Surviving Aconcagua, email disasters and more…
Surviving Aconcagua
I’m not sure what I expected but the updates during the expedition were not as frequent or as detailed as I might have hoped. However, the updates did convey the end result — the weather on the mountain was brutal and not only precluded the team from making a bid for the summit but socked us in our tents for several days and even stranded some of our gear at a higher camp.
This was a particularly rough year on Aconcagua. I heard people throwing around statistics such as the successful summit attempts are 10% of normal this year. I think that is a little low but what was scary were the number of severe frostbite victims and HACE casualties helicoptered off the mountain. Thankfully everyone from our expedition is safe and healthy due in large part to our very experienced and professional guides.
Over the next few days I’ll put together some more details with pictures and movies about the whole Mt. Aconcagua experience.
Surviving email Disasters
Yesterday I returned to Mendoza. After a long and luxurious shower at the posh Park Hyatt where we had hoped to celebrate a successful summit attempt I was able to wash off the grime from two weeks on the mountain. No sooner had I cleaned up than I found myself in another mess when I tried to catch up email. Disaster struck and I’m not sure whether it was me or SpamSieve but I lost all the email in my Inbox from the past five weeks or so. I’m trying to recover but am not hopeful. I was able to read a few messages and have responded to a few people but to anyone who had an urgent message or expected a response you’ll need to dig into your Sent Items folder and resend. I’m sorry for the inconvenience…
South America Itinerary
One of the most frustrating things about losing those recent emails was having seen the number of people inquiring about meeting up while I’m in South America or on the Great Divide Trail and now being unable to respond.
The GDT ride is a ways off so I don’t have specifics yet. Not to mention I just found out my riding partner Willy not only became unemployed while I was climbing but he got engaged too! Congratulations Willy! I’m not yet sure how any of this impacts the ride but Willy and I plan to post all the details of the ride as they become firm.
As for South America, I’ve added my itinerary and tentative activities under the Part 1: South America tab for those who mailed asking for more details. After visiting Machu Picchu the itinerary becomes flexible. I hope it works out that I can meet up with a few of you who mailed me.
Santiago, Chile
Tonight I’m in Santiago, Chile transitioning from mountaineering to trekking as I meet Anne tomorrow and prepare to head south to Patagonia to walk the famed Torres del Paine Circuit. In my short time in Chile I’ve found the people to be much less friendly than in Mendoza, Argentina.
Things started off poorly at the airport when I made the mistake of talking to one of those pesky buskers who offer to assist with organizing a cab. I know better and after walking through it time and time again today I should have known I was being taken. But, after a late night out (dinner normally starts at 10pm in Argentina so it isn’t easy to have an early night) with the members of the expedition I was a bit slow and I really just wanted to get to my hotel. When you divide by two instead of multiplying by two it means your cab is four times more expensive than it should be so I biggest fare of my life today. Chileans also have this annoying habit of ignoring the least two significant digits so a 500 peso note is called a 5 peso note. Altogether it was kind of confusing and it must have been as if I had stamped sucker on my forehead. To add insult to injury the taxi driver tried to con a tip out of me almost equal to the legitimate cab fare from the airport but that was just as I was starting to wise up so at least I wasn’t taken twice.
Once I calmed down from the airport cab ride experience I set out to get my clothes laundered. I had no idea my poor Spanish skills and a Lonely Planet phrase book could do so much damage. After attempts at three laundromats I finally had to have Francisco, the world’s nicest front desk attendant from my hotel, call the third woman to calm her down and explain that all I needed was a stuff sack of clean clothes by this evening. In the end everything worked out. I don’t think I was quite ready to come back to first world urban chaos. I’m looking forward to heading to Patagonia tomorrow as visiting Torres del Paine was the genesis of this trip when I started thinking about it almost eight years ago.