from the mountain in Santiago. I suspect they will sleep on the flight.

Pardon the delay in posting. I had to travel for work and didn't have internet access very often. I got a call yesterday evening (Sunday) from Aaron saying they were in their hotel room, Erik was taking the first shower, and that the fridge was stocked with beer and wine.

 

At 9 PM tonight my time (Monday) and they had just gotten back from dinner. Aaron's cough was pretty bad again and the reception wasn't the best, but I believe he said they walked around Mendoza today and even picked up a few souvenirs. They finally got the rest of their bags as well, which evidently included their return flight information. So now that they have that info, they plan on calling LAN tomorrow to see if they can get an earlier flight out, or at the very least get flights that wouldn't require them to have a 36 hour layover in Lima. Evidently the hours spent there on the way down was enough.

Today was a 9 hour trek and they estimated their packs were 90 lbs. Aaron sounded pretty tired but I was happy to have not heard a single cough in contrast to the hack-filled call I got last night. Tomorrow they have another 8 hour trek to  Los Penitentes. They suspect they won't get their shuttle to Mendoza until Monday morning. Aaron promised he "try to find the webcam" tomorrow at the Base Camp before they head out.

At 5 PM (10 PM for them) I finally got a call. It was in the nick of time because I'd made a deal with myself to not worry until 6 PM. It was a long, cold, grueling day but both summited. They awoke at 1 am, started hiking at 2 am because they knew snow was forecasted for the afternoon. They ended up splitting up a somewhere along the way (I'm a little fuzzy on some of the activities included in "we were stuck in the snow") and Erik made it back to camp around 8 pm with Aaron there about an hour later.

 

Tomorrow they will traverse to White Rocks, which should take 2-4 hrs and then head straight down to Plaza de Mulas. You know I am going to try to convince them to stand in front of the camera there (http://www.aconcaguanow.com/indice4.php) so we can see them.

I know many are likely checking this time of day expecting to have a summit update. Sarah and I certainly thought we'd have heard from two exhausted and exhilarated guys by now. However, we have not. Will definitely update as soon as we hear anything.

Had a brief conversation a few hours ago and Aaron said he is feeling much better today after eating and drinking. We are all anxiously awaiting news about the summit attempt tomorrow.

Just got the call. I was so worried they wouldn't get reception at Camp 2 either. Aaron said the scree kicked his butt today but Erik is quite the mountain man and doing great. Tomorrow is their rest day before the estimated 14 hour summit day on Friday. After summiting they will come back to Camp 2 for the night. Then likely traverse back to the normal route and down to Plaza de Mulas. I'll find out more about the descent after their summit.

Got a call this afternoon and Aaron sounded great. I am sure Erik didn't sound nearly as good after hearing the Packers Bear score. As planned they carried to Camp 1 today and will pack up and move there tomorrow. This is part of the their acclimation process, carry up, get a feel for the thinner air, then go back down to sleep at the (relatively) lower elevation. They'll do this the rest of the way up the mountain.

 

Evidently the weather is crazy up there. He said they had their dinner during a sudden, and rather crazy sounding, thunder storm. Half an hour later, it was clear and calm again. He has mentioned a similar situation with a snow storm yesterday.

Just got a call and Aaron is about 1-1/2 hours from Base Camp. Erik was out ahead of him, so even closer. Aaron had a bloody nose this morning and is definitely feeling the altitude, so tomorrow's rest day will be very good. He hasn't even mentioned the river crossings, so they must not have been that big of a deal.

 

To put their current elevation in perspective. The top of Mt Hood is 11,240' and Mt Rainier is 14,100'. Plaza Argentina Base Camp is 13,200'.

I got a call this morning saying they were eating lunch and it was 90 degrees. OK, at least I think that is what I heard because it was early, I was very tired, and the kids were in the middle of their early morning wrestle-athon in the background. I waited to post in hopes of getting a call tonight, but considering it is already after 11 PM there, I am assuming I won't. I will try to be a better listener for tomorrow's call!

They walked for 5 hours today and got to Pampa de Lenas a little faster than expected. The mules were described as crazy in that they wandered around camp. Also that it was kind of sad because many of them had sores. That is about all I got from our ~1 min phone call. They'd already eaten dinner (evidently they are 5 hours ahead of PST) and were about to play some cribbage before going to bed.

It sounded like Aaron was in a wind tunnel so I caught very little in our brief conversation. However, I did gather that everything went well today, travel-wise. Their bags were waiting for them and were actually in better shape than Aaron and Erik. Arriving in Santiago at 2 am and departing 5 hours later made for an uncomfortable time trying to sleep on airport benches. They got a nice cab driver who accompanied them into the permit place to help translate and within a couple hours of landing, they had their climbing permit and were on their way. I hope they get a good night sleep in their Los Penitentes hotel (which I believe is more of a hostel) tonight because they have an early morning date with some mules and a mountain.

I checked all the flights and there were no more delays, so they should have gotten into Mendoza this morning. They are now 4 hours ahead of PST. I was told I'd get a call once they got their climbing permits (they have to be careful to get there before the Siesta shut-down) and were on their way to the muleteer service. I am anxious to hear how men and baggage fared on such a long journey and will update as soon as I hear.

Because of the hefty delay in LAX, they had fewer hours in Lima, which I now understand is not a bad thing. They took a cab and spent a few hours in downtown and Aaron said the taxi ride in Lima may very well be the most dangerous thing they do on this trip. Next is Santiago for the super early morning hours, then off to Mendoza. Tomorrow is really when things are going to start happening.

The flight from LAX was supposed to depart at 8 PM has now been pushed back to 1 AM.